Answer:The best language depends on your definition of
"healthcare." If you mean record-keeping and no organizational
restrictions govern what to use, I would say use Java. If you're working on
actual medical devices, C is your only real option.
Java offers the widest array of delivery options: desktop
apps, server apps, web apps, cloud apps, etc. It's the language that makes the
least number of assumptions about what platform you're running, providing a
consistent presentation across multiple devices, particularly if done as a
desktop app.
Java provides some of the best security out there, both in
terms of software quality and built-in support for encryption, which is
required by HIPAA. Java is naturally robust, accommodating scalable APIs better
than any other language.
I would add only one thing to my bio as a developer of
customized, cloud-based EMRs IN JAVA: I do IoT in Java, too, because most of my
apps need to integrate with actual medical devices.
Since medical devices, in and of themselves, must work in
real-time, they often require low-level hardware support code, and Java is not
an option due to 1) the lack of pointers and 2) the garbage collector, though
the GC can be turned off.
With the GC turned off, if Java had "safe"
pointers--the type of pointers that don't allow inherently risky things like
pointer math-I would change my answer, asserting that all healthcare apps
should be in Java.