7 Programming Languages To Excel in IoT for 2020 and beyond

The growing industry of the industrial Internet of Things (Industrial IoT, IIoT) is attracting the attention of venture capital and industrial investors. A few years ago, SAP created a €2 billion fund to invest in the Internet of Things. One of the key areas of which is the virtualization of supply chains using intelligent sensors and machine learning. In February 2019, the Chinese Alibaba Group invested $13 million in the German IIoT startup Konux, which increases the punctuality of trains and railway capacity through predictive maintenance planning. Similar solutions will be in demand in all countries.

“IoT is not just a fashionable concept, it is an inevitable future. Sensors, sensors, devices, combined Wi-Fi – all of this is rapidly becoming part of our homes and offices. Is it hard to become an IoT network creator and what languages should we first learn at least at the application level?” Here are 7 Programming Languages to watch …

7 Programming Languages To Excel in IoT

Sensors and controllers: C

As to the question of IoT do not approach, and will have to start with a primitive level, namely with controllers and sensors. Thanks to them, C remains one of the most popular programming languages in the world. Thus for the beginner it is the easiest part for fast mastering as, first, target devices almost always have the detailed instruction and the libraries which are not demanding good knowledge of language (it is more necessary for understanding), and secondly, functionality of use bribes the simplicity.

For example, to get the current value from the temperature sensor, you just need to send a data packet and get the answer according to the instruction (interface). Everything. No graphical shells, no redundant survival and data protection, and in the case of systems like Arduino, you don’t even have to configure anything. This language provides direct access to low-level hardware APIs. Thanks to its similarity to the machine language C, it is extremely fast and flexible and is perfect for IoT devices with low processing power.

Software for single-board devices: C++, Java

Similar to its predecessor, C, C++ is widely used when designing embedded systems. However, the main advantage of C++ in computing power, so it is an alternative to C for more complex tasks.

C++ is best used for programming taking into account the peculiarities of hardware. It is well combined with Linux, the leading operating system of the Internet of Things. But compared to Java, it loses in portability.

Interaction not with elementary sensors, and slightly more complex microcontrollers, will require from you language C++. From the point of view of IoT that is not yet a high level, but rather suitable for configuring individual components from scratch: the organization of recording and access to memory, internal arbitration, checking the integrity of packages and similar simple operations. Here ready libraries will come to the aid again, but without knowledge of the language you won’t go far: you will have to master at the level of “C++ for dummies”.

If it is a question of high-grade single-board computers, like Raspberry Pi, here knowledge Java can help with creation of a convenient cover for reception and processing of the data from all surrounding devices and the further use on a remote platform. Of course, this functionality can be created with the help of C++ or transferred to the final access devices, but in fact this way is not easier.

Android mobile devices: Java

Now let’s move on to our favorite activity – creating applications for everyday interaction, that is, the interface for a mobile phone. Let’s begin with Android and, accordingly, Java. The key here is a question of depth of demanded knowledge. If the organisation of simple interaction with visualisation of the data received from the central personal computer or directly gauges is required, good knowledge of interfaces and mediocre Java will quite suffice.

The most common programming language for the Internet of Things Java is used in various areas, from server programming to mobile applications for Android. According to the loT Developer Survey 2017 report by the non-profit Eclipse Foundation, Java leads the list of programming languages used in IoT development, especially gateways and clouds. So this specialization is a priority in programming and should be your first priority

If you want to create something more serious than an application for yourself and your friends, you will have to spend much more time with books. And not only on Java.

The demand for Java in 2018 decreased by about 6,000 jobs compared to 2017. But this programming language is still popular. Java has been used by millions of developers and billions of devices around the world for over 20 years. It can run on any hardware and operating system through a virtual Java machine.

All Android applications are based on Java. 90% of Fortune 500 companies use Java as their server programming language.

Mobile iOS devices: Swift

The programming language for iOS and macOS, released by Apple in 2014. Many developer jobs require “iOS”, without specifying a specific language. Swift is steadily gaining popularity, including in the Internet of Things.

The same situation with our favorite “apple” devices: a nice functional application without the need to process data and allocate resources can be made after the introductory course in Swift, but in order to create a full remote and distributed access to the system you will have to make serious use of the literature.

PC software: C#

When you need large amounts of memory (video surveillance cameras or big data), of course, you can’t do without using a server or at least a private computer. It is clear that you can create an application for a computer in almost any language, but if we take into account the prevalence of Windows, the language should certainly be C#.

Direct interaction interfaces: JavaScript

Javascript is the basic technology of modern web development. According to the annual StackOverflow Developer Survey, it has been one of the most widely used programming languages for the past five years.

Among other applications, javascript is most commonly used as an event-driven programming language for Iot systems. It is suitable for managing large networks of connected devices and is particularly good when you need to mass-process some tasks without waiting for others to complete. One of the main advantages of javascript for the IoT is its high resource efficiency.

As a rule, ready-made systems or partially ready (for example, RaZberry) offer the user to interact with IoT through the built-in browser of any handy gadget. Naturally, here, in the simplest case, you need to know JS, in a slightly more advanced case – Ruby.

This approach is very convenient for detailed configuration of the system, so it is important not only to create an interface, but also to think seriously about the security of access. And this will require from the creator of the maximum knowledge of individual components, protocols, interfaces and languages.

Conclusion

To make your home a simple, closed-loop, smart system, you’ll need more enthusiasm and money than the weeks and months you spend behind books on programming and circuitry. But in case you decide to do IoT seriously, the whole life will seem little for mastering all disciplines at a professional level.

By Frank Hamilton, who is a blogger and translator from Manchester. He is a professional writing expert in such topics as blogging, digital marketing and self-education.He also loves traveling and speaks Spanish, French, German and English. See more about his work here.

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