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This year's Stack Overflow Developer Survey came with surprises - a lot has changed in a year. You must think JavaScript or Python would be at the top, but the rankings are based on demand, not popularity. Companies are willing to pay more for niche languages, and today we're going to learn all about them.

1. Zig

Medium Yearly Salary: $103,611

Zig is a programming language focused on helping developers build reliable, efficient and reusable software.

Zig aims to create robust software that:

• Works well in all situations, even edge cases.
• Performs efficiently by using system resources optimally.
• Can be reused in different environments.
• Remains maintainable over time. The code is clear, so it is easy to fix issues later.

Zig balances high-level abstractions for productivity with low-level control for optimal performance.

Demo

Create hello.zig file with the hello world code. 

const std = @import("std");

pub fn main() !void {
    const stdout = std.io.getStdOut().writer();
    try stdout.print("Hello, {s}!\n", .{"world"});
}

Run it in the terminal. 

$ zig build-exe hello.zig
$ ./hello
Hello, world!

Read the documentation to learn more about Zig Syntax and functions. 

2. Erlang

Medium Yearly Salary: $99,492

Erlang is a programming language well-suited for building large, distributed systems that require high scalability, high availability, and fast performance. Ericsson originally designed Erlang in the mid-1980s for building telecommunications systems.

Erlang is a popular choice for building mission-critical, soft real-time systems in domains like telecommunications, banking, e-commerce, and instant messaging, where high availability, scalability, and responsiveness are essential. Erlang's runtime system provides built-in support for the concurrency, distribution, and fault tolerance features that the language relies on.

Demo

% hello world program
-module(helloworld). 
-export([start/0]). 

start() -> 
   io:fwrite("Hello, world!\n").

Output:

Hello, world!

Learn the basic Erlang syntax on tutorialspoint.com.

3. F#

Medium Yearly Salary: $99,311

F# is a general-purpose, cross-platform programming language designed for functionality, interoperability and performance. Its main goals are to help developers write:

• Succinct code:  It focuses on writing code that is clear, concise and self-documenting by default.
• Robust code: It uses powerful type providers and an advanced type system to catch errors at compile-time.
• Performant code: Under the hood, F# code compiles to efficient .NET IL or JavaScript.

F# runs on the .NET Framework and offers seamless interoperability with other .NET languages like C# while also allowing you to target web and mobile through JavaScript compilation.

Key Feature: 

1. Minimal syntax makes code more readable.
2. Variables are immutable by default, reducing bugs and making code easier to reason about.
3. The compiler infers types for most variables, reducing boilerplate.
4. Piping data between functions reduces intermediate variables.
5. Asynchronous workflows make scalable, asynchronous code natural to write.
6. Powerful pattern matching on unions, tuples, arrays, strings and more.
7. Supports inheritance, interface implementation and encapsulation.
8. Learn more features on the F# docs - get started, tutorials, reference.

Demo

Run the following command in terminal to create your app:

dotnet new console -lang F# -o MyApp -f net7.0

Navigate to the new directory

cd MyApp

Edit Program.fs file.

printfn "Hello World"

Run the following command in terminal to run the app:

dotnet run

4. Ruby

Medium Yearly Salary: $98,522

Ruby is an open-source, dynamic programming language that prioritizes productivity and simplicity. It was created in the mid-1990s by Yukihiro "Matz" Matsumoto and has gained popularity for web development, scripting, and general-purpose programming.

Ruby's elegant syntax is easy to read and write, and its object-oriented nature allows for flexibility. It is an interpreted language, which means that code can be executed directly without compilation, making development faster. Ruby has a large and active community of developers who contribute to its development, resulting in a rich ecosystem of libraries and tools.

Demo

Create a file hello.rb and add the code.

puts "Hello, world!"

Run the ruby file in terminal using:

ruby hello.rb

Output:

Hello, world!Hello, world!

5. Clojure

Medium Yearly Salary: $96,381

Clojure is a programming language that combines the ease of use and interactivity of a scripting language with the efficiency and robustness of a compiled language. It is especially good at handling multithreaded programming and has easy access to Java frameworks. Clojure is a dialect of Lisp and is predominantly a functional programming language. When a mutable state is needed, it offers a software transactional memory system and reactive agent system.

Demo

Start a Clojure REPL using the clj command in the terminal, then paste the below code to see the output. 

(defn sum [numbers]
  (reduce + numbers))

(println (sum [1 2 3 4 5]))

Output:

15
nil

Conclusion

In conclusion, the Stack Overflow Developer Survey has revealed that the demand for niche programming languages is on the rise, which is reflected in their high pay scales. While JavaScript and Python remain popular, companies are willing to invest more in developers who specialize in less mainstream languages. As a result, it's worth considering expanding your skill set to include one of the five highest-paid languages of the year, which include Zig, Erlang, F#, Clojure, and Ruby.

Additionally, you may want to explore the top four languages that have experienced an increase in salaries between 2022 and 2023.

Image from Stack Overflow Developer Survey 2023

 
 
Abid Ali Awan (@1abidaliawan) is a certified data scientist professional who loves building machine learning models. Currently, he is focusing on content creation and writing technical blogs on machine learning and data science technologies. Abid holds a Master's degree in Technology Management and a bachelor's degree in Telecommunication Engineering. His vision is to build an AI product using a graph neural network for students struggling with mental illness.