More and more IoT solutions are launched and rolled out on the market. No wonder IoT programming providers have become deeply concerned about optimizing the software development workflow. Challenges are plenty, from choosing the right cloud environment and functional hardware to switching the programming languages and architecture design. So, developers must thoroughly consider each aspect to come up with the winning option that ideally works for their projects.
One of the proven ways to enhance the development process is to pick up the right IoT coding language.
In this article, Webbylab’s experts will explain the role of programming languages in IoT, which of the listed can bring the most to your project development, the best programming language for IoT in 2023, and beyond. We’ll also pay specific attention to Java Script and C++ as these are the two technologies WebbyLab often employs for IoT development projects.
While the idea of creating IoT devices has existed for a long time, its practical development became possible with numerous tech advancements and innovative solutions.
Having analyzed the basic technologies applied to IoT development, let’s now go deeper into one of its most essential components – development languages. In fact, IoT coding languages are responsible for the device’s connectivity and functionality through the specific web or mobile-based environment.
With a proven experience in IoT development, Webbylab experts have researched different coding options currently trending within the industry and will remain relevant in 2023. Keep on reading to find out the best programming language for IoT that can ideally work for your project today!
JavaScript is a universal IoT programming language, which can be applied for both back-end and front-end processes. Among its benefits are a low entry level and many specialized coders on the market. It works ideally for the event-driven architecture and allows the scale of the projects with the most efficient time and resource (memory, RAM, CPU) consumption.
Webbylab has been working with JS from its birth, and not without reason. A great advantage of JavaScript lies in building dynamic interfaces: it enables constructing a functional layout for a certain device, covering sensors of different types (boolean, string, numeric, etc.). With JavaScript, developers can describe all the elements of the device interface on the web or mobile using JSON format, the structure of which ideally works for such kind of data.
For most developers today, C/C++ languages are challenging to learn. Because of that, the number of candidates for hire for the role of C/C++ programming engineer on the job market is relatively low.
However, C/C++ languages are probably the most efficient option for writing firmware for IoT devices due to their high performance, portability (for instance, the ability to execute code on different systems/microcontrollers), and a large number of ready-made libraries available.
Harnessing the C/C++ potential, Webbylab has widely used these languages for our IoT projects. To draw an example, for some of our recent IoT devices, we’ve used the basic microcontroller ESP32, the official framework of which employs C language. Utilizing the official frameworks allows IoT developers to make the most of the embedded development and enhance the device’s productivity. That is why we had no doubts about which IoT coding language to use for these types of projects.
Though Go is relatively new, it’s been widely implemented across a variety of IoT projects due to its variety of benefits. In particular, this language provides optimized coding, which is a must-have for small computing devices with limited power and memory resources.
What makes Go stand out from the competition among the other programming languages for IoT devices is its concurrency – the ability to run thousands of data streams simultaneously and asynchronously. Finally, it’s extremely intuitive and user-friendly, so it doesn’t require as much effort to learn as, for example, C language.
Though it’s a pretty unusual option in the list of programming languages for IoT devices, LUA language has plenty of features that can come in handy for an IoT ecosystem. It is powerful and simple enough to ensure the efficient functioning of IoT devices.
Unlike most of its alternatives, this language is more user-friendly and flexible, requires fewer code lines for the program execution, and features a robust framework for building IoT-specific apps with IoT-centric functionalities (portability, battery efficiency, data management, etc.).
ParaSail is a simplified language that supports parallel programming through advanced data structures while maintaining high flexibility and efficiency. This language eliminates the need for numerous rules to improve coding simplicity and works perfectly for irregular computations.
What makes ParaSail really helpful in IoT is the automatic region-based storage management and generalized indexing, which are extremely important for efficient data structuring.
The major advantages of Python language in IoT development are its simple syntax feature and nearly seamless code readability. Therefore, it is an excellent option for object-oriented, structured, and functional programming and can be a good fit for IoT apps that require extensive data analysis.
Some other powerful benefits of Python that make it stand out from the list are high integrability with other programming languages like Java and C++, comprehensive library, and support of diverse platforms covering Linux and Windows OS.
This language has become trendy mainly because of its high portability. Because of its Write Once Run Anywhere (WORA) principle, Java developers can build the code on their computers and move it to any environment (smartphone, server, chips, etc.) using a Java Virtual Machine.
In the IoT world, Java language is used for embedded development. It is object-oriented, features the least hardware dependency and supports a vast number of libraries, which makes it one of the best options for IoT solutions.
You won’t meet Rust very often among the must-have languages for IoT due to its smaller popularity. However, it’s an excellent language that covers all the benefits of C and C++ and is faster than these options. Some other characteristics of Rust that may come in handy for IoT development are airtight documentation, resourceful error messages, and a solid compiler.
For a starter or senior developer who values memory management and runtime capabilities, Rust can be the right alternative.
An experienced programmer will likely choose Swift for the IoT applications for iOS devices. This language is fast and secure and offers lots of programming benefits for IoT development. Additionally, it has a simple syntax and is easy to code with, directly impacting the development speed and the quality of the result.
So, if you were wondering what programming language is used for IoT beyond the popular JS and C/C++, give it a try to Swift.
Initially designed for web app development, today PHP can be also used for the IoT as well. It features high flexibility at a lower cost, so that’s a decent language alternative for projects aimed to achieve the highest ROI performance.
Additionally, this language has become a base for the PHP on Chip (PHPoC) solutions, which are commonly applied for launching dynamic web applications for IoT.
So far, we’ve covered a vast selection of IoT development solutions, so now you will better understand which language is used for IoT projects in your case.
Among many programming languages for IoT development present in today’s IT industry, even seasoned programmers can become puzzled about which of the options to choose for their project. For sure, it’s critical to come up with the most efficient language based on the development specifics, hardware, and functionality to successfully connect the IoT components with each other.
To choose the perfect option among the popular Internet of Things programming languages, we recommend to consider the following:
IoT is a multilingual ecosystem, so the coder should select the programming language for IoT based on the hardware capabilities, data work, and computing power. In other words, the final decision on the language focus for IoT development will strongly depend on the development specifics and the project’s goals.
You will be interested to learn about 5 cases of (IoT) in consumer electronics market
So far, the Webbylab company has participated in launching functional, feature-rich, and profitable IoT software solutions for different industries. Our dedicated developers have years of experience working with many programming languages for IoT, including JavaScript, C/C++, NodeJs, PHP, React, and many more. Numerous successful projects and vast expertise in IoT development are continually helping our crew build prototypes and MVPs, smart home automation platforms, and the embedded development process.
In our portfolio, you can discover various cases of the client projects we heavily contributed to (2smart, Ezlo, etc.), as well as the custom Webbylab IoT solutions launched from scratch (such as Propuskator).
Whether you have an IoT project and are looking for an expert team for its implementation or need a professional consultation concerning the IoT development language for your smart device – Webbylab’s experts are always here to help!
The development specifics and characteristics of Internet of Things programming languages have a huge impact on the programming workflow, delivery time, and budget, as well as the quality of your final product. However, being aware of the basic features of each open up various lucrative opportunities that can be leveraged within a certain project and bring more profits as a result.
You have now revealed the top-rated IoT programming languages for 2023 and beyond, and can now better understand the strongest advantages of each. So, there’s never been the best moment to start working on your IoT project!
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Written by:
Head of IoT at Webbylab
Kostiantyn started his career in IT at Webbylab, where he quickly grew from the position of a tester to the role of a manager and business analyst. When the company’s management decided to develop the IoT direction, Kostia became one of its key figures.
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