There are currently huge numbers of different programming languages in use by software developers, with most jobs requiring the more familiar skills such as Java, JavaScript, PHP and C#. However, as software demands evolve and grow, new and less widely-accepted languages are gaining in prominence, offering developers the right tool for certain jobs.

Predicting which languages will eventually rise to the top of the charts is difficult, of course, and a lot of the languages listed will have been around for a while and even be in use by many, but all are continuing to grow in popularity outside of the big top five.

Here are eight languages competing for mindshare that look set to play a bigger role within businesses in coming years.

1. TypeScript

2. R

3. Kotlin

4. Swift

5. Rust

6. Go

7. Haskell

8. Clojure