JavaScript

JavaScript commands the largest developer community, with 67% of Stack Overflow respondents using it—more than any other language on this list. This dominance is reinforced by three major runtimes—Node.js 22, Bun 1.x, and Deno 2.0—each offering distinct performance gains: Bun, for instance, claims startup times 4x faster than Node.js. Its universal browser and server presence makes it an unavoidable foundation for any web developer, outperforming #6 Kotlin and #7 Swift in cross-platform applicability.