1. Hardware Description Languages (HDLs)
Hardware description languages are generally used to describe electrical programming methods.
These languages are quite familiar to some robotics experts because they are accustomed to programming FPGAs. FPGAs allow you to develop electronic hardware without actually producing a silicon chip, which is a faster and easier option for some developments. If you are not developing electronic prototypes, you may never use HDLs.
Even so, it is still necessary to understand this programming language because it is very different from other programming languages. One key point is that all operations in HDLs are concurrent, unlike the sequential operations of processor-based programming languages.
2. Assembly
Assembly allows you to program in 0s and 1s. It is essentially a low-level programming language. With the rise of Arduino and other microcontrollers, you can now easily program at a low level using C/C++, which means that Assembly may become less necessary for most robotics experts.
3. MATLAB
MATLAB, along with its related open-source resources such as Octave, is particularly favored by some robotics engineers. It's used for data analysis and control system development. Some experts have even developed entire robotic systems using only MATLAB. If you want to analyze data, generate advanced graphics, or develop control systems, you might want to learn MATLAB.
4. C#/.NET
C# is a proprietary programming language provided by Microsoft. C#/.NET is included here primarily because of the Microsoft Robotics Developer Studio, whose main development language is C#. If you plan to use this system, you will likely need to use C#.
5. Java
Java hides the underlying storage functionality from programmers, making it easier to write than some languages (such as C), but also more difficult to understand the underlying code's execution logic. If you have a computer science background and have switched to robotics (as many people do, especially in research fields), you may have already learned Java.
Like C# and MATLAB, Java is an interpreted language, meaning it's not compiled into machine code. Instead, the Java Virtual Machine (JVM) interprets the instructions at runtime. Using Java, theoretically, allows you to run the same code on different machines, thanks to the JVM. In practice, however, this isn't always feasible and can sometimes lead to slow code execution. But Java is very popular in some areas of robotics, so you might need it.
6. Python
In recent years, there has been a huge resurgence in the number of people learning Python, especially in the field of robotics. One reason for this may be that Python and C++ are the two main programming languages used in ROS.
Unlike Java, Python prioritizes ease of use. Python doesn't require much time for routine tasks like defining and casting variable types. These are quite common in programming.
In addition, Python has a large number of free libraries, which means you don't have to "reinvent the wheel" when you need to implement some basic functions. And because Python allows simple binding with C/C++ code, the performance of heavy parts of the code can be embedded in these languages, thus avoiding performance loss.
As more and more electronic products begin to support "out-of-the-box" Python (alongside the Raspberry Pi), we may see more Python in robotics. (The Raspberry Pi Foundation: A small UK charity founded to promote technology, not to profit from its sale.)
7. C/C++
Finally, we come to the number one robotics programming language! Many people consider C and C++ a great starting point for newcomers to robotics. Why? Because many hardware libraries use these two languages.
Both languages allow interaction with low-level hardware, enable real-time performance, and are very mature programming languages. Nowadays, you might use C++ more than C because the former has more features.
C++ is essentially an extension of C. Learning some C first can be very useful, especially if you discover a hardware library written in C. C/C++ isn't as simple to use as Python or MATLAB. Achieving the same functionality in C would take significantly more time and require many more lines of code. However, because robotics heavily relies on real-time performance, C and C++ are the programming languages closest to the "standard language" used by robotics experts.
