For the first time in many years, the Python programming language has surpassed Java, JavaScript and C to become the most popular language, as it is the one searched for by users the most. Updated rankings for October revealed Python's achievement by Tiobe, an index that calculates findings based on web searches.
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Tiobe, a company that specializes in evaluating and monitoring software quality, has been tracking the popularity of programming languages for the past two decades. It uses queries on popular search engines and sites, including Google, YouTube, Bing, Yahoo! and Wikipedia , to make its measurements. A total of 25 search engines and sites are examined.
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In fact, this indicator is not related to the best programming language per se or the language in which the most lines of code have been written. It judges a programming language as the most popular based on searches for that language in search engines. So, many may not give much importance to Python's achievement, due to this particular methodology, but it is still significant that for the first time in 20 years, Python is at the top of the ranking.
“Python, which started as a simple scripting language and an alternative to Perl, has now matured. Its ease of learning, vast library base, and widespread use across all domains have made it the most popular programming language today,” said Tiobe CEO Paul Jansen.
However, Python becoming the most popular programming language is not necessarily due to an increase in searches for it on the internet. Instead, its rise is largely related to a decline in searches for other languages. C fell by 5.79% compared to October 2020, while Java also saw a significant decrease.
Other programming languages that are in the top ten, in the October measurements, are C++, C#, Visual Basic, JavaScript, SQL, PHP and Assembly Language.
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The report also revealed that Python is used by an additional 2.2 million developers, mainly due to increased engagement with machine learning and data science.
Source: TechSpot
