Top Data Science Languages to Know (That Aren’t Python)

The Statisticians’ Power Tool:The language R is built for statistics and graphics. It offers a huge ecosystem of packages for data modelling, visualisation and machine learning, making it a go-to for statisticians and researchers.

The Essential for Structured Data:SQL (Structured Query Language) is critical for handling relational databases. It’s the backbone for extracting, manipulating and managing structured data, a baseline skill in almost every data role.

Julia: Performance Meets Ease:Julia is a newer language gaining ground for high-speed numerical and scientific work. It brings together the simplicity of scripting languages and the speed of compiled ones, ideal for heavy computations in data science.

Scala: Big Data and Distributed Systems: Scala is often used alongside Apache Spark for big data and distributed computing. With its functional programming style and strong type system, it's great for scalable machine-learning pipelines.

Java: Enterprise-Grade Data Workhorse: Java isn’t just for apps, it plays a strong role in data science too, especially where large-scale processing, enterprise integration and backend fitness matter. Think big data systems, robust pipelines and enterprise analytics.

SAS: Trusted in Regulated Industries :SAS is a longtime standard in regulated domains, finance, healthcare, pharma, offering enterprise-grade statistical tools, data management and business intelligence in settings where compliance and stability count.

Verdict: Broadening Your Data Science Language Toolkit: While Python remains dominant, these five languages offer valuable alternatives. R and SQL stay foundational for statistics and data wrangling. Julia and Scala deliver speed and scale for big data and scientific tasks. SAS holds its place in compliance-heavy industries. Having fluency in more than one language gives you a real edge across diverse data science workflows.

Join our WhatsApp Channel to get the latest news, exclusives and videos on WhatsApp