In the world of technology the word “Blockchain” is spreading like a fire and ruling worldwide. It simply removes the requirement of a third party and provides transparency in transactions. That is why a number of companies are adopting its principles and implementing its methodologies.

There is no doubt that Blockchain is slowly revolutionizing the way the world works. With this increasing popularity of Blockchain Development Technology, we can see the high demand for blockchain programmers. All the big organizations and MNCs are searching for hiring developers that are experienced in blockchain programming.

What is Blockchain?

Blockchain is simply referred to as a chain or string of blocks that are linked together. It is a distributed, P2P (peer-to-peer) network. One of the primary features of Blockchain that make it different from other database systems is its decentralized nature. This means that the control or authority is not in the hands of a sole owner or a single organization, but is distributed to all the connecting nodes that participate in the network.

Blockchain development support transparency. A copy of every single transaction is accessible by all the users on the network and they can easily track if any changes need to be done. With this feature, it is nearly impossible for someone to tamper with the data or the information present in the blocks, thereby removing the risk of fraud. This makes Blockchain highly reliable and secure.

Why is Blockchain so popular?

The popularity of blockchain development technology is due to its unique and amazing characteristics. Here are some of the features of Blockchain Technology that differentiate it from other database systems:

• Blockchain is immutable, i.e., it is permanent and the data on it cannot be altered.
• It follows the peer-to-peer network architecture.
• It supports the transparency of transactions while maintaining the privacy of data.
• Blockchain is decentralized.
• It is more secure.
• In order to make fair and quick decisions, Blockchain follows a consensus mechanism.

Programming Languages for Blockchain Development

1. Solidity

Solidity is the most used and stable programming language for blockchain recommended by developers worldwide. No matter you are a fresher or an experienced professional developer, you can easily gain skills to learn this programming language. Solidity programming language is statically typed curly braces designed for developing smart contracts to run on the Ethereum Virtual Machine (EVM). Proposed by Gavin Wood in 2014, the smart brain behind the development of Solidity influenced by Java, C++, and PowerShell is Vitalik Buterin, the developer of Ethereum.

Pros

• Statically typed Blockchain Programming language – Solidity provides a stable and more flexible coding pattern for smart contracts ;

• User-friendly – Easy-to-use feature of Solidity makes it flexible;

• Provides high accuracy rate – Solidity provides a secure, reliable, and accurate medium for various sources in framing smart contracts between two parties.

• Application Binary Interface (ABI) – Multiple type-safe functions are present in Solidity because of ABI.

Cons

• Inherently difficult to reason about – In Solidity once a contract is made it cannot be altered if needed. The additional feature cannot be added to the contract;

• Sometimes it might fail to achieve sufficient code coverage concerning smart contracts;

• Deficiency of centralized documentation of known vulnerabilities.

2. Java

One of the most popular programming languages is Java, it is also used to develop some kind of Blockchain Programming of Ethereum, Hyperledger Fabric, IOTA, NEO, etc. Java is introduced in 1995 by James Gosling, this programming language offers a heavy Application Programming Interface (API) which includes class-based object-oriented programming. The API, OOP, and Portability are the most used characteristics of Java in Blockchain Programming.

Pros

• Independent platform – Java is a platform-independent language, that is because of its Write Once Run Anywhere (WORA) feature ;

• Developer friendly – Non-rigidity for developers makes it easier to use;

• Secure interface- Java reduces security threats by avoiding the use of explicit pointers. The security manager in Java allows us to define access rules for a class.

• Multithreaded and dynamic- More than one thread can run at a time in java (thread is the smallest unit of a process), and multi-threading leads to optimum utilization of the CPU, which makes it more flexible.

Cons

• Memory Consuming- it is slower in performance as compared to C or C++ and is more memory consuming;

• Java provides no backup facilities- it only focuses on memory which makes it less popular among developers;

• Different from native applications- it is verbose, which means it contains many keywords and consists of long and complex coding.

3. Python

Python is a programming language mostly used by freshers for blockchain Programming, as is easier to use and has comparatively shortcodes. It is an open-source programming language where you can choose different resources and plug-ins. It also supports OOP and is prominently used in Blockchain Development, Machine Learning, and Artificial Intelligence.

Pros

• Extensible features – Python executes the line one by one which makes it easier to detect and debug errors;

• Object-Oriented Programming language – Due to the simplicity of this language users can focus more time on understanding the coding rather than framing syntax;

• Extensive library – You don’t have to depend on external libraries as python’s own library is huge;

• Comparatively short codings – Its English-like syntax makes it easy to use and access.

Cons

• Weak in cell phone devices – It is rigid for phones;

• Frequent run-time errors – Python is a dynamically typed language which means sometimes data type of variables can be changed, the string might hold an integer value causing errors in the output;

• Memory-consuming language – As it occupies an ample amount of memory it takes more time for execution.

4. C++

C++ one of the programming languages was launched in 1985 by Bjarne Stroustrup. Blockchain Programming developers support the use of C++ as it is decently abundant in terms of run-time polymorphism, function overloading, and multithreading. It provides developers to mold the data according to their needs. It is mostly used in the development of some Blockchain programming such as Stellar, Ripple, Bitcoin, etc.

Pros

• Structured programming language – It is an Object-Oriented Programming language which makes it much easier than other binary coding languages;

• Data hiding makes it secure – Global data and functions are used in C++ unlike many high-level programming languages;

• Developer-friendly – Easy to be used;

• Comparatively rapid and powerful – It is a multi-paradigm language and its execution time is faster as compared to Java.

Cons

• Doesn’t support Dynamic Memory Allocation – It does not support garbage pickup;

• Complexity increases with the length of coding;

• Platform-Specific Language – It is commonly used for platform-specific applications, unlike Java.

5. Ruby

Ruby is the best programming language for blockchain with features of great memory allocation. It was developed in Japan by Yukihiro Matsumoto. The main characteristics of this language are its simplicity and productivity which makes it developer-friendly and easy to handle along with this it supports cross platforms. Ruby offers developers to build Blockchain Programming through third-party APIs and plugins. It allows multi-paradigm, which means developers can use cross platforms to develop Blockchain Programming.

Pros

• It is a Multi-Paradigm Language;

• Rail frameworks have a huge and strong developer community (Ruby on Rails);

• Can be installed in Windows as well as PIOX.

Cons

1. Difficult to debug and generates run-time error occasionally;
2. It has lower Flexibility and is not that popular among developers;
3. Its Processing speed is comparatively low.

6. Go

Another best language for blockchain is Go language which is also known as Golang. It is a type of compiled and statically typed programming language. Go is suggested by many developers worldwide for Blockchain Programming development because of its prominent features. Golang is developer-friendly, easy-to-use, rapid, and non-rigid which is beneficial for fresher as well as tech freaks.

Pros

• Run-time Efficiency – Languages having virtual runtime usually outperform usual programming languages like Golang;

• Smooth web application building – It is a static language but gives the developer the feel of a dynamic language. As it is static many syntax errors can be avoided and web application building becomes easier;

• Garbage collection – This language is designed for efficient and effective developers who want to wrap up their tasks as quickly as possible which is easier because of this feature of Golang;

• Organized typing – Syntaxes are organized.

Cons

• Error Handling – if error tracking is lost, the use of a repair function is required which makes the developer write long blocks to find the error ;

• Still new in the market – Being young in the tech world developers find it difficult to access some of its libraries ;

• No niche like Java – Without niche or generic, its codes cannot be reused again like other languages;

• Comparatively fewer packages – However, the amount of packages is growing still the standard library of Go is filled with characteristics that do not need third-party assistance.

7. C#

The most popular open-source programming language developed by Microsoft is C# which is pronounced as “C Sharp”. According to Visual studio magazine, there are around 5-8 million developers in the world using C#. Some of the blockchain programmers that use C# include Stratis, NEO, and IOTA. C# is a simple object-oriented and extensible markup language or method without the need for a developer.

Pros

• Rich library class makes it easier for developers to use menu functions and implement them at the coding bus stop.

• Memory loss is not a problem for developers using C#, unlike C++ programmers.

• The assembly concept makes the issue of version control easier and handles it well.

• It can act as a support for the distributed system.

Cons

• A programmer cannot access low-level things like using and interacting directly with hardware through drivers and firmware.

• It does not have an independent compiler.

• It uses byte codes and the JIT compiler as a link between machine code and hardware which makes the execution process lengthy and time taking.

8. Simplicity

Simplicity is a blockchain programming language. It was developed by Rachelle O’Connor and is highly focused on decreasing low-level understanding of cryptocurrencies. Before simplicity was launched program development ideas were expressive or reliable. The expressive ones were lengthy and had an unreliable smart contract or else they were very basic but reliable ones. Simplicity was developed to be in consonance with Blockstream’s Elements platform. It is seen as an opportunity to open growth to Liquid Network users such as trust-reduced escrow, vault, and other sophisticated smart contracts.

Pros

• Languages ​​other than Simplify are not found to be reliable as funds are reported to be stolen or cannot be recovered due to reasonable contractual errors and codes exposing their service limits.

• Recently, the development of EVM failed during the testing process because the user does not match the result of the calculation.

• Simplicity overcomes all these limitations of other languages and is a secure and reliable application for blockchain programming.

Cons

• The code optimizers can still be developed.

• It is still left to combine the functional and formal correctness of cryptographic protocols for the smart contracts to be fully verified.

9. Rholang

Rholang is also a blockchain programming language that is new to the tech world as compared to others and is easy to use. You can easily understand the code you had written on the screen, which relieves the additional burden that most developers experience. It basically runs on the Rchain world.

Pros

• It is reliable and Secure.

• User-friendly – The flexibility of the Rolang language makes it easy to use.

• It is designed for Speed in blockchain programming.

Cons

It is still new in the market and fewer users know about it. It might not be difficult for a tech professional to use undeveloped blockchain programming from this language but it might create difficulties for a newbie.

10. PHP

PHP stands for Hypertext Preprocessor. It was developed in the year 1994 by a Danish-Canadian programmer Rasmus Lerdorf. The standard PHP is an open-source and platform-independent language, discovered by Zend Engine, and can be developed on various operating systems. It has an extensible library in its source distribution which simplifies the work of blockchain developers.

Pros

• The most prominent advantage of PHP is that it is an open-source programming language. It can be installed and used readily.

• PHP is a platform-independent language and it can be used along with any operating system like Windows, Linux, etc.

• It is simple and straightforward so it takes less time in learning and working on it becomes easier.

• Its built-in database connection module relieves the trouble and time taken for the development of web applications.

Cons

• It is not the best choice for huge content-based web applications.

• It does not allow modification in the core functions and methodologies of online applications.

• Runtime errors are frequent.

• PHP is tough to manage as it imitates the features of the Java language.

Conclusion

After discussing the top 10 prominent Programming Languages for Blockchain Development you must be thinking about which one goes with your project well. You can choose any of the languages for blockchain development as per your requirement. choosing a perfect blockchain language depends on different features like the type of project, the need for the project, and many more. So hope you understand the top-most programming languages for blockchain development which is used nowadays.