If you want to make money in programming what are the best languages to learn? Well, This question was asked to a host of developers, recruiters, born-on-the-Web startups and the creators of some of the most widely used programming languages out there. However, picking the language that is right for you also has as much to do with what kind of development you want to do and who you might want to work for as it does with how much money you want to earn.
Java
For the enterprise, Java and Microsoft’s .NET rule. However, Java has the edge, as it is No. 1 language in terms of number of developers. According to Evans Data, there are more than 9 million Java developers in the world. That means there are tons of Java applications out there that will have to be supported, updated and maintained. Furthermore, Java is the language of the Android mobile operating system. Android provides the tools and APIs necessary to begin developing applications for the Android OS using the Java programming language. Java ranks No. 1 on the TIOBE Programming Community Index for June 2010 (after a brief stint at No. 2, behind C, in May). The need for Java developers to build new Java applications is not about to wane.
C#
C# is a multiparadigm programming language encompassing imperative, functional, generic, object-oriented and component-oriented programming disciplines. Microsoft developed C# within its .NET initiative and the language was later approved as a standard by Ecma and ISO. C# also is slated by Microsoft to become the primary development language for Windows Phone 7. Like Java, C# is big in the enterprise. However there are considerably fewer C# developers than there are Java developers. But the importance of C# as part of the Microsoft .NET strategy and its support through the Visual Studio tools suite make C# a formidable contender in the programming language race. C# ranked No. 6 on the most-recent TIOBE Index