Programming languages differ not only in performance and usability, but also in how much energy they consume. While older studies suggest dramatic gaps, little is known about how modern languages like Rust, Go or Kotlin compare. In this thesis you will investigate language choice as a factor in sustainable software development, providing updated, reproducible insights into the trade-offs between performance, productivity and energy efficiency.

💡Areas of Interest: Sustainable IT/ green computing, software development, programming languages

This Master’s thesis is part of the CODE GREEN graduation project. Within this project, we explore how software can be made more sustainable throughout its entire lifecycle — from design and development to testing and maintenance. Your assignment is one of the building blocks through which we collaboratively develop concrete solutions that save energy, reduce CO₂ emissions, and make software greener.

Modern software systems consume more than just CPU cycles. They also use significant amounts of energy. As sustainability becomes a strategic priority in IT, organizations are increasingly asking which tools and technologies strike the best balance between performance, maintainability and energy usage. One often underestimated factor is the choice of programming language.

Earlier studies, such as Pereira et al. (2017), revealed dramatic differences: Python consumed up to 59 times more energy than C++ for the same task. However, these studies are several years old, rely on outdated versions and platforms and ignore newer languages such as Rust, Go and Kotlin. An updated investigation is needed to guide modern development teams in making greener choices.

Although energy efficiency in software development is becoming more urgent, little up-to-date, reproducible research exists that compares programming languages under modern workloads and platforms. As a result, developers lack evidence-based insights into how language choice affects energy consumption, especially when weighed against trade-offs in performance and productivity.

The Assignment

Investigate how to assess the energy efficiency of different programming languages in a scientifically sound way. Your research will explore how language choice impacts energy consumption across a set of relevant and reproducible workloads.

During your thesis, you are expected to:

• Formulate a well-defined research question that investigates the relationship between programming languages and energy usage.
• Design an empirical methodology to perform fair and repeatable comparisons between languages.
• Critically reflect on prior research and provide updated, evidence-based insights.

The research should be reproducible and contribute to the growing body of knowledge on energy-efficient software development.

About Info Support

Info Support specializes in custom software, data/AI solutions, management, and training and is active in the Finance, Industry, Agriculture, Food & Retail, Mobility & Public, and Healthcare sectors. We provide solid and innovative solutions for complex and critical software issues. Our headquarters are located in Veenendaal (NL) and Mechelen (BE). At present, approximately 500 employees are employed by Info Support.

Info Support's working method is characterized by a number of core values: solidity, integrity, craftsmanship, and passion. These core values are intertwined in our work and the way we interact with each other.

To ensure that all employees are always up to date with the latest developments, Info Support has an in-house knowledge center that eagerly satisfies the hunger for more or different knowledge and skills.

B2 language proficiency in Dutch is required.