Which programming language is best for competitive coding?

The Best Programming Language For Competitive Coding

Competitive Programming is a very crucial part of a programmer’s life. Though, it’s not easy to practice, but, it’s highly recommended if you want your programming journey at a peak. Practicing Competitive Programming develops a very healthy habit inside your life, it enhances your problem-solving skills; it also upgrades your coding skills efficiently by making you consider the time and space complexities.

Whenever you are suggested to move towards competitive coding, you become very desperate to step into it, and you keep gathering elements all about competitive coding. Meanwhile, it often comes to your mind that Which is the best programming language for Competitive Programming?. The major point that influences this question to grow in your mind is the presence of numerous programming languages, which makes it difficult to choose one for your career or journey as a competitive coder.

Competitive Coding is far different than general coding, here you have to solve a particular problem considering your code should not exceed the given time and space limits. Also, for testing, you should have to take numerous test cases falling under the constraints. Indeed, it is one of the best methods to analyze & enhance your programming skills, as you’ll be competing with programmers all over the world. There are a lot of competitive coding platforms which organize numerous coding challenges, such as CodeChef organizes CodeChef Long Challenge each month.

Now, focusing again on our concern that how to choose the best language for Competitive Programming? This concern eases your journey effectively. So, here are the top 5 most preferred programming languages for Competitive Programming:

1. C++
   C++ is the widely opted and the most recommended programming language for Competitive Programming. C++ is the fastest programming language when compared with several other prominent programming languages. Another reason that makes it widely preferred is its Standard Template Library (STL). C++ provides a huge collection of libraries to help you make your code efficient, by proffers the basic functions & DS that effectively reduce the compile time of your code.
   
   Its rich inbuilt libraries that offer effective support for Object-Oriented Programming (OOPS) & many other features and it’s less verbosity as compared to other languages, make C++ the indisputable winner among the top 5 most preferred programming languages for Competitive Coding.


2. Java
   Java, another most preferred classic coding language used for Competitive Coding. Like C++, Java also has a variety of classes under which numerous methods are offered that can reduce your task efficiently. For example, Java provides Big Integer class using which you can quickly perform computations for very large integers.
   
   Java also provides support for OOPS, which enables a programmer to write a code once and run it anywhere, without performing any recompilation. Java also allows you to solve real-life problems effectively; it also provides you an option to effectively handle the exceptions occurring during compilation by opting for Exception Handling. It’ll be very tough for you to find segmentation faults if you use C++; but, with Java, you can easily deal it with ArrayIndexOutOfBound Exception. Numerous such Java classes keep fascinating the programmers towards Java whenever thinking of Competitive Programming. This made Java, the second most popular language for Competitive Coding.


3. Python
   Python, a high-level language and one of the handiest & an easy-to-learn language, which lures the programmers to choose it when moving to Competitive Programming. Coding becomes quite simple because of its simple syntax.
   
   Python also offers an extensive range of libraries & functions support, which effectively enhances the efficiency of your code. Another crucial advantage that Attracts programmers to switch to Python is “REPL” (Read Eval Print Loop) support. Python holds the third position in our list because of its compilation speed, you may experience TLE error in Python, but using the same logic in C++, you will not find any such error. Though, it has more compilation time, but, it’s worthwhile several features compensate for this, like, its function can return more than 1 value, robust input statements, it can deal with an extensively large integer value, adaptable number of arguments can be used to a function, etc. enables Python to become one of the recommended programming languages for Competitive Coding. Moreover, it also becomes very effective while stepping into AI, ML, Data Science, and a lot more.


4. Ruby
   Ruby, a dynamic programming language, is also recommended for the Competitive Programming journey. It also supports OOPS concept like C++, Java, and Python. It majorly concerns with becoming versatile, handy, and simple. Ruby, an interpreted scripting language, making Ruby comparatively slower than other compiled languages, this is the reason behind listing this on the fourth position in our recommendation list. Apart from Competitive Coding, it is widely used for Data Science, Database Solutions, Web Apps, and many more.


5. Kotlin
   Kotlin, the latest programming language in our best programming languages for Competitive Coding list. Kotlin also provides you an edge by providing support of Object-Oriented Programming, along with the general programming characteristics. Like other languages in our list, Kotlin also offers a variety of libraries to efficiently deal with Collection, Data Structures, and more. Another edge of Kotlin is it provides you advantageous support to use existing Java Libraries and Frameworks.
   
   Kotlin enhances your journey of Competitive Programming by supporting many crucial features, such as it has no Null Pointer Exception. It is handier when compared with Java, thus, it enables you to read your codes easily.

These are the top 5 best programming languages for Competitive Programming in 2021. We’ve seen various coding languages, their usage, advantages, disadvantages; so, considering the list of these programming Language, you should consider one, and head towards your Competitive Coding journey. But, before heading, you should learn DS and Algo, in your relevant programming language. After that, you are all set to rock on any of the competitive coding platforms.
Keep learning, keep practicing.
Until then, Happy Coding.