Best Programming Language for Machine Learning

Last Updated on September 27, 2016

A question I get asked a lot is:

What is the best programming language for machine learning?

I’ve replied to this question many times now it’s about time to explore this further in a blog post.

Ultimately, the programming language you use for machine learning should consider your own requirements and predilections. No one can meaningfully address those concerns for you.

No one can meaningfully address those concerns for you.

What Languages Are Being Used

Before I give you my opinion, it is good to have  a look around to see what languages and platforms are popular in self-selected communities of data analysis and machine learning professionals.

KDnuggets has had language polls forever. A recent poll is titled “What programming/statistics languages you used for an analytics / data mining / data science work in 2013“. The trends are almost identical to the previous year. The results suggest heavy use of R and Python and SQL for data access. SAS and MATLAB rank higher than I would have expected. I’d expect SAS accounts for larger corporate (Fortune 500) data analysis and MATLAB for engineering, research and student use.