JavaScript Rules But Microsoft Programming Languages Are On the Rise (zdnet.com)

Microsoft languages seem to be hitting the right note with coders across ops, data science, and app development. From a report: JavaScript remains the most popular programming language, but two offerings from Microsoft are steadily gaining, according to developer-focused analyst firm RedMonk's first quarter 2018 ranking. RedMonk's rankings are based on pull requests in GitHub, as well as an approximate count of how many times a language is tagged on developer knowledge-sharing site Stack Overflow. Based on these figures, RedMonk analyst Stephen O'Grady reckons JavaScript is the most popular language today as it was last year. In fact, nothing has changed in RedMonk's top 10 list with the exception of Apple's Swift rising to join its predecessor, Objective C, in 10th place. The top 10 programming languages in descending order are JavaScript, Java, Python, C#, C++, CSS, Ruby, and C, with Swift and Objective-C in tenth.

TIOBE's top programming language index for March consists of many of the same top 10 languages though in a different order, with Java in top spot, followed by C, C++, Python, C#, Visual Basic .NET, PHP, JavaScript, Ruby, and SQL. These and other popularity rankings are meant to help developers see which skills they should be developing. Outside the RedMonk top 10, O'Grady highlights a few notable changes, including an apparent flattening-out in the rapid ascent of Google's back-end system language, Go.

Comments

Using Stack Overflow is stupid

[Anonymous Coward]

So the most fucked up and confusing languages will generate the most questions and get labeled as the most popular?

Re:Using Stack Overflow is stupid

[DavidHumus]

Or the language with the most newbies.

CSS is a programming language?

[Prien715]

The top 10 programming languages [include]...CSS

That tells you all you need to know about this "study". CSS is a mark-up language -- not a programming language (unless you're on the sadistic side as it is technically Turing complete).

Re:BS

[fred6666]

Of course. Just like you can use Swift for something else than developing for Apple products.
Yet, they are not used outside mother's basements.

Could you name one major piece of software written in C# not specifically made to be executed on Windows? Without a visual studio project file in the source repository?

Re:Visual Studio is big in colleges/universities

[dwpro]

I recall back in college, we developed on sun ultrasparks using feature poor text editors, and spent much time pouring over code for simple typos and parsing core dumps. Now as a professional developer I wouldn't hesitate for a moment to purchase a visual studios license if it weren't provided by work. Much of enterprise software is useless and overpriced-but not visual studios, IMHO.

Re:BS

[fred6666]

I do.
But there is no killer application on Linux requiring mono. Hence, most people don't even bother installing it.
Unlike say, perl and python, which are must-have.
Is there a popular desktop environment, web browser, or even text editor for Linux written in C#? I understand some kid probably wrote a text editor for fun, but I meant something actually used?

Re:Wrong place to look to plan your career skills

[Dutch Gun]

I'd first ask them what sort of programming career they'd be interested in, and then tailor my recommendations from there. There are many industries which are heavily skewed towards particular languages. Which do you think would be the most important language in the following fields?

* Videogame programming
* Web programming
* Enterprise application programming
* Mobile development
* Scientific and engineering programming

The languages a programmer would want to learn is likely different for each one of these career paths. In the case of my particular career (videogames), you'd be offering terrible advice. C++ completely dominates AAA game development, followed by C#, and a smattering of also-rans.

Programming languages don't exist in a vacuum. They all have strengths and weaknesses, and trying to distill them into a generic popularity contest is a mistake, at least when it comes to career choices.