More than ever, companies need coders. And while tech firms do the bulk of the hiring, the demand for programmers spans industries and only seems to be growing.  

From writing basic HTML to building complex logic into mobile applications, the ability to smartly craft lines of code continues to be one of the most in-demand — and often, well-paying — skill sets one can have. 

(See also: Why This Guy Quit His Sports-Radio Dream Job... To Write Software)

So what skills are the most sought after? That's an ever-fluctuating, somewhat difficult thing to track. Normally, we'd avoid turning to a single source for such data, but its very nature makes Indeed.com an ideal place to look. The job search site aggregates more than 16 million listings from a wide range of sources, so it's fairly comprehensive. 

15. Ruby 

It may be almost 20 years old, but the object-oriented scripting language is still going strong. After existing for years as a general purpose programming language, Ruby got a huge bump from the advent of Ruby on Rails, the hyper-popular Web development framework. Since the rise of Rails, the two have practically become synonymous, but Ruby has plenty of applications as a general scripting language. 

14. ASP.NET

Microsoft's server-side Web development framework is more controversial than many of its peers, in part because it's a Microsoft product. Still, its ability to build dynamic sites and Web applications is favored by many programmers and, more importantly, the organizations who hire them. 

13. AJAX

AJAX is actually multiple technologies bundled into one. Asyncronous JavaScript and XML was first popularized by Web applications like Google Maps and Gmail. The ability of websites to retrieve data in the background without reloading the page is something we now take for granted, but it was groundbreaking stuff a decade ago. Today, using a conglomeration of HTML, CSS, JavaScript (or JSON) and XML to build asynchronous Web apps is still popular, and the job listings prove it. 

12. Objective-C

For a 30-year-old programming language, Objective C is looking pretty good. It's the core of development for both of Apple's operating systems. Its roots in Mac OS X go back to Steve Jobs' days at NeXT and it's at the heart of iOS. Considering the  the platform's enormous popularity, it's no wonder that Objective-C is coveted by employers across industries. 

11. PHP

PHP is huge. The open source, server-side scripting language runs on more than 20 million websites and powers high-profile sites we deal with every day, including Facebook and Wikipedia. Any blog, news site or other website built using Wordpress or Drupal is making use of PHP as well. It's all over the Web, even if you can't see it by clicking "view source." 

10. Python

Python is a general purpose programming language that can be used in a variety of ways. Known for its clean and efficient code, Python is used by players as notable as Google and NASA. It's also what Dropbox is written in. In fact, the technology is so important to Dropbox that the company hired Python author Guido van Rossum away from Google late last year.  

Dropbox isn't the only one hiring Python talent. There are currently 19,455 Python job listings on Indeed.com. 

9. Perl 

Perl was very popular in the 90s for its ability to create CGI scripts that beefed up the functionality of early Web pages. But the dynamic programming language — sometimes called the "Swiss Army chainsaw" of languages — is capable of a wide range of feats. In addition to Web development, it's used for things like system administration, building desktop apps, game development and even bioinformatics. 

8. C

C has been around since the early 1970s and remains one of the most widely-used programming languages. It may lack the sexiness of the latest Web development frameworks, but C is what lots of operating systems, kernel level software and hardware drivers are made of.  

7. C#

Not to be confused with C or C++, C# is an object-oriented programming language developed by Microsoft in 2000 to compete with Java. Programmers will debate the merits of one language versus the other until the end of time, but tyhe fact remains that employers are hiring C# programmers like crazy.

6. XML

XML is everywhere. The markup language is used to define structured information in a wide variety of contexts. On the Web, it forms the basis of RSS and XHTML, it talks to databases and is paired with JavaScript for AJAX interactivity, among much else. It's even extended beyond the Web and has found its way into the heart of desktop applications like Microsoft Word and Adobe InDesign. The list goes on and on. And so do the job listings. 

5. C++

Like its predecessor C, C++ is used widely in operating systems,  desktop apps, developing games, hardware drivers and much else. C++ has a reputation for being more complex and inefficient than some of the alternatives , but it is nonetheless an incredibly widely used and important programming language. 

4. JavaScript

 On the Web, JavaScript is what makes things interactive. This is especially true now that the rise of tablets and smartphones has bumped Flash from its once-prominent perch. Whether it's trendy frameworks like jQuery or the JSON data interchange standard, companies need JavaScript-focused talent like never before. 

3. HTML

It's only natural that the language at the heart every Web page would be in high demand, even as native mobile app development and back-end cloud technologies command bigger ad bigger chunks of IT budgets. In fact, as tablets, smartphones and cloud-hosted services proliferate, the importance of the Web grows along with it. The conglomeration of Web technologies known as HTML5 is all the rage at the moment, but hypertext markup is more than a fad. It is, and will remain, the skeleton of the Web for the foreseeable future. 

2. Java

Java certainly has its critics, not to mention some well-publicized security issues.  But the object-oriented language remains in heavy demand and used for a wide range of purposes. It can't possibly hurt that Google uses Java as the basis for Android application development, a sector that isn't likely to slowdown anytime soon. 

1. SQL 

NoSQL databases might be getting all the attention as of lately, but more traditional, structured databases are still going strong. Thus, SQL, the programming language for querying, manipulating and managing relational databases is in high demand. Considering the sheer volume of data being generated everyday, it's no shock that having the ability to help manage it is such a marketable skill. There are currently more than 98,000 SQL jobs indexed by Indeed.com. 

Since 2002, when Microsoft launched its Trustworthy Computing initiative, security in the company's products have improved each year. But while the company has increasingly battened down Windows, Office and its other programs, the number of vulnerabilities in harder-to-patch third-party applications has grown dramatically, making overall security on the PC worse than ever.

More Risk In Third-Party Apps

Rather than go through the expense of battling Microsoft directly, many hackers now focus on low-hanging fruit, such as the Java and Adobe Flash browser plug-ins, which are often left un-patched even by users who conscientiously update Windows and Office. This trend was highlighted in a new study by Secunia.

The security vendor found Microsoft's highly effective automatic security updates now address only 8.5% of the vulnerabilities in a PC. The rest have to be patched through updates from various software developers, each with their own unique process. The complexity leads users who are not security savvy to forgo updates, vastly increasing their risk of infection.

"There is, to date, no one fix-it-all solution," warned Morten Stengaard, director of product management and quality assurance at Secunia, in the company's blog.

Theoretically, Microsoft could overhaul Windows to place each third-party application in its own container, making it more difficult for hackers to load malware in the operating system. However, such a massive change would require Windows software vendors to rebuild their own products, which would have a ripple affect on every corporate and consumer customer.

"Microsoft, to some extent, is hamstrung by legacy code and what they've done in the past," Jack Gold, analyst for J. Gold Associates, said. "They can't just rip everything up and start all over again very easily."

Fewer Flaws In Microsoft Apps

Ironically, the third-party threat is blossoming even as Microsoft continues to get its own house in order. In 2012, out of all the known vulnerabilities in the top-50 PC programs, Microsoft products accounted for only 14% of them, the study found. The rest were in other software. And the share of vulnerabilities on a Windows PC coming from third-party applications has been growing. In 2007, they accounted for 57% of the security flaws, compared to 86% last year, Secunia says.

"It's well known that they [Microsoft] have put great efforts into improving security of the operating system and the applications that they provide," Stengaard said in an interview. "What we're seeing is the long-term involvement and dedication is now paying off."

Windows, Office, Silverlight and other Microsoft products are not ironclad, of course. Given enough time, knowledgeable hackers can find their way in through these channels. But in the world of cybercrime, most hackers are not interested in a challenge. Instead, they look for the easiest way to break into as many PCs as possible, to enslave the machines into the many armies of remotely controlled botnets, or to steal credit-card numbers, social-security numbers and corporate intellectual property that will fetch a good price on the underground.

Including both Microsoft and third-party applications, the number of PC vulnerabilities has dropped by 5% since 2011, and by 10% among the top 50 applications. Since 2007, though, overall vulnerabilities are up 15%, Secunia found, and that jumps to a whopping 98% increase among the top 50 applications.

Where The Danger Lies

Applications most likely to provide an easy path into Windows machines include Java, Flash, Adobe Reader and Apple iTunes, according to Secunia. If these applications are not kept up to date, hackers can exploit known vulnerabilities that enable them to load their malware via the PC's system memory.

In addition, all these applications have very large user bases, which makes it easier for hackers to find targets.

Why PCs have so much outdated software varies. Sometimes it's because the update process is too cumbersome, so they don't bother. Other times, the vendor is slow in fixing flaws that hackers are already targeting. Updating Java, an open platform for running software on any operating, system has been a pain for a long time. However, Java steward Oracle is working to improve the process and is getting updates out quicker, most experts agree.

In 2012, Adobe had the worst record for updating applications, according to Secunia. The software maker released patches at a rate 80% slower than in 2011, based on the time it took the vendor to release updates of vulnerabilities reported by Secunia.

Overall, though, patch speed for third-party apps is increasing, Secunia said:

In fact, in 2012, 84% of vulnerabilities had patches available on the day of disclosure. In 2011, the number was only 72%. The most likely explanation for this improvement in ‘time-to-patch’ is that more researchers coordinate their vulnerability reports with vendors.

Patching Is Critical

The vendor based its study on 6 million PCs, mostly in the U.S. and Europe, running its freeware called Personal Software Inspector, which checks for application vulnerabilities. Microsoft products accounted for 35% of the programs on the PCs.

If you take Secunia's study seriously, then the takeaway is clear. Even if patching all your software is getting more complicated,  making sure everything is always up to date is more important than ever.

Image by Fredric Paul.

Despite Oracle Java being ranked among the highest risk vulnerabilities, a startling 72% of Java users are not bothering to update their software to the latest and safest versions.

The results of a new study from Kaspersky Lab, which surveyed 11 million Windows users during the 2012 calendar year, lays out disturbing statistics: 806 unique vulnerabilities were discovered in the survey period. But the "good" news is that only 37 of those security gaps were considered to be truly widespread and dangerous.

Don't get too optimistic, though: those 37 vulnerabilities accounted for over 70% of all detected vulnerable software last year.

Singling Out Java

The Kaspersky study gets a little arbitrary at one point, singling out eight of the 37 vulnerabilities as those "that are actively used by cybercriminals in widespread exploit packs." Not exactly a scientific classification, which should be taken into account when walking through the next set of results.

Of those eight exposed risks used by naughty hackers, five of them were inside Oracle Java, two in Adobe Flash Player, and the remaining loophole in Adobe Reader.

While it would be easy to point at Java's security problems as one more way Oracle breaks everything it bought from Sun Microsystems, the real danger this report highlights is the general apathy on the part of users to get their software updated.

This is how bad it can be: after Java SE 7 Update 9 and SE 6 Update 37 were released on Oct. 16 last year, after six weeks, only 28.2% of users affected by the vulnerabilities of previously released updates had actually bothered to make the upgrade, leaving 71.8% of users still ready to be exploited.

The Kaspersky survey does not include data on the latest Java brouhaha, as Oracle has pushed out two critical updates already this year, the latest (Java SE 7 Update 13) pushed out the door on Super Bowl Sunday. Security experts are especially vehement about getting users' systems updated with this new patch. The U.S. Department of Homeland Security has warned all Java users, for instance, to completely disable Java on their PCs and Macs until the vulnerabilities are effectively patched.

Why The Delay?

The report also did not try to ascertain why users are taking their own sweet time updating their systems, but the usual suspects would still seem to apply: lack of information about the problems and their potential impact.

Of course, it doesn't help matters for Oracle when they see fit to partner with companies like Ask.com and McAfee to include extra software in the update installations for Java. ZDNet's Ed Bott posted a thorough investigative report last month analyzing the deceptive practices of an Ask.com toolbar installation within a recent Java update. I myself noted with distain an attempt to install McAfee anti-virus software when I patched my Windows system to the new Java updates this weekend.

Oracle's monetiztion of Java may be squeezing more money out of Java, but it just sets up one more pain-in-the-ass barrier with which users must contend. This added friction might cause all but the most conscientious users to just skip the hassle of a Java update altogether.

Given the slant of the report, it's not entirely fair that Java was singled out as the big bad vulnerability vector on the block. But Java does have exploitable code and it is widely used, so these are not risks that should be ignored regardless.

Image courtesy of Shutterstock.