C++ Wins Tiobe’s Language of the Year, Beating Out C and Python
The vaunted C++ programming language, which overtook Java last month in the monthly Tiobe Index of language popularity, was the index’s biggest gainer in 2022, Tiobe announced this week. This surge in popularity earned C++ the Tiobe Programming Language of the Year 2022 award, highlighting its significant growth in the developer community.
C++ popularity grew by 4.62 percentage points year over year, making it the top language in terms of growth. The Tiobe index measures language popularity using a formula that assesses searches on programming languages across various search engines, including Google, Bing, Yahoo, and Wikipedia. This comprehensive approach provides a broad view of the programming landscape.
Runners-up for this year’s award include C, which saw a 3.82 percentage point increase, and Python, which rose by 2.78 percentage points in 2022. Notably, Python was the Tiobe Programming Language of the Year for 2021, demonstrating its continued relevance and strong performance in the programming world.
Tiobe, a company that offers software quality services, attributed C++’s popularity to its excellent performance as a high-level, object-oriented language. Developers appreciate C++ for its ability to build fast, large-scale software systems with more than 1 million lines of code without falling into a “maintenance nightmare.” The introduction of new language standards, such as C++11 and C++20, which bring interesting features and improvements, also contributed to its growing popularity.
In addition to C++, the Tiobe index saw gains in 2022 for several other languages, including Rust, Lua, F#, Kotlin, Julia, and Dart. These languages are being recognized for their unique features and growing communities.
The top 10 languages in Tiobe’s index for January 2023 are:
- Python, with a rating of 16.36%
- C, 16.26%
- C++, 12.91%
- Java, 12.21%
- C#, 5.73%
- Visual Basic, 4.64%
- JavaScript, 2.87%
- SQL, 2.5%
- Assembly language, 1.6%
- PHP, 1.39%
The alternative Pypl Popularity of Programming Language index, which analyzes how often language tutorials are searched in Google, listed the following top 10 languages for January 2023:
- Python, with a 27.93% share
- Java, 16.78%
- JavaScript, 9.63%
- C#, 6.99%
- C/C++, 6.9%
- PHP, 5.29%
- R, 4.03%
- TypeScript, 2.79%
- Swift, 2.23%
- Objective-C, 2.2%
These rankings reflect the dynamic nature of programming language popularity and usage in the industry. As new languages and updates continue to emerge, developers have a wide array of tools at their disposal, each with its own strengths and community support.