For years, developers have been moving away from Objective-C, following the release of Swift, the language Apple created to replace Objective-C. However, this decline is only just beginning to be reflected in the Tiobe popularity index.
Tiobe uses queries on various search engines to arrive at its rankings, which place Java, C, and Python in the top three spots.
Tiobe's ranking is more or less the same as other indexes like PYPL, which is based on Google search volume . The top three positions in PYPL are occupied by Python, Java, and JavaScript . GitHub 's ranking for open source projects is JavaScript, Python, and Java, while according to IEEE Spectrum, the top languages are Python, Java, and C.
However, Objective-C's ranking on Tiobe in recent years has somewhat confused developers, as until last year the language seemed to be rising on the Tiobe index, while Swift was falling.
However, it now appears that its decline has begun to be reflected in the Tiobe index since February 2020.
Objective-C fell seven places over the last month and 10 places since Tiobe's last ranking in February 2019, swapping places with Swift, which fell from 20th to 10th place.
Tiobe today provided an explanation for what has happened to the rankings of the two languages since Apple introduced Swift in 2014.
Tiobe argues that while Objective-C usage declined rapidly from 2014 to 2016, Swift's relatively slow rise is due to developers turning to cross-platform development.
“In 2014, Apple announced the new Swift programming language as the successor to Objective-C. At the time, the language was ranked 3rd on the Tiobe index and mobile app development for iPhones and iPads was on the rise,” the platform explains.
“After the announcement, Objective-C’s market share fell from 12% in 2014 to 1% in 2016. At the same time, Swift’s market share increased from 1% to just 2%, while the remaining 10% belonged to other programming languages that appear to be compatible with multiple mobile platforms.”
