Best Suited Programming Languages for IoT Projects

By NIIT Editorial

Published on 12/01/2021

6 minutes

The simplest of explanations for the Internet of Things (IoT) glosses the diversity of technologies that this field brings together, just to have applications communicate over the internet. From cloud computing to networking and application integration to remote sensing, a lot goes on behind the scenes as the action unfolds on-screen.

While this high-end interplay of technologies is used by professionals to base their IoT career choices on, there is a more fundamental part that people often ignore. Programming. After all, it is about making applications speak to each other and that cannot transpire without code, can it? Therefore, today we’ll share our top picks for the best-fit programming languages for IoT projects.

Java

Java’s ubiquity is valued at a premium or so its history states. Being governed by the Write Once Run Anywhere principle, the code can be compiled across a variety of platforms without going through compilation again. Java is a high-level language and still commands faster runtime respect about Python which is yet another fan favorite for coders. The fact that it is object-oriented permits coders to engineer applications for both the edge as well as the cloud node. With multi-threading and automatic memory management, Java fits the bill for IoT projects all day long.

Python

Python constantly features in Stackoverflow surveys as the default programming bestie. Its code is low-volume, easy to debug, and being interpreted in style allows it to buttress OOPs functionalities as well as structured programming. Python code is compatible with all major operating systems such as Windows, Linux, and Mac due to which the same features can be extended to IoT applications based on Python. Data-intensive applications that require interoperability with other languages such as Linux, c++, java, etc. can be managed without breaking a sweat when structured with python.

C/C++

Programming language C has been around since time immemorial. For many, it is just as elementary to the foundations of programming as it is to high-level coding tasks. It supports the use of micro-controllers that are widely deployed in IoT applications. In an IoT Developers survey, C earned the top spot for constrained devices followed by C++ in the second position.

LUA

It is a multi-paradigm programming language that provides a condensed version of ready-to-use universal features that can be applied to multiple problem types. It is light-weight and is primarily used for embedded applications. It is also cross-platform and has found everyday use cases in video game development. Its framework Node.lua supported by the native LUA interpreter encourages programmers to develop IoT applications that are portable across devices.

Golang

Golang is a product of the Google trio of Robert Griesemer, Robert Pike, and Ken Thompson. Whether inadvertently or not, it encompasses the best of C programming language overcoming its shortcomings. In other words, it offers memory safety, structural typing, and garbage collection along with CSP-style concurrency. Go can be compiled to JavaScript using the Gopher JS transpiler for front end development. From building content management systems such as Kubernetes to being used in the Ethereum Blockchain Golang has proven its interdisciplinary applications. The fact that Golang is custom built to optimise hardware processes for complete resource utilisation makes it appropriate for IoT projects.

PHPoC

It is an Internet-of-Things hardware platform that has been developed based on PHP (Hypertext Processor) programming language. While it fits perfectly into the fray for purposes of web development, it is also considered good for general-purpose IoT application development. In addition to imbibing characteristics of PHP, it also adds new feature sets that are leveraged to communicate with hardware devices such as TIMER/COUNTER, UART, I/O among others.

Rust

Rust was designed for performance and security, two parameters that assume high importance in IoT application development. Just like the programming language C/C++, it offers low overhead runtime and memory safety by a borrow checker. Note that memory safety in Rust is different from that in C/C++ as the former does it without garbage collection. The safety applications of Rust have spurred interest from Microsoft which is experimenting with it. In 2016, it was voted the most loved programming language in a Stack Overflow Developer Survey.