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Programming Java PHP Perl Python

C Is Now the Most Popular Programming Language, Claims TIOBE (jaxenter.com) 246

Charlotte Web writes: Since 2001 the TIOBE Index has been ranking top results for the search query +"<language> programming" on the top 25 search engines. "This month, C moved up past Java and entered the number one position," reports JAXenter.

"There's a new number one. (Or, should we say an old number one?)"

"Java and C were already very close in April, but this month C surpasses Java again," explains Paul Jansen CEO TIOBE Software. He also points out that the last time C was number one was back in 2015, suggesting that today embedded software languages like C and C++ "are gaining popularity because these are used in software for medical devices."

"On another note, it is also worth mentioning that Rust is really getting close to the top 20 now (from #27 to #21 within one month)."

"Perl, on the other hand, might be on its way off of the charts," argues JAXenter, "if it continues its downward trend. This month it saw a rate of change of -0.51%. It is currently number 18 on the list, but in May 2019 it was number 13."

Python also passed C++ to take the #3 spot, while C# overtook Visual Basic for the #5 spot. ("Classic Visual Basic" also lost the #16 spot to PL/SQL).

Even PHP rose a notch, pushing past SQL to take the #8 spot, and Scratch also moved up one, overtaking Objective C for the #19 position.
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C Is Now the Most Popular Programming Language, Claims TIOBE

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  • There aren't many decent C programmers compared to other languages, when C++. And recruiters don't know the difference.

    I'm thinking measurement error.

    • Re: Sceptical (Score:5, Insightful)

      by NagrothAgain ( 4130865 ) on Saturday May 09, 2020 @01:45PM (#60041222)
      It's more likely that languages widely used by pointless flash in the pan projects are in decline because those programming shops are shut down. While languages which tend to be more heavily represented among more critical and useful applications are seeing a surge because those people are all still working.
      • Ya, critical infrastructure cuts down on fashionable languages and newcomers. C hit the sweet spot here; high level enough to be useful in a wide variety of applications, low level enough to use it on bare metal, and reasonably easy to learn. It lacks the stringent orthodoxy of Python and C++, it doesn't have the constantly changing standards and styles of C++ or Java, it just gets the job done. For all those scripting languages out there, they're all written in C, or at least their first version was.

        • Java has no "changing standards" it only has evolving standards.
          There most certainly is no single Java program that does not compile - or if it is already compiled - run on a modern VM.

          For all those scripting languages out there, they're all written in C, or at least their first version was.
          Unlikely, who would write a scripting language in C when he can use Pascal or C++?

          Are you actually a programmer?

    • You mean some programmer messed around with an SQL query for this and don't trust the results?
    • Re:Sceptical (Score:5, Informative)

      by Aighearach ( 97333 ) on Saturday May 09, 2020 @02:02PM (#60041278)

      There aren't many decent C programmers compared to other languages

      That's right, only the good programmers even want to try!

      In any case, embedded programming is hot, both professionally and with hobbyists, and C rules that domain. Plus most of the libraries for other languages are implemented in C, because of portability. Even when I was a Ruby programmer it was half C integration.

      C++ libraries are often just C libraries with C++ wrappers.

      C is everywhere. I even write web applications in C.

      • by glitch! ( 57276 )

        In any case, embedded programming is hot, both professionally and with hobbyists, and C rules that domain.

        I have programmed embedded PIC, STM8, STM32, and MIPS. Have a nice STM8 library and project example ecosystem on github. But no luck finding work. Care to point out a place to go looking? Linkedin has done nothing. And it must be remote (I have years of well-paid remote history.)

        Thanks, and any tips will help others with similar situations.

        • by dmt0 ( 1295725 )

          That's the problem with embedded stuff - they want you to be in the lab with all the gear. Learn to code! In JavaScript!

      • by Z00L00K ( 682162 )

        Don't forget that there's still a demand for Cobol programmers.

        Now write a web app in Cobol.

      • C++ libraries are often just C libraries with C++ wrappers.

        Other than system libraries, I would guess that few are that way.

      • I like C and also I like C++, but I DO NOT like the over-use of classical object oriented design patterns to the point of making code unmaintainable. There is an extreme end of object oriented design which is, in my opinion, simply too far. The end result is an explosion in the number of lines of code, and the number of logical layers in the code, far beyond necessity.
        There is always a justification that this will make the code easier to test and easier to maintain in the long run. My challenge is: it ac

      • C is everywhere.

        C is everything.
        C is everybody.
        C is still the king.

    • Huh. I was thinking "gee if it really was for last month or the month before then suddenly a lot of students are having to search online for homework/project help"

    • Naw, it's still popular. But... don't believe these statistics anyway, there's nothing scientific about them. Self selected polls, looking at people who ask questions online, etc.

      Also, how you define "popular" is ambiguous. If you count number of CPUs that a language is used on, the C wins by a huge margin (counting 8, 16, 32 bit embedded CPUs probably outnumbers PCs and tablets and smartphones by a good margin). If you count who is using it, then maybe C drops down a bit, probably Python wins there if y

    • I don't think it's hard to find people who have years to decades of experience in C. That's like, every programmer over 40.

  • Bah (Score:5, Funny)

    by hawk ( 1151 ) <hawk@eyry.org> on Saturday May 09, 2020 @01:40PM (#60041198) Journal

    either use a magnet to flip the core bits by hand, or go home.

    (and, no, cat gut programming doesn't count)

    hawk

    p.s. now get off my lawn

  • by mykepredko ( 40154 ) on Saturday May 09, 2020 @02:14PM (#60041314) Homepage

    “C++ and Java, say, are presumably growing faster than plain C, but I bet C will still be around.”

  • by holophrastic ( 221104 ) on Saturday May 09, 2020 @02:54PM (#60041432)

    Popularity measured by search queries wouldn't say anything about the popularity of the language usage.

    Certainly, I would search for "python programming" when I don't know python, when I'm learning python, or when I'm applying for a job and think I might need to learn python. Realistically, how often would I search for "python programming" when I use python all day everyday?

    Personally, well, professionally, I use Perl, and have for 25 years. I use it all day every day.

    How often do I look up perl syntax? About twice a day. You better believe I'm not querying the entire web for it. Welcome to perldoc.

    How often do I look up any perl help (non-syntax) at all? Maybe once a month.

    There's no way for any company to measure how much I use perl. It's simply not externally exposed. None of my clients' web-sites or systems or apps expose what language they are built in.

    So, at best, this measures the growth (and decline) in the trouble of learning each language. Fun.

    • Do you really need to loop up Perl syntax twice a day after having used it for 25 years? That makes me kind of glad that I decided not to learn Perl back then.
      • Perl's really "easy" to learn -- when "easy" means steep-but-short learning curve.
        ~190 functions to learn. Use ~50 of them routinely, and another ~50 occasionally.

        I'm not looking up normal functions. Maybe some weird regular expression questions, or some optional function parameters. Probably look up the same things every month.

        My point here was that it's not a "search" and it's not a "question". It's a simple reference to the one place that has everything exactly the same way for decades now. It's com

        • Well, I have it similar for Lisp and Scheme (there is magnificent documentation for both so no need to ask people) - except pretty much none of it is syntax because syntax goes away after a few weeks since there's almost none. Looking up *syntax* after two decades of usage doesn't make sense to me. Maybe a function I didn't need ever before, but syntax in these languages is just the reader. Of course I'd expect Perl to have massively more syntax but probably still not to the extent of prolonging it all the
  • Why would you include SQL (and PL/SQL) in a list of programing languages? It's not like you can use SQL instead of C/Java/Python rather than along-side them.

    • Depends on how you define a programming language. While SQL may not have a for-next loop or other iteration, it does have if-then type logic available (or at least, some flavors/implementations do)

      • SQL in fact does have looping constructs, particularly a WHILE loop. No, it's not a general purpose language, but it certainly is a programming language.

    • Many programming languages have specialized purposes. Javascript runs almost exclusively within Web pages. You can't write a device driver with bash or PowerShell. ABAP runs only inside of SAP. PostScript is used almost entirely by printers.

      Just because a language is a special purpose language, doesn't make it "not a language."

      SQL is in every way a programming language. It has syntax, variables, conditions, calculations, loops, input, and output. No, it can't create an Android app, but then, neither can Swi

  • I've written C or C++ code since 1994. I still have to often look up syntax, especially for the many libraries that do not conform to any particular pattern. C is probably searched more often than other popular languages because it's more necessary to look up patterns and syntax every time you do something, particularly in the embedded world where C predominates.

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