Should You Use an Old or New Programming Language for Your Project?

Since the inception of coding, nearly 9000 different programming languages have been created, with new ones appearing all the time. It can be enticing to use a new programming language, especially when you’ve got a project that you think would be a great match for it. 

Here are the pros and cons of using a new programming language for a project, so that you can make an informed decision before you jump in headfirst. 

Pros

1. More features

New languages can have more features, brand-new features, and better features than old languages. This means that new programming languages boast capabilities that their predecessors don’t, and give you a multitude of new possibilities to create something that simply wasn’t possible with old languages. 

For example, the new language Go (or Golang). 

Compared to Java, both are server-side programs, are in the C language family, and use garbage collector. However, Java is an object-oriented language, uses a virtual machine, and while slower, has a bigger community – in fact, one of the biggest in the world.
Go on the other hand, supports concurrency, is faster, and easier to read – but there’s no error handling.

If you compare Go to Python, Python is object-oriented, imperative, functional, and procedural. It has no built-in concurrency mechanism, but can solve data science problems with ease and supports inheritance and exceptions.
Go is a procedural, functional, and concurrent language that supports concurrency, and is great for system programming, but doesn’t support exceptions or inheritance. 

In this case, if you needed something dependable then you’d be better off choosing Java or Python. If you wanted something that could do things those languages can’t though, Go is the right choice. 

2. Motivation

Developers love learning new things. Your developer will be super excited to create something with a new tool that they just mastered. When they share all about a new programming language they discovered, it’s like a kid with a new toy. 

Listening to them be so passionate about something can rub off on you too; if you felt like your project needed a bit more drive and life, a new programming language could be just the thing to give that to you. We get it, sometimes working on projects with the same tools over and over again can feel repetitive, boring, and tedious. A new language can inject fun back into your project. 

Cons

1. Possible lack of support and knowledge

New languages are exciting and offer many new possibilities, but because they’re so new, they can come with a lack of resources. Most developers prefer having support when they’re working on a project, especially in case they run into a huge roadblock that they can’t seem to get around. 

With newer languages, you might not be getting a very large library, might not have a well-established community to seek support from, and you just might not be able to get the answers you need from Google. The bottom line is, if you’re not careful, you could run into a whole host of annoying tech problems. 

Let’s take a look at Python and Java versus Go again. 

The list and availability of Go libraries is a lot smaller than Python and Java’s, which makes sifting through them easier, but also means that there isn’t a whole lot of ready-made or pre-existing code to make use of when using Go. 

Python and Java on the other hand, have libraries that are not only a lot more numerous, but also a lot more extensive because they’ve been around for so much longer and so many more people have used and continue to use them. 

2. Possible lack of replacement developers

There is also the worry of if your developer doesn’t see your project through to completion. For whatever reason sometimes developers aren’t able to (or won’t) be there for the entire project, so something that you have to take into consideration is whether or not you’ll have a big enough talent pool to fish from if something like that happens. 

How many developers have mastered this new language? The tech talent shortage is real, and for new languages, it’s even bigger. If you choose to use a new language for your project, there is a chance that if your developer(s) leave, you won’t be able to find a replacement(s). 

Conclusion

NerdCloud developers are masters of all programming languages, old and new. We can help you realize the project of your dreams with any language that you choose, but we want you to be aware of all the pros and cons of your choice so that you can choose wisely. 

Get in touch with us today for more information.