Popularity, Jobs, LLM Proficiency, Concurrency Complexity, and Deployment Complexity
Five factors now drive language choice: developer adoption, job market demand, LLM code generation quality, concurrency handling, and deployment complexity. Here’s how they intersect.
Introduction
If you are using popularity as a proxy for “goodness” you are missing key information. Popularity is only one vector of importance (though influenced by the others). But it’s important that you consider all this in context. The scores shared around are for ALL developers, which is heavily biased in numbers towards front-end. There’s just more web developers in the world.
“Goodness” is a matter of “what problem are you trying to solve?” Which today, means some kind of front-end, some cloud back-end, a data store, and maybe mobile. In short, the ability to deploy your code easily matters. It also needs to scale, so concurrency matters too.
But if you are not also considering how well an LLM can work in your language choice it could have massive ramifications for you.
The Rankings
Popularity (GitHub Octoverse 2025, TIOBE, Stack Overflow)
| Rank | Language | Key Data |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | TypeScript | #1 GitHub (Aug 2025), 2.64M contributors, +66.6% YoY |
| 2 | Python | TIOBE Language of Year 2024, +48.8% YoY |
| 3 | JavaScript | 62% developer usage, +24.8% YoY (slowest) |
| 4 | Java | Enterprise staple |
| 5 | C++ | Top 6 = 80% of new repos |
| 6 | C# | TIOBE 2025 contender |
| 7 | C | Systems foundation |
| 8 | Go | Replaced PHP in TIOBE top 10 |
| 9 | Rust | 83% favorability, 9 years running |
| 10 | PHP | Dropped from TIOBE top 10 |
TypeScript overtaking Python/JavaScript is the biggest language shift in a decade.
Job Demand (DevJobsScanner, 12M+ postings, Jan 2023 - Dec 2024)
| Rank | Language | Share | Postings |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | JS/TS | 31% | 651K |
| 2 | Python | 20% | 408K |
| 3 | Java | 15% | ~300K |
| 4 | C# | 12% | 246K |
| 5 | PHP | 10% | ~200K |
| 6 | C/C++ | 8% | ~160K |
| 7 | Go | 5% | ~100K |
| 8 | Ruby | 3% | ~60K |
| 9 | Kotlin | 2% | ~40K |
| 10 | Rust | 1% | ~20K |
Statista: Python, JavaScript, Java each sought by ~40% of recruiters.
LLM Code Generation Proficiency
| Rank | Language | Quality | Reason |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Python | Exceptional | 90-97% of benchmark solutions; largest corpus |
| 2 | JavaScript | Excellent | Massive training data |
| 3 | TypeScript | Excellent | JS similarity + type inference |
| 4 | Java | Very Good | Well-represented |
| 5 | C++ | Very Good | HumanEval-X core |
| 6 | Go | Very Good | Clean syntax |
| 7 | C# | Good | .NET docs |
| 8 | Rust | Good | Small but growing corpus |
| 9 | PHP | Good | Legacy codebase |
| 10 | Ruby | Moderate | Smaller corpus |
94% of LLM-generated code errors are type-related. TypeScript catches these at compile time.
Concurrency Complexity (Easiest to Hardest)
| Rank | Language | Complexity | Model | Why |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Go | Easiest | Goroutines + Channels | Built-in, lightweight, millions of goroutines |
| 2 | Kotlin | Easy | Coroutines | Structured concurrency, suspend functions |
| 3 | C# | Easy | async/await + TPL | Well-designed, Task Parallel Library |
| 4 | JavaScript | Easy | Event Loop + async/await | Single-threaded, no race conditions possible |
| 5 | TypeScript | Easy | Same as JavaScript | Single-threaded, type-safe async |
| 6 | Java | Moderate | Threads + Virtual Threads | Mature but verbose, Project Loom helps |
| 7 | Python | Hard | GIL + asyncio | GIL blocks true parallelism, multiprocessing complex |
| 8 | Rust | Hard | Ownership + async | Compile-time safety, but steep learning curve |
| 9 | C++ | Very Hard | std::thread + mutexes | Manual management, race conditions easy |
| 10 | C | Hardest | pthreads | Completely manual, error-prone |
Concurrency model comparison:
| Model | Languages | Pros | Cons |
|---|---|---|---|
| Goroutines | Go | Lightweight, simple syntax | Less control than threads |
| Coroutines | Kotlin, Python | Structured, cancellable | Language-specific |
| async/await | JS, TS, C#, Rust | Readable, widely adopted | Colored functions problem |
| Virtual Threads | Java 21+ | Lightweight, familiar API | New, ecosystem catching up |
| OS Threads | C, C++, Java | Full control, true parallelism | Heavy, race condition risks |
Go’s concurrency advantage:
- Goroutines use ~2KB stack (vs ~1MB for OS threads)
- Can run millions of concurrent goroutines
- Channels provide safe communication between goroutines
- Built into language from day one, not an afterthought
- “Don’t communicate by sharing memory; share memory by communicating”
Python’s concurrency challenges:
- GIL (Global Interpreter Lock) prevents true multi-threading
- 256-core server? Python uses 1 core for threads
- Python 3.13 makes GIL optional (experimental)
- Workarounds: multiprocessing (IPC overhead), asyncio (I/O only)
- 6x faster with GIL disabled in benchmarks
Rust’s concurrency trade-off:
- Ownership model prevents data races at compile time
- “Fearless concurrency” - if it compiles, no race conditions
- Steeper learning curve than Go
- Better for CPU-bound, safety-critical applications
- Benchmarks: 15ms vs Go’s 20ms for 1,000 concurrent requests
JavaScript’s simple model:
- Single-threaded event loop - no race conditions possible
- async/await for I/O-bound operations
- Web Workers for CPU-bound (limited communication)
- Great for I/O-heavy web servers
- Not suitable for CPU-intensive parallel work
Deployment Complexity (Easiest to Hardest)
| Rank | Language | Complexity | Why |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Go | Easiest | Single static binary, trivial cross-compilation |
| 2 | Rust | Easy | Single binary, excellent cross-compilation, no runtime |
| 3 | C | Easy | Native binary, but manual dependency management |
| 4 | Java/Kotlin | Moderate | JVM required, but mature ecosystem |
| 5 | C# | Moderate | .NET runtime, but good tooling, self-contained option |
| 6 | C++ | Moderate | Native binary, but complex build systems, ABI issues |
| 7 | TypeScript | Moderate | Compiles to JS, needs Node.js or bundler |
| 8 | JavaScript | Moderate | node_modules bloat, 30% depend on native binaries |
| 9 | PHP | Moderate | Needs web server + PHP runtime |
| 10 | Python | Hardest | Virtual env hell, version conflicts, native extension issues |
Deployment categories:
| Category | Languages | Characteristics |
|---|---|---|
| Single Binary | Go, Rust, C | No runtime, easy distribution |
| Runtime Required | Java, C#, Python, JS, PHP | Need interpreter or VM |
| Complexity Factors | Python, JS, C++ | Dependencies, ARM vs x86 |
Python’s deployment challenges:
- “Python dependency hell” returns ~2M Google results
- Virtual environments required to isolate projects
- Native extensions (numpy, pandas) have platform-specific wheels
- Version conflicts between projects sharing system Python
- Tools proliferation: pip, venv, pyenv, poetry, pipenv, uv
Go’s deployment advantage:
go buildproduces single executable with all dependencies- Cross-compile with
GOOS=linux GOARCH=arm64 go build - No interpreter, no virtual environment, no dependency resolution at runtime
- Same binary runs anywhere (with matching OS/arch)
ARM vs x86 considerations:
- 85%+ of open-source apps now have ARM64 builds
- Apple Rosetta 2: 10-20% performance penalty for x86 translation
- Windows Prism: 70-80% native speed for emulated x86
- Go/Rust: trivial cross-compilation
- Python/JS: need matching native extensions per platform
Architecture
Language Tiers (5 factors):
| Tier | Languages | Strengths |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Go | Best deployment + best concurrency |
| 1 | TypeScript | Best popularity + catches LLM errors |
| 1 | Python | Best LLM accuracy + AI/ML ecosystem |
| 2 | Rust, Java, C#, Kotlin | Trade-offs between factors |
| 3 | C++, JavaScript, PHP, C | Specialist domains |
Optimal paths to production:
| Language | Why Optimal |
|---|---|
| Go | Best deployment + best concurrency + good LLM |
| TypeScript | Best popularity + catches LLM errors + easy async |
| Python | Best LLM accuracy + AI/ML (accept concurrency pain) |
Language Selection Decision Tree:
| If You Need... | Choose | Because |
|---|---|---|
| High concurrency + deploy | Go | Goroutines + single binary |
| AI/ML work | Python | Best LLM accuracy, ecosystem |
| Web development | TypeScript | Popularity, type safety, easy async |
| CPU-bound parallel | Rust | Fearless concurrency, performance |
| Enterprise apps | Java or C# | Mature ecosystem, virtual threads |
| Systems programming | Rust or C++ | Memory control, performance |
Tier Analysis
Tier 1: Go, TypeScript, Python
- Go: Easiest deployment AND concurrency, single binary, goroutines
- TypeScript: #1 popularity, catches 94% of LLM errors, simple async model
- Python: Best LLM accuracy, AI/ML essential, but concurrency and deployment pain
Tier 2: Rust, Java, C#, Kotlin
- Rust: Excellent deployment, fearless concurrency, steep learning curve
- Java: Mature ecosystem, virtual threads in Java 21+
- C#: Good tooling, excellent async/await
- Kotlin: Coroutines are elegant, Android ecosystem
Tier 3: C++, JavaScript, PHP, C
- C++: Performance-critical, complex concurrency
- JavaScript: Foundation for TS, single-threaded limits
- PHP: Web legacy, limited concurrency
- C: Maximum control, maximum complexity
Recommendations
Career:
| Priority | Languages | Rationale |
|---|---|---|
| Core | Python + TypeScript | Covers most jobs |
| Production | Add Go | Deployment + concurrency |
| Enterprise | Add Java or C# | Corporate demand, virtual threads |
| Systems | Rust | Safety + performance |
By workload type:
| Workload | Best Choice | Why |
|---|---|---|
| High concurrency | Go | Millions of goroutines, simple syntax |
| I/O-bound servers | Go, TS, C# | Efficient async models |
| CPU-bound parallel | Rust | Fearless concurrency, best perf |
| AI/ML | Python | Accept GIL, use multiprocessing |
| Web frontend | TypeScript | Single-threaded is fine |
| Embedded/IoT | Rust or C | Control over resources |
LLM-assisted development:
| Use Case | Language | Note |
|---|---|---|
| Algorithms, scripts | Python | Best accuracy |
| Web development | TypeScript | Type hints improve accuracy |
| Concurrent services | Go | Good LLM support + easy concurrency |
| Systems code | Rust | Verify ownership/lifetime manually |
Sources
- GitHub Octoverse 2025
- TIOBE Index
- Stack Overflow 2024
- DevJobsScanner
- Statista Recruiter Survey
- MultiPL-E
- arXiv LLM Language Bias
- Bitfield Consulting - Rust vs Go
- Python Dependency Hell
- Concurrency Comparison - Deepu
- Python GIL Removal
- Java Virtual Threads
Bottom Line
The five-factor analysis reveals a nuanced picture:
| Factor | Winner |
|---|---|
| Popularity | TypeScript |
| Job Demand | JavaScript/TypeScript |
| LLM Proficiency | Python |
| Concurrency Ease | Go |
| Deployment Ease | Go |
Go wins two factors. Its combination of simple concurrency (goroutines), easy deployment (single binary), and good LLM support makes it the strongest all-around choice for production services in 2026.
The practical takeaway:
- Python + TypeScript covers the widest job opportunity space
- Go is the dark horse - best for production services needing concurrency and deployment simplicity
- Rust when you need maximum performance and safety, accepting the learning curve
- Python’s concurrency limitations (GIL) are a real constraint for CPU-bound parallel work
For AI/ML work, accept Python’s complexity - it’s unavoidable. For high-concurrency production services, Go’s advantages compound: simple concurrency model, easy deployment, good LLM support, and a growing job market.