Debate over the most popular programming language can become an emotional, almost religious battle. And sometimes there’s no debate at all, such as when a developer is assigned to repair legacy software. “It was written in COBOL?” is a popular refrain.
A programming language is just one tool in a developer’s expansive collection of specialty software and hardware. So does it really matter which programming language a developer uses, as long as he or she is meeting customer requirements on time and within budget?
Yes, yes it does. Ford or Chevy. Stihl or Husky. Coke or Pepsi. Let’s face it, we all get passionate about our tools.
Most Popular?
There are a number of ways to measure the popularity of a programming language, for example, based on the number of:
- New applications written in the language
- Existing applications written in the language
- Developers that use the language primarily
- Developers that use the language ever
- Web searches
- Available jobs that require skills in the language
- Developers’ favorites
The following surveys attempt to rank which programming languages are most popular, each using a different measure:
Tiobe.com
Tiobe is a popular site for ranking programming languages. Tiobe bases its rankings on world-wide availability of skilled engineers, courses and third party vendors. Rankings are not about the best programming language or the language in which most lines of code have been written. Tiobe uses Google, MSN and Yahoo! search engines to measure the Web “chatter” and hence the popularity of each programming language. The Tiobe top 11 for May 2007 are:
1. Java - 19.1%
2. C - 15.2%
3. C++ - 10.1%
4. PHP - 8.7%
5. Visual Basic - 8.4%
6. Perl - 6.2%
7. Python - 3.8%
8. C# - 3.7%
9. JavaScript - 3.1%
10. Ruby - 2.6%
11. Delphi - 2.1%
Dice.com
A September 2006 eWeek article ranks programming languages based on nationwide queries on Dice.com, a job site for technology professionals. Following are percentage of jobs listed on Dice.com that require skills in each programming language:
1. Java - 35.7%
2. C, C++ - 15.3%
3. C# - 12.7%
4. Perl - 11.9%
5. JavaScript - 10.9%
6. Visual Basic .NET - 5.2%
7. PHP - 2.9%
8. Ajax - 2.7%
9. Python - 2.0%
10. Ruby - 0.7%
Evans Data
Evans Data Corporation conducted a Winter 2006 developer survey that ranks programming languages based on how many developers use that language at least some of the time:
1. Java - 45%
2. C, C++ - 40%
3. C# - 32%
4. Ajax - 28%
5. Visual Basic & VB.NET - 21%
Computerworld
In early 2005, Computerworld conducted a developer survey that measured which programming languages are in use by the developer’s company:
1. C# - 72%
2. Java - 66%
3. Visual Basic - 62%
4. C++ - 54%
5. JavaScript - 50%
6. Unix Shell Scripts - 42%
7. Perl - 34%
8. C - 32%
9. PHP - 16%
10. Python - 8%
11. Delphi - 7%
12. TCL - 6%
13. Ruby - 1%
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Tags: C#, Delphi, Development, Java, JavaScript, Languages, Perl, PHP, Programming-Languages, Python, Ruby, VB, Visual Basic, Visual-Basic-.NET
June 21st, 2007 at 4:11 am
The results could have been based on more than these criterias only, like the best programming language for developing windows applications , etc, etc.
June 22nd, 2007 at 10:34 pm
[...] PHP development has been rapid in recent years. According to EDC statistic in 2006, PHP was ranked top 3 programming languages globally as a web scripting language. The other two languages were Java and .NET frameworks. What shocked people was, the growth of PHP has come to 37%, higher than the other two. [...]
October 4th, 2007 at 11:03 am
[...] by an Evans Data survey indicating that VB use has dropped 35% in the past year, and other language surveys show VB falling behind its brother C# and market leader [...]
November 26th, 2007 at 5:03 pm
[...] read more | digg story [...]
January 21st, 2008 at 3:48 pm
How does Evans Data consider “Ajax” to be a programming language? It’s only a method and set of design patterns in JavaScript development. If you consider it to be a seperate language, then you may as well consider Test Driven Development to be a seperate language.
January 28th, 2008 at 2:01 am
Hi Guys What about ASP.NET?
January 28th, 2008 at 1:09 pm
Hi Kavashgar,
ASP.NET is not a programming language, but rather, it is a web application framework from Microsoft to build dynamic web sites, web applications and XML web services. ASP.NET is built on the Common Language Runtime (CLR), enabling programmers to write ASP.NET code using any Microsoft .NET programming language, such as C# and Visual Basic .NET.
January 28th, 2008 at 1:12 pm
Hi Chris,
You are correct, AJAX is not a programming language, as it is not Turing complete. However you will find that many websites include AJAX with other true programming languages (such as C# and Java) because of its current popularity. But I agree, AJAX should not be listed with programming languages.
February 27th, 2008 at 11:04 am
From a new unscientific online poll by Visual Studio Magazine (www.VisualStudioMagazine.com):
What is your primary programming language?
C# - 44.1%
VB.NET - 38.1%
VB6 - 8.2%
Visual C++ - 5.6%
Other C/C++ - 2.6%
March 4th, 2008 at 8:09 pm
[...] http://www.devtopics.com/most-popular-programming-languages/ Si alguien tiene algún link, se agradece. [...]
April 24th, 2008 at 12:59 pm
LUI is another site that attempts to look at public facing (e.g. Internet) numbers concerning language usage/popularity. It’s the “Open Source” equivalent, in that it gives away everything it uses to generate the graphs: the code, the raw data, and the archive, as it grows.
http://lui.arbingersys.com
April 25th, 2008 at 12:00 pm
[...] Most Popular Programming Languages [...]
June 7th, 2008 at 6:24 am
Turbo Pascal is the most silent popular Prog. Lang. in the world.
June 10th, 2008 at 10:12 am
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June 27th, 2008 at 6:11 am
Is there any news regarding the standing of visual foxproo in terms of ranking? …. Maybe you should classify the ranking in its type, for example database programming, where the foxproo is powerfull tools to use… just my opinion…
September 21st, 2008 at 4:03 am
so here is the conclusion : Delphi sucks..who in the world will use Delphi..? huh?? where are the wrong-thought fans of Delphi??
sorry for impoliteness,but i am annoyed and irritated by so many people praising Delphi..
September 21st, 2008 at 9:16 am
So the programming language of tomorrow would be??
Seems like people are migrating towards Java or C#. Java because it’s web based. But suppose the internet was “unplugged”? Who then would be the decisive winner for the programming languages of tomorrow? C#?
Popularity of a language usually dictates the direction the industry is heading. I’m still learning C and C++ but it looks like C# or Java is eventually what I should be learning to keep on top of things so I’m not left in the dust tomorrow
November 18th, 2008 at 8:00 pm
Re: Hossein Hadian
no no no.. delphi is a great programming language with great IDE and documentation, it just… too expensive for me ^^ so not many people try it.. borland corp. is a great corporation.. IMHO.. but i like C++ family..