Choosing the right technology for your IoT project is one of those canon events that can define the future of the entire solution. Choose wrong, and you’ll end up with an IoT solution that’s incompatible with your target devices, has limited processing power, or takes forever to implement.
Selecting an IoT programming language is a complicated process best delegated to an IoT development expert. To give you a baseline understanding of the best programming language for IoT, our IoT development team has prepared a rundown of the trending IoT programming languages and their specifications.
How to choose the right language for an IoT project
There’s a lot that comes into consideration when choosing a foundational technology for your digital solutions. The nature of your project, the platform you're developing for (web development, mobile applications, etc), and other criteria can impact your choice.
When it comes to the Internet of Things solutions, there are far more variables coming into the equation:
- Hardware constraints — different programming languages have varying levels of support for hardware platforms and microcontrollers.
- Performance requirements — not all coding languages bode well for real-time processing or low latency.
- Security considerations — memory-safe and vulnerability-free programming languages are more suitable for IoT development.
- Scalability and maintainability — consider the language design and architecture to see whether it meets your scalability and maintainability requirements.
- Ecosystem and community support — an established community means evergreen innovation that will help a programming language weather through the decades, while a wide ecosystem of libraries and frameworks will accelerate and simplify the development.
- Interoperability — the chosen technology should seamlessly integrate into a versatile IoT ecosystem, working in sync with other systems, devices, and databases.
- Networking and protocol support — the language should be compatible with a wide range of communication protocols, such as MQTT, HTTP, CoAP, and Bluetooth, to allow seamless communication between devices.
Programming languages for IoT development can be divided into three large groups, including:
- The firmware
- The backend
- The client applications
Let's talk about each part in more detail.
Most popular programming languages for firmware development
C-like programming languages are the preferred choice for Arduino projects. Your options expand with more advanced systems like Raspberry Pi and its analogs that run the Linux operating system or support Windows. In this case, you can leverage a wide range of programming languages, including Python, Java, Kotlin, Ruby, and JavaScript, to meet your unique needs.
Python
Python is the most common language for Raspberry Pi, whose vast ecosystem of ready-made solutions and frameworks makes it an excellent choice for IoT projects. In particular, Python is a go-to scripting language for building web interfaces for IoT devices, machine learning solutions, and data analysis applications. IoT developers also rely on Python for rapid prototyping.
Python is a platform-neutral technology that can run on multiple platforms, such as Windows, Linux, and macOS. Therefore, it allows you to write code once and run it on different IoT devices and systems with no compatibility issues.
Java
Java is one of the most popular programming languages, especially when it comes to IoT applications. Thanks to a Java Virtual Machine, Java-based solutions can run on any type of system, which is crucial for IoT projects with diverse device ecosystems. However, the JVM overhead might not be an ideal option for IoT devices with limited memory capacity as it guzzles up a significant amount of memory.
Java is also a synonym for great performance, enabling IoT devices to operate as intended despite their limited resources. This coding language also supports functional programming that solves the challenges of scalability and concurrency, which makes it a great fit for large-scale IoT ecosystems and allows the solution to enable a multitude of simultaneous connections in the network.
Along with large-scale ecosystems, Java is often put at the core of cross-platform projects and enterprise-level systems.
JavaScript
To ensure interoperability within your IoT ecosystem, you can leverage the same language across all systems. JavaScript is a highly compatible, interpreted language that can power everything from microcontrollers to edge devices and web interfaces.
Javascript’s asynchronous code execution and event-driven nature allow it to respond to events in real time and execute multiple tasks simultaneously. The abundance of JavaScript frameworks speeds up development cycles, which also makes this language suitable for rapid development.
C
As we’ve mentioned before, the C language is the most popular programming language for projects based on Arduino and similar platforms. Its reliability, scalability, and low-level capabilities make it a golden standard for firmware development and embedded systems. Also, this technology is known for its speed and efficiency, making it a great choice for real-time applications. Moreover, the C language comes with direct access to hardware.
Unlike the technologies we mentioned above, the C programming language is not platform-independent. However, developers can reuse code to develop IoT applications for a specific platform.
Kotlin
While Kotlin is a versatile and rapidly evolving language, it’s not the most typical choice for IoT applications. However, it can be used in combination with other IoT programming languages to develop cloud-based components or data processing pipelines that interact with firmware-based devices.
C++
Built on the back of C, C++ employs object-oriented programming features, which makes it a good mesh for more complex IoT systems such as ARM Cortex processors and firmware solutions that benefit from object-oriented features. C++ is also a go-to option for applications that hinge on real-time performance.
As this programming language allows direct access to hardware resources, IoT developers also tap into its powers to handle low-level programming tasks such as controlling sensors, actuators, and other hardware components.
Rust
Rust is taking off in the IoT firmware development field as it’s uniquely positioned to tackle the safety and concurrency challenges of modern IoT solutions. Performant, memory-safe, and reliable, Rust can support the needs of dependable and secure firmware, preventing common issues like buffer overflows.
Due to its focus on security and reliability, this programming language is widely used in mission-critical solutions, including medical devices, automotive systems, and industrial IoT. As an interoperable technology, Rust can seamlessly integrate into existing systems based on C or C++.
Go
Rounding out our list is Go, or Golang, an IoT development language known for its simplicity, performance, and ease of use in concurrent programming. While Golang is not a default option when it comes to firmware development, it can fuel certain types of IoT solutions, including gateways or edge devices.
Programming languages for building an IoT backend
It’s not the IoT context that comes to the fore when building the backend of the IoT application. Instead, this process is influenced by other factors, such as server load, data volumes, and other important criteria.
Let's mention the top nine programming languages for IoT backend development.
PHP
Most websites are developed using this programming language. PHP is a platform-agnostic, fast, and easily maintainable language, which is a winning combination for backend web development.
The main PHP frameworks at the moment are Symfony and Laravel. Both are strong, reliable PHP frameworks used for a variety of both long-term and small-scale development tasks.
Python
The simple syntax of this object oriented programming language has made it very popular among developers of different tech spheres. Python’s extensive libraries and frameworks make it suitable for various tasks, including backend development for IoT projects. Python’s unmatched speed, scalability, and maintainability also make it a proven option when it comes to large-scale IoT applications.
Ruby
Ruby stands out among other programming languages as a reliable, flexible, and versatile technology. Its web application framework, Ruby on Rails, is considered to be a robust foundation for building backend applications with databases and backend REST services.
However, Ruby’s garbage collector and dynamic typing can usher in some latency, which makes this technology a less preferable choice for applications that demand strict real-time performance.
Java
Java has a good reputation as a multipurpose language for backend projects. Java’s main backend framework is Spring, but many development teams are switching to Kotlin/Spring due to easier writing and reading of code.
Overall, Java is designed with scalability in mind, which makes it well-equipped to handle large-scale IoT applications and enterprise integration. Also, its comprehensive, built-in security features allow IoT applications to effectively handle sensitive data.
C#
Rooted in C++, C# has emerged as a reliable, scalable, and maintainable technology for backend development. Beyond its error-handling capabilities, C# doesn't consume much processing power and has error-handling capabilities, which help ensure the steadfast performance of IoT applications.
Moreover, C# is memory-efficient, allowing developers to bypass the limitations of IoT devices. Together with the .Net platform, C# was developed by Microsoft and has good technical support.
JavaScript (Node.js)
Node.js is a JavaScript runtime environment that opens up possibilities for building scalable and high-performance IoT backends. Node.js's event-driven, non-blocking architecture allows it to successfully handle a bunch of concurrent connections, which contributes to the scalability, performance, and responsiveness of real-time IoT applications. Also, Node.js’s rich ecosystem of libraries allows it to work with web protocols, databases, and messaging systems.
Along with real-time IoT applications, Node.js is also put at the core of APIs and used to manage communication between IoT devices and cloud platforms.
Go (Golang)
This programming language boasts a winning combination of concurrency, and simplicity, which makes it well fit for IoT backend development. Golang’s compiler and optimized garbage collection also add to its performance, making the language especially useful for backend applications that deal with a large number of concurrent requests.
In particular, Go bolsters scalable microservices, real-time analytics solutions, and IoT gateways that demand high throughput and low latency.
Rust
If you’re building backends for high-performance IoT platforms, data processing pipelines, and security-sensitive applications, Rust might be a strong contender. With its low memory footprint, concurrency, and memory safety, you can rest assured your IoT platform will operate without a hitch, taking the complexity out of large-scale data processing tasks.
TypeScript
Last but not least is TypeScript — a strongly typed programming language based on JavaScript. Although not as common as other backend programming languages, TypeScript can team up with Node.js to enable scalable and maintainable backend applications. This programming language is favored by developers who prefer static typing over JavaScript.
Today, TypeScript shores up the necessary capabilities for APIs, real-time data handling solutions, and complex IoT platforms that hinge on better tooling and maintainability.
IoT programming languages for client applications
Tech-wise, there is little difference between developing client applications for IoT devices and developing any other client-server solutions. The choice of programming languages and other technologies will be governed by the target platforms. These platforms include:
- iOS, iPadOS, and Android mobile operating systems;
- Frontend web for internet browsers and other devices based on web technologies;
- Desktop operating systems such as macOS, Windows, and Linux;
- Game consoles;
- Other highly specialized platforms.
If you already know which devices your custom app will run on to control and monitor the developed IoT system, this can be the starting point for choosing a programming language and other technologies for client application development.
The bottom line
All projects are unique, and so are their tech stacks. Although there is uniformity in the best programming languages, IoT development is multilingual. It means you need to handpick an optimal set of technologies based on the unique requirements of your project.
If you need professional advice on the right tech stack, Orangesoft is always here to help you out. Share your project details, and our developers will determine the best set of technologies to power your IoT ecosystem.
