The advancement of the technology industry and internet usage in everyday life has increased drastically since the invention of the internet.
Open source software is software that allows their source code to be inspected and modified by the general public. This leads to frequent updates on the codes for the optimization of the functionality of the software. This open source codes are jointly developed in a public development manner.
Noticeable open source software are Ubuntu, Android, VLC MySQL, etc.
However, these open source codes are required to be written in some peculiar programming languages. These programming languages have their peculiar characteristics which differentiate them from other languages. These programming languages are used to specifically instruct the open source software of what it is expected to do.
In no particular order, listed below are five programming languages popularly used by open source software:
Python
This is a high-level object-programming language which has found usefulness in some open source software. It was developed by Guido Van Rossum in the 1980s. It is one of the premier programming languages, and it has found vast applications especially in object-oriented programming.
Features of python include open source codes which can be reused and modified, no binary compilation is required, supports procedure orientation, simple syntax (comments is used to explain the functionality of the code further), flexibility (it is used across different platforms).
Python is majorly used for developing desktop graphical user interface applications and also web applications.
Java
Java is another example of programming languages used in open source software. It is a majorly an object-oriented computer programming language. It is class-based and specifically designed to use as little implementation dependencies as possible. The Java programming language is easy to learn with straightforward implementations.
Features of Java includes platform dependencies, simple-to-learn, object-oriented, simple memory management, high performance, security features, etc.
Java is majorly used for application development for both mobile devices and desktop, web applications.
PHP
Hypertext processor, popularly known as PHP, is a scripting language made for web development. It was developed by Rasmus Lerdorf in 1994. It is a tool used to build highly interactive web pages.
Features of PHP includes case sensitivity, Reports Errors, platform dependent, simple to learn and faster to implement.
PHP is majorly used for dynamic web page scripting.
C#
This is another type of programming language which was developed by Microsoft. It is majorly used to develop mobile and web enterprise applications.
Features of C# includes object-oriented programming, interoperability, scalable and updatable, component oriented and structure oriented program.
C# is majorly used for developing desktop applications and the popular Windows 10 applications.
Swift
This is a programming language which was developed by Apple. It is a general purposed compiled programming language. It is used majorly to write the iOS programs used on the Apple devices.
Major noticeable features of the Swift programming language is its security, speed at execution and dynamic dispatch.
To summarize
Different programming languages are used for different open source software to modify and create different applications. Basic knowledge of the syntax of such programming languages is thus paramount to understand before the program is written.