There are so many programming languages available, and more are being created on a regular basis. There are many too many to list here, but some of them include Python, JavaScript, PHP, C++, Ruby, Java, and C#.

You may be asking why there are so many different programming languages and whether we actually need them all.

Learn why programmers continue to create new programming languages in this article, and how to decide which one to learn.

Technology and Programming Language Evolution

The first, and possibly most important, explanation for why we have so many programming languages is that technology is always changing. We need more tools to create software for these technologies as they develop and more technologies come into being.

Because of the nature of the languages' capabilities, the programming languages we now have might not be able to handle particular issues that arise. People or businesses may decide to develop their own language because the problem may be so unique that no existing solutions may meet their needs.

Following are some significant instances of programming languages that evolved in response to certain requirements:

To address the issues with earlier languages, Dennis Ritchie and Bell Labs developed C in 1972. In the beginning, they used it to run the Unix operating system. It can now function on practically any hardware and software.

C++ was developed in 1985 for two main purposes by Bjarne Stroustrup. The C programming language should have more features, and the second purpose is to make it more widely usable across all disciplines.

Rasmus Lerdorf invented PHP in 1994, and at first he used it for a personal project. After making improvements to the language and making it available to the general public, web developers began to use it.

The languages Google used at the time were too sluggish and inconvenient for some jobs, so they created Go in 2009. Additionally, Google desired a programming language that was both quick in performance and still quite easy to read.

JavaScript was developed by Netscape in 1995. In the beginning, they designed it for front-end development so that both web developers and designers could learn and produce website features quickly. In the present, we employ it for mobile development, the front end, and the back end.

A popular general-purpose, high-level programming language is called Python. The Python Software Foundation built it after Guido van Rossum's original 1991 concept.

Different Developer Positions Need Different Languages

There are various developer professions available that demand various tools, which is another reason why we have so many programming languages.

Consider a doctor and their patients as an analogy. Treating patients is a doctor's primary responsibility. There are various illnesses and injuries, and each one is complex enough to require a variety of treatments. Doctors specialize in a variety of fields, including cardiology, dentistry, surgery, and so forth.

Programmers experience the same thing. Like doctors, programmers can specialize since there are several software and platform types, and each one needs specific tools and features.

Following are a few developer positions and the primary programming languages they employ:

Video games for PCs and consoles are created by game developers using C++ or C#.

Making websites and web apps requires the use of HTML, CSS, JavaScript, and PHP by web developers.

Java and Kotlin are used by mobile app developers to create Android apps, whereas Swift is used to create iOS apps.

To create desktop apps, commercial applications, and system software, software developers employ C++, C#, and Java.

Data scientists examine data for scientific research and educational reasons using Python, R, and MatLab.