Tiobe Index: C# rating grows nearly 2% in past year, while C rating falls by similar amount.
Microsoft’s C# programming language has seen a significant surge in popularity, according to the Tiobe programming community index. Despite maintaining its fifth position in the Tiobe index for May 2022, unchanged from May 2021, C#’s rating jumped by nearly two full percentage points over the past year. This notable increase highlights the growing interest and adoption of C# among developers.
The rating for C# in May 2022 stood at 6.39%, which is a substantial rise from its 4.41% rating a year prior. Tiobe, a company specializing in software quality assessment, describes C# as one of the most mature languages available, supporting a wide range of modern programming paradigms. Over the past two years, Tiobe has observed a significant increase in the number of its customers running C# on Linux. This trend indicates a broader acceptance and utilization of C# across different operating systems. Tiobe predicts that “chances are high” for C# to eventually replace C among the top three languages in the index. Another language on the rise is C++, which has seen its rating increase by 1.01 percentage points in the past year.
The Tiobe index uses a formula that considers various factors such as the number of skilled engineers, the availability of courses, and the presence of third-party vendors for each language. These ratings are compiled using data from popular search engines like Google, Bing, Yahoo, and Wikipedia, providing a comprehensive overview of a language’s popularity.
As of May 2022, the top 10 programming languages in the Tiobe index are as follows:
- Python, with a 12.74% rating
- C, with 11.59%
- Java, with 10.99%
- C++, with 8.83%
- C#, with 6.39%
- Visual Basic, with 5.86%
- JavaScript, with 2.12%
- Assembly, with 1.92%
- SQL, with 1.87%
- PHP, with 1.52%
In comparison, the PYPL (Popularity of Programming Language) index, which analyzes the frequency of language tutorial searches on Google, also ranks C# within the top five. This index combines the ratings of C and C++, reflecting their shared usage in some contexts. The top 10 programming languages according to the PYPL index for May 2022 are as follows:
- Python, with a 27.85% share
- Java, with 17.86%
- JavaScript, with 9.17%
- C#, with 7.62%
- C/C++, with 7%
- PHP, with 5.36%
- R, with 4.34%
- TypeScript, with 2.39%
- Objective-C, with 2.25%
- Swift, with 2.05%
The steady rise in C#’s popularity is indicative of its robust feature set and versatility, making it a preferred choice for a wide range of applications. With its strong support for modern programming practices and increasing cross-platform capabilities, C# is well-positioned to continue its upward trajectory in the programming community.