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2011's Fastest Growing Language: Objective-C
mikejuk writes "Every January, it is traditional to compare the state of programming language usage as indicated by the TIOBE index. So what's up and what's down this year? The top language is still Java, but it's slowly falling in the percentages. Objective-C experienced the most growth, followed by C# and C. JavaScript climbed back into the top 10, displacing Ruby. Python and PHP experienced the biggest drops. If you like outside runners, then cheer for Lua and R, which have just entered the top 20. However, I have to wonder why Logo is in the top 20 as well. I know programming education is becoming important, but Logo?"
Which doesn't change the fact at all, and only shows the importance of iOS.
Actually, that would be the case if the news was "Objective-C is the most popular language for iOS development". If orange jumpsuits would be one of the most used form of clothing everywhere because they are used in prison, well, that would be newsworthy...
Of course it changes the facts - it's not Objective-C that's popular - it's the iPhone that's popular. If the language itself was popular then we'd see it being used where it was a choice, not a necessity.
Different definition of popular. This is using it in the "most used" sense, not the "most liked" sense.
Actually that's not even remotely true. You always had option of using C and C++ in addition to Objective C, and ever since apple removed the language restriction you can use whatever language you wish so long as it compiles to native code, resides in the app bundle, and doesn't use undocumented API calls. In fact many games are written in C# using monotouch.
But even if your statement was correct, I'm not sure it's relevant. There are lots of environments that *require* Java development, so do we then apply some sort of negative weighting to it's rank on the TIOBE index? If it's popular it's popular.
And on that note, it really shouldn't be called "Objective-C" but rather "Apple's bastardized take on Objective-C."
Objective-C is what ever Apple says it is since they for all intents and purposes owns it. They are only only people that make an Objective C compiler so they get to define the language.
So the rosy future of software development directed and controlled by Microsoft and Apple? Awesome. I'm sure that will work out well for all involved.
I suspect that both C# and Objective-C market share will only continue - probably even taking the top spots. Windows Phone 7 uses mainly C# and so will Metro apps on Windows 8. Frankly, it is a really good language and beautiful to work with. Likewise Objective-C is strong because of iOS and OS X. Java is slowly dropping from enterprise usage and is being replaced by C#.
Your argument about C# is spot-on on the client side, but I have yet to see any significant movement from Java to C# on the enterprise side. If anything, enterprises are continuing to build larger and larger installed bases of Java software that's further locking them in. In addition, I see a general distrust of Mono and a liking for Linux that biases them against C#.
E pluribus unum
And on that note, it really shouldn't be called "Objective-C" but rather "Apple's bastardized take on Objective-C."
Obj-C is a proprietary language, in a sense that it is unilaterally defined by a single entity. Said entity in this case was Stepstone, then NeXT, and now Apple. There's no ANSI or ISO Obj-C, nor any other standard, outside of the language spec that Apple publishes. So it's kinda silly to blame them for not toeing the line. If anything, you should blame GNUstep for not keeping up.
Incidentally, this also applies to just about every language on the list other than C.
Just to name a few: Java (Oracle), C# (Microsoft), JavaScript (Mozilla nee Netscape), PHP (The PHP Group), Ruby (Yukihiro Matsumoto), Python (Guido van Rossum)...
GLaDOS for President 2016! "Well here we are again. It's always such a pleasure." -- GLaDOS, 2011
If all that index does is count web pages that mention a language then isn't it more likely to be a measure of how many problems people are having with a language? Languages which "just work" would get fewer hits than those which don't.
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It's a good hypothesis, but it's pretty easy to test. The TIOBE Index searches the top search engines for the name of the language, followed by the word programming, as a phrase. e.g. "BASIC programming", "C programming".
I've just searched Google for "Objective-C programming" and most of the results are related to language related books, web tutorials and other related resources. Not problems.
The guys at TIOBE perhaps aren't so stupid.
Objective-C's growth in popularity coincides with the Flurry Analytics study [flurry.com] that showed most mobile developers targeting iOS, with support for Android dropping by a third over 2011.
The Flurry Analytics study is flawed in that it only counts devs using Flurry. As others have pointed out, most Android devs use the free Google Analytics. This biases the Flurry study towards iOS.
My boss and I believed that in '87, it is (IMHO) far better than C++, and at the time it had a great chance. Obj-C was a great language for the time, probably the most advanced practical OO language of the time. Sadly it never got any traction until NeXT.
Sadder still is the fact that it didn't keep up with the time. It is still state of the art for the late 80s/early 90s; but languages moved on and improved. If they eliminated the need for separate header files (including getting rid of the declaration/implementation divide), added keywords to get rid of the need for the CPP, added autoboxing, and improved runtime errors; it would be a world class language (again).
As an aside Cocoa is a wonderful and powerful class library, with one major flaw: needlesslyLongAndOverSpecific method names. Where Smalltalk was content with anArray getAt: someIndex NeXT decided to drive in the fact that you were getting an object: [anArray objectAtIndex: someIndex], despite the fact that a NSArray can only old objects. That is a mild example, but the power in the library is amazing.
Sadly the stewards of Obj-C still seem to think the language is fine as it is, which is a shame. The lamdbas are nice though...
What do you know I wrote a novel
I'm not saying the list isn't accurate ... it's just that I can imagine too many plausible ways of skewing it.
eg. Book publishers might be looking at that list when they decide what books to publish each year. This creates a feedback loop where their own books push a language up the list.
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As a simple example pretty much every videogame is written in it (C++ usually). On Windows it is almost always Visual C++, in particular because for the 360 that is what you have to use. The PS3 doesn't use VC++, of course, but it does use a C language for processor programming and nVidia's CG for programming the GPU (if you need more fine control than OpenGL ES offers). Go look at any posting for a programmer for a game company, see what language they are asking for.
Now obvious to anyone who's looked around that games are HUGE. Lots and lots of development going towards videogames. It's a large and profitable market.
In terms of pure C, that still reigns supreme in the embedded world and man is there a lot of that going on. we have tons of embedded devices, in things you'd never even think of.
The problem is as you note these guys use the "What are people chattering about," method, as do many people on Slashdot. They think because there's a lot of buzz about something that means it is in heavy use. Not really. There's no buzz about C++ because it is well established, but that doesn't mean it isn't getting used. It means the people using it don't feel the need to go on about it.
If you think JavaScript can or should replace strongly typed, compiled languages then you are severely deluding yourself.
At present C, C#, Objective-C, and Java are still your best bets
You realize that one of those four isn't strongly typed, and doesn't resolve method calls until runtime?
StackOverflow is a great general purpose site, but was started by two guys VERY heavy into Microsoft and .Net technologies. As such, the C# guys jumped on it en masse, and so they are significantly over-represented here - there were already a lot of sites discussing Java and it takes time to migrate people over.
Objective-C users really had no other great public forums so StackOverflow quickly became a major hub for Objective-C information.
"There is more worth loving than we have strength to love." - Brian Jay Stanley
I think it reflects the activity in the language and the number of new, untrained programmers starting out on it.