Popular Programming Languages
Posted on | October 12, 2011 | No Comments
It has been a while since I reviewed the latest statistics about the most popular programming languages.
The top 10 most popular programming languages according to the TIOBE Index in Sept of 2011 are.
- Java
- C
- C++
- C#
- PHP
- Objective-C
- (Visual) Basic
- Python
- Perl
- JavaScript
The list is a bit misleading. According to the Language Popularity Index, C and Java split just over 50% of the compiled and general purpose languages among the two with C having a slight edge. C was developed by AT&T’s Bell Labs in the early 1970s in conjunction with its work on Unix. Java was developed by Oracle’s subsidiary Sun Microsystems in the mid-1990s for interactive TV and mobile devices but found a more immediate home in the emerging World Wide Web. Java is currently a source of contention between Oracle and Google due to its influence on the Android operating system.
For non-compiled scripting languages PHP is the most popular with a 27.476% share followed by Perl with 16.415% and Python with about 13%. JavaScript returns to the top ten although the number 5 scripting language (after Ruby) with a 5.5% share.
Anthony J. Pennings, PhD has been on the NYU faculty since 2001 teaching digital media, information systems management, and global communications. © ALL RIGHTS RESERVED