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C Programming Language Back At Number 1

Posted by kdawson on from the doin'-what-we-always-did dept.

derrida writes "After more than 4 years C is back at position number 1 in the TIOBE index. The scores for C have been pretty constant through the years, varying between the 15% and 20% market share for almost 10 years. So the main reason for C's number 1 position is not C's uprise, but the decline of its competitor Java. Java has a long-term downward trend. It is losing ground to other languages running on the JVM. An example of such a language is JavaFX, which is now approaching the top 20."

18 of 535 comments (clear)

  1. That's great and all... by Thorrablot · · Score: 5, Insightful

    but shouldn't it really be at number 0?

    --
    Any sufficiently advanced technology is indistinguishable from a rigged demo. -- James Klass
  2. TIOBE methodology is so flawed it's pointless by shutdown+-p+now · · Score: 5, Insightful

    Go ahead, read it for yourself, and tell me how this is supposed to give any meaningful results. They aggregate together things of all kind, to the point where an aggregate doesn't make any sense at all (I mean, hits such as "programming in PHP sucks" or "you must be an idiot to write production code in VB" would count as +1 for PHP and VB, correspondingly!). You can have one language having many job postings, another having many books, and yet another having many basic "how to?" questions and dumbed-down tutorials, and they'd all get the same rating.

    In any case, most certainly, at these numbers (Java 18.051%, C 18.058%), speaking of one overtaking another is completely pointless, given the margin of error.

    Anyway, if you want to know how popular a particular language/technology is, the simplest - and much more accurate! - way of doing so is to check any popular job search web site. Just keep in mind that preferences vary in different regions, so if you are making career choices, stick to local/national postings, and if you want to see an overall worldwide trend, you have to aggregate data from enough sources.

    1. Re:TIOBE methodology is so flawed it's pointless by gzipped_tar · · Score: 5, Insightful

      > I mean, hits such as "programming in PHP sucks" or
      > "you must be an idiot to write production code in VB"
      > would count as +1 for PHP and VB, correspondingly!

      This is the true spirit of our times. Any publicity is good publicity.

      --
      Colorless green Cthulhu waits dreaming furiously.
    2. Re:TIOBE methodology is so flawed it's pointless by Vellmont · · Score: 5, Insightful

      What, you don't think Google Go, a language even Google doesn't use in production is just a hair less popular than PL/SQL, the programming language used in an Oracle DB for the last 18 years?

      Shocking!

      --
      AccountKiller
    3. Re:TIOBE methodology is so flawed it's pointless by MrMista_B · · Score: 5, Funny

      > This is the true spirit of our times. Any publicity is good publicity.

      People falsely accused of pedophilia would beg to differ.

    4. Re:TIOBE methodology is so flawed it's pointless by Trepidity · · Score: 5, Funny

      Huh, I could've sworn Java was over 18 by now. Oops.

      --
      10 PRINT CHR$(205.5+RND(1)); : GOTO 10
  3. Java by Andy+Smith · · Score: 5, Interesting

    I expect Java to gain ground again as developers create apps for Android phones.

    Although the bare-bones Nexus One hasn't sold in huge numbers, HTC have already produced several superb Android-based alternatives, such as the Legend and the Desire. If/when Android becomes the commonplace operating system in the smartphone market, this will lead to a rise in Java development.

    In fact, to join in with the recent Apple-bashing (which I whole-heartedly agree with), I'd suggest that mobile app development will move away from the iPhone, in favour of Android phones. When you are investing time and money in app development, there is simply more certainty in developing apps that will live or die on their merits, as opposed to Apple's 'approval' process.

    It is now over 2 weeks since Opera Mini was submitted to Apple for approval:
    http://my.opera.com/community/countup/

    1. Re:Java by Niten · · Score: 5, Interesting

      I expect Android to be where the lion's share of Java development happens in the next few years

      This is a joke, right? You must have no sense of how broadly Java is used in the industry. Even if Android were to surpass the iPhone in popularity, all the Android apps put together would be just a drop in the bucket next to the massive, active Java codebase in other sectors.

      You're onto something with regard to JavaScript's importance, on the other hand, but I'd hardly call that "regrettable". It has its quirks (coerced concatenation with the + operator, some math gotchas), but on the whole it's an excellent programming language, as dynamic imperative languages go. I'm surprised at the extent to which the language is still misunderstood... think of it as Lisp in C's clothing.

  4. 0.007% by westlake · · Score: 5, Insightful

    The index is updated once a month. The ratings are based on the number of skilled engineers world-wide, courses and third party vendors. The popular search engines Google, MSN, Yahoo!, Wikipedia and YouTube are used to calculate the ratings

    I feel so much confidence in these numbers.
     

    1. Re:0.007% by corbettw · · Score: 5, Funny

      Why not? Hell, I know when I want to check out the goings on in programming the first and last place I turn is YouTube.

      --
      God invented whiskey so the Irish would not rule the world.
  5. Re:Why C? by binarylarry · · Score: 5, Interesting

    C and Java are for different things.

    C is a great systems language, it lets you get great performance, interact directly with the hardware and still stay fairly portable. Java is a great applications language, it lets you get work done quickly, runs very fast and is extremely portable and secure (which is getting more important everyday as Microsoft's grip on the desktop industry is on a slow but seriously downward trend).

    It makes sense that these two would be at the top, popularity wise.

    --
    Mod me down, my New Earth Global Warmingist friends!
  6. Re:Submitter bias: Java's "downward trend" by ozbird · · Score: 5, Funny

    C rising due to global warming. Film at 11.

  7. Re:Why C? by ucblockhead · · Score: 5, Funny

    Java is extremely portable. A Java application can be run anywhere someone wrote a VM for it in C or C++.

    --
    The cake is a pie
  8. Re:Java is crap anyway by Culture20 · · Score: 5, Funny

    And nothing more nightmarish than bad assembly.

    (I (disagree (there (is (a (missing) (parenthesis (somewhere)) in)) (your Lisp code)))

  9. C-whatever by NicknamesAreStupid · · Score: 5, Interesting

    C has become the English of computer languages. There are so many derivatives - C++, C#, 'Objective-C', Java, and all those other web scripting languages like Actionscript and PHP -- that I can't even keep track of them all. Their syntax are so similar, yet their libraries are from different planets. As for K&R's C, it is probably like the Queen's English - rarely spoken well and often slurred.

    Remember when languages really looked different - COBOL, PL/1, Fortran, Lisp? I date myself.

  10. Re:Why C? by binarylarry · · Score: 5, Interesting

    That was partially my point. Java's security track record for applications is amazing. Look at the current generation game consoles, the only console that has yet to be exploited for piracy in a practical fashion has a Java based security framework.

    Java also powers most of the major internet applications available today.

    But Java isn't great at everything, C fits in places Java doesn't.

    --
    Mod me down, my New Earth Global Warmingist friends!
  11. Re:Java is crap anyway by Courageous · · Score: 5, Funny

    Well it could have been worse.

    <I><disagree><there><is><a><missing><parenthesis><somewhere><in><your><lisp><code></code></lisp></your></in></somewhere></parenthesis></missing></a></is></there></disagree></I>

  12. Re:Submitter bias: Java's "downward trend" by Hooya · · Score: 5, Funny

    > Film at 11.

    You're off by 1. The film is actually at 10.