What Front End Programming Languages Should You Learn?

William Imoh · Improve this Guide

Just starting out in web or mobile development? You may feel swamped by all the programming languages, libraries, and frameworks. With new options popping up daily, it’s easy to get overwhelmed. This guide will help you navigate that initial confusion.

As someone who’s been through this process for over a decade, I’ve made this post to make your learning journey smoother.

I’ll focus on the essential front-end languages and recommend a few important frameworks and libraries. This will equip you with the knowledge needed to make informed decisions, provide a roadmap to help you focus on the right skills, and help you build a rewarding career in front-end development.

What are Languages, Libraries, and Frameworks?

Before we explore the front end languages, libraries, and frameworks to learn in 2024, it is important to understand what they are and the differences between them.

Languages are the core programming languages that developers use to write code. They have defined syntax, semantics, and rules for writing instructions that computers can execute and understand. Examples include:

• JavaScript
• TypeScript
• Dart
• Kotlin

Libraries are collections of pre-written code that developers can use to perform specific tasks. They save time and improve productivity because developers don’t have to write code from scratch. Libraries extend the functionality of a programming language by providing functions, methods, and classes that can be imported and used. Examples include:

• React
• Anime.js
• Chart.js
• JQuery

Front-end frameworks are more comprehensive than libraries as they provide a structure or skeleton with sets of rules for building applications. They enforce architecture and offer tools, libraries, and components to streamline developments. Examples include:

• Vue
• Angular
• Flutter

The major differences are that languages are used to write code, libraries provide reusable functions, and frameworks offer a structured approach to developing applications.

Top front-end languages to learn in 2024

These are the best front-end languages you should learn in 2024:

For web front-end development:

• HyperText Markup Language (HTML)
• Cascading Style Sheets (CSS)
• JavaScript
• TypeScript

For mobile front-end development:

• Dart
• Swift
• Kotlin

HyperText Markup Language (HTML)

HTML is the standard markup language for creating web pages. It defines the structure and layout of content within a web browser, allowing for the display of text, images, videos, and more that users interact with. HTML is beginner-friendly, supported across multiple browsers, and fundamental to web development.

HTML depends on languages like CSS and JavaScript to achieve full functionality, and it is mostly limited to web-based projects. Beyond being the backbone of web applications, it also plays an integral role in improving application accessibility, enhancing search engine optimization (SEO), and enabling assistive technologies to interpret and present content accurately.

Why is it important

• HTML is the foundational language for creating web pages.
• It defines the structure and content of the web pages.
• It is widely accepted and quick to grasp.

Why you should learn it

• It is the starting point of anything web development.
• It is the foundation for structuring content effectively.
• Required for creating or understanding web content.
• It is easy to test and debug.

Cascading Style Sheets (CSS)

CSS plays a crucial role in determining the appearance and organization of web content. When used in conjunction with HTML, it enhances the appearance and layout of web pages, enabling the creation of responsive designs that adapt to various screen sizes. CSS handles colors, fonts, spacing, and more, allowing developers to create visually appealing user interfaces.

Despite advancements in web technologies, CSS remains a powerful styling tool that is easy to start with. It has a robust ecosystem of libraries and frameworks, such as Tailwind CSS, Bootstrap, and Foundation, which facilitate the creation of aesthetically pleasing user interfaces.

Why is it important

• It is crucial for styling and visually enhancing web pages.
• It controls the overall appearance of the web by defining layouts, colors, and fonts.
• It promotes consistency across platforms.

Why you should learn it

• It is an integral skill for front-end developers.
• It helps you improve the application’s user experience (UX).
• It enables the creation of visually appealing applications and websites.

JavaScript

JavaScript is a versatile front end language used in conjunction with HTML and CSS to enhance the interaction of web pages. With features like excellent speed and cross-browser compatibility, JavaScript enables developers to add dynamic elements such as form validation, animations, 2D/3D graphics, dynamic updates to web pages without requiring a page refresh, and other interactive features to web applications.

JavaScript is essential for web development and has a vast ecosystem of libraries and frameworks for building applications across multiple platforms.

JavaScript implementation varies across different browsers, creating vulnerabilities for users. They may face threats such as unauthorized data access and system manipulation by injecting malicious code. Additionally, if JavaScript is disabled in a browser, certain features and functionality might not work, adversely affecting the user experience.

Why is it important

• It is a versatile scripting language for adding interaction and dynamism to web content.
• It is widely supported by all modern web browsers.
• Seamlessly integrate with other languages.

Why you should learn it

• It is essential for creating interactive web pages
• Beyond the web, you can use it for mobile app and server-side development.
• Foundation for various libraries and frameworks across all platforms.

Want to get started with JavaScript or expand your current skills? You can explore the complete JavaScript roadmap.

TypeScript

TypeScript is a robust and widely used front end language developed by Microsoft, which extends JavaScript by adding static typing and other advanced features. TypeScript code transpiles to JavaScript and can run seamlessly wherever JavaScript runs, making it a highly versatile programming language for front-end development.

Web developers love TypeScript because it enhances their experience by identifying runtime errors during development and providing fixes, speeding up the development process.

TypeScript has a steeper learning curve than JavaScript, and it reduces development speed because an additional compilation step is required.

Why is it important

• Adds static types to your codebase.
• Makes it easy to write and maintain large-scale applications.
• Improves code quality as errors catch early.

Why you should learn it

• Increasingly adopted for building enterprise-level applications.
• Enhances JavaScript with type safety and modern features

Want to get started with TypeScript or expand your current skills? You can explore the complete TypeScript roadmap.

Dart

Dart is a powerful, multi-purpose, and modern programming language designed for building high-quality applications on various platforms. It offers features such as sound null safety, object-oriented programming (OOP), pattern matching, and more, enabling developers to build and model robust software.

Dart is the primary language for Flutter, a cross-platform runtime environment that enables compilation to native code. Flutter provides portability and speed for building applications across web and mobile platforms using a single codebase.

Dart is strongly integrated with the Flutter framework, which may limit its support and resources outside of the framework. Moreover, Dart has limited adoption compared to other front end languages, restricting its usage in other domains.

Why is it important

• It is optimized for web, mobile, and server applications.
• It has a smooth developer experience and fast performance.

Why you should learn it

• It enables cross-platform development from a single codebase.
• Gaining popularity and is widely adopted due to Flutter (Google’s UI Kit).

Swift

Swift is a high-level, multi-paradigm, compiled programming language developed for all Apple platforms. It was released in 2014 to replace Apple’s earlier programming language, Objective-C. Swift is known for its speed, modernity, and safety, making it ideal for building iOS (mobile apps), macOS (desktop), and other Apple platforms.

Swift is a fast, secure, and versatile language that offers automatic memory management and a smaller memory footprint due to its integrated standard libraries.

Swift is primarily designed to support Apple’s operating systems and has limited support for cross-platform development.

Why is it important

• It is the main language for iOS development.
• It offers modern features, safety, and performance.

Why you should learn it

• It is essential for developing applications within Apple’s ecosystem.
• Relatively easy to learn and use, yet powerful for professional native development.

Kotlin

Kotlin is a cross-platform, statically typed, general-purpose programming language renowned for building robust and scalable applications. It serves as Google’s preferred language for Android app development. Initially released in July 2011, Kotlin has rapidly expanded its adoption beyond mobile app development. Thanks to its modern syntax and elegant design, it is now employed for server-side, full-stack, and data science applications.

Kotlin draws inspiration from multiple programming languages, combining the best aspects of each. Based on Java but with enhanced capabilities, reliability, and ease of maintenance, Kotlin is the go-to language for developing modern Android applications and is backed by major organizations.

However, it’s worth noting that compared to Java, job opportunities and adoption of Kotlin across software development are limited.

Why is it important

• It is the preferred language for Android app development.
• It offers modern features, safety, and performance.

Why you should learn it

• It is becoming the standard for Android development.
• It is concise, safe, and compatible with existing Java codes.
• Can be used for both Android and server-side development.

The table below shows a quick summary of each language’s use cases as a front end language.

Top front-end frameworks and libraries to learn in 2024

While front end languages are essential for creating robust applications that meet business needs, they can become burdensome when developing medium to large applications. Issues like lack of code reusability, maintainability challenges, time-consuming development, and repetition may arise.

Frameworks and libraries offer a solution by providing a structured approach to application development. They include pre-written code, reusable functions, coding standards, and architectural patterns that developers can leverage for common tasks, saving time and effort. Additionally, frameworks often have built-in security features that help JavaScript code execute safely on users’ computers. They also enhance scalability and performance optimization, improving overall software quality.

You should explore these frontend frameworks and libraries in 2024:

• React
• Vue
• Angular
• Svelte
• Solid.js
• Next.js
• Remix
• Nuxt
• Astro

React

React is a widely adopted JavaScript library developed by Meta and a vibrant community of individual contributors. It empowers developers to construct interactive user interfaces by assembling individual pieces known as components. React provides a reusable modular architecture through reusable components and a sophisticated rendering engine, facilitating the creation and management of small-to-large applications.

Over the years, React has undergone technological advancements and has become the foundation for various frameworks such as Next.js, Gatsby, and Remix. These frameworks build upon React’s core capabilities, offering additional features and functionalities to streamline frontend development.

You can learn more details by exploring the React roadmap.

Vue

Vue is a progressive JavaScript framework designed for developing interactive web applications, leveraging the model-view-view model (MVVM) architecture to separate the user interface from the application’s business logic. Vue extends HTML elements to facilitate the creation of reusable code components. It provides several built-in features, including templating, reactivity, and transitions. Additionally, Vue offers support for various libraries, making it suitable for developing applications like Single-Page Applications (SPAs), desktop and mobile applications of various scales, from small projects to large enterprise applications.

Vue has also become the foundation of frameworks like Nuxt.js, VuePress, and Vuetify, offering pre-built components, server-side rendering, themes, and much more for building complex websites and applications. Its gentle learning curve makes it a popular choice for beginners starting front-end development.

You can learn more details by exploring the Vue roadmap.

Angular

Angular is an open source JavaScript framework developed by the Angular team at Google with contributions from individual developers. Built on TypeScript, Angular provides a well-structured framework with features like two-way data binding, reactive programming, dependency injection, and modular architecture. These features enable developers to build enterprise-grade applications.

Although Angular has a steep learning curve, it has significantly influenced the web development community. Many other frameworks and open-source libraries have drawn inspiration from Angular’s paradigm and architectural patterns, attesting to its influence and popularity.

You can learn more details by exploring the Angular roadmap.

Svelte

Svelte is an open-source component-based front-end framework for building web applications. It adheres to the paradigm of existing web frameworks but introduces a unique approach that involves less code, no virtual Document Object Model (DOM), and built-in reactivity. Svelte also serves as the foundation for frameworks like SvelteKit, which is a library for building user interfaces compatible with both legacy and modern web browsers.

Solid.js

Solid.js is a declarative JavaScript framework for building UI with maximum control over reactivity; it does not re-render to get updates. It shares similarities with React but doesn’t use the virtual DOM. Instead, it uses a compiler that converts its code to vanilla JavaScript. Solid.js supports all modern library features like fragments, portals, context, suspense, lazy components, etc., for a better developer experience.

Next.js

Next.js is an open-source web development framework built on React’s latest features. It has built-in features like dynamic HTML streaming, client and server rendering, server actions, data fetching, middleware, and more. It allows you to build a full-stack web application within a single project.

Remix

Like Next.js, Remix is a full-stack web development framework built on React’s latest features. It utilizes classic and standard web fundamentals for crafting HTML forms and allows you to build your front-end and back-end in an innovative way.

Nuxt

Nuxt is an open-source framework for building full-stack web applications powered by Vue. It comes with features like file-based routing, data fetching, server routes, TypeScript support, middleware, and more, making it ideal for building dynamic web pages.

Astro

Astro is an open-source web framework for building content-heavy websites like e-commerce platforms, blogs, and marketing websites. Compared to other frameworks, it reduces JavaScript overhead, loads faster, and has excellent SEO support. Additionally, it features Island, a component-based architecture optimized for content-driven websites. It is UI-agnostic, supporting other UI libraries such as Vue, Svelte, React, web components, etc.

Other innovative front-end languages and frameworks

Web and mobile platforms become increasingly powerful as more use cases are unlocked. This trend has led to increased technology actively creating bridges to integrate front-end usage in libraries and frameworks, enhancing user experience.

These are some of the languages and frameworks bridging the gap to make front-end development even more accessible:

HTMX

HTMX is a dependency-free UI library for the web, which can replace traditional front-end libraries with the simplicity of HTML. It introduces new attributes to HTML to handle complex requirements of modern UIs, such as AJAX, CSS Transitions, WebSockets, and Server-Sent Events.

React Native

React Native enables the development of cross-platform mobile applications, such as Android and iOS, using React.js. It compiles to native mobile code, which allows you to “write once and ship everywhere.” Thanks to the complimentary React.js community, React Native also features a rich tooling and plugin ecosystem.

You can learn more details by exploring the React Native roadmap.

WebAssembly and front-end development

WebAssembly (or Wasm) is a binary instruction format serving as a compilation target for programming languages, enabling them to run efficiently in web browsers. It empowers developers to write high-performance code in languages like C, C++, and Rust, which can then be seamlessly integrated into web applications, enhancing web front-end development capabilities.

Beyond the web, WebAssembly has also gained adoption in various domains, such as game distribution, server-side applications, hybrid native apps on mobile devices, and symmetric computations.

Companies like Figma, AutoCAD, and cloud-native companies actively leverage WebAssembly to meet their performance needs and contribute to the WebAssembly ecosystem by building libraries, tools, and packages that enhance its capabilities.

How do you select the right front-end language?

Choosing the right front end language to learn is an important decision. It shouldn’t be taken lightly, as it significantly impacts your career trajectory and success. This section examines some points to help you select a front end language to learn in 2024.

The points are:

• Project requirement
• Targeted platform
• Career trajectory and opportunity
• Ecosystem and community support

Project requirement

A specific project’s scope, goals, and features play an essential role in selecting the right language to learn, and answering these questions is vital:

• What kind of application are you building?
• How complex is the data flow and logic?
• Is customization and scalability important?

The answers will help narrow your options and focus on languages that suit the project’s needs. For example, if you are building a dynamic application for data collection, JavaScript or PHP alongside HTML and CSS are excellent choices.

Targeted platform

The web, mobile, TV, and other screen-enabled electronic devices present users with interfaces they touch, see and interact with. It is important to have a good understanding of the supported languages on such platforms.

For example, building an application for the Apple platform involves using languages like Swift, Dart (via Flutter), and JavaScript (via React Native). Additionally, it is essential to learn to use the associated frameworks and their application programming interfaces (APIs).

Career trajectory and opportunity

It is important to carefully evaluate the stage of your career before making a choice. For example, if you are a beginner in technology, web development languages like HTML, CSS, and JavaScript might be a good entry point because of their gradual learning curve. On the other hand, an experienced developer seeking to expand their knowledge within the web ecosystem might opt for TypeScript, as it is widely adopted for mission-critical applications.

In addition, if you plan to learn a new language to secure a job, it’s essential to carefully research the location, available job opportunities, and the technologies most companies are adopting, including the programming languages powering them.

Ecosystem and community support

Before selecting a language, assess the size and activity level of the community in terms of available resources. Then, look at the updates, fixes, patches, and innovations surrounding libraries and frameworks in the language. For example, the JavaScript ecosystem constantly releases updates to libraries and frameworks.

In summary, essential languages to learn in 2024 include HTML for structure, CSS for styling, and JavaScript for interactivity. TypeScript, Dart, Swift, and Kotlin are also significant.

Furthermore, users’ evolving needs will continue to directly impact the approach to front-end development. This evolution will spur the rise of new technologies, libraries, and frameworks and prompt existing technologies to update their solutions. Business requirements will also play a significant role in determining the choice of technologies during front-end development.

Staying informed about these changes is critical, as is knowing the appropriate path to follow when learning or adopting new technology. The front-end roadmap is a reliable source of truth for developers seeking to stay updated and informed about the changes that may arise in front-end development.

Beyond having access to a reliable roadmap, an essential aspect of learning is monitoring your progress, demonstrating your skills to potential employers, and joining a supportive community. Sign up to get started on the frontend roadmap while tracking your progress.