News

Report: Python Now a Top 3 Language, Bypassing C++

• By David Ramel
• 09/06/2018

For the first time, the Python programming language -- a favorite tool for AI projects -- has cracked the top three positions in the TIOBE index, which tracks language popularity.

Python's ascension into the higher ranks comes at the expense of venerable 33-year-old workhorse C++, which fell to No. 4.

Python, which was released in 1991, is kind of a jack-of-all trades, general purpose language, known for its simple onramp and ease of use even though it's a favorite among many demanding data scientists for cutting-edge analytics and AI projects.

The language has climbed steadily in language popularity rankings, perhaps benefitting from the increasing importance of AI.

Previously, the TIOBE Programming Community index foreshadowed Python joining its top three, saying in the August report: "This time Python was a clear winner with more than 70 percent 'market share.' This Python boost is also visible in the TIOBE index. But industry is adopting Python as well. The Python programming language started as a successor of Perl to write build scripts and all kind of glue software. But gradually it entered also other domains. Nowadays it is quite common to have Python running in large embedded systems. So it is very likely that Python will enter the top 3 and even might become the new number 1 in the long run."

And, indeed, it did enter the top three in the new September report on the strength of 4.67 percent growth from September 2017 (though Java and C retained their top two slots on even higher percentage growth rates). C++, with 1.83 percent growth, relinquished its top-three position, falling to No. 4.

"Python has entered the TIOBE index top 3 for the first time in its history. This really took a long time," the report said. "At the beginning of the 1990s it entered the chart. Then it took another 10 years before it reached the TIOBE index top 10 for the first time. After that it slowly but surely approached the top 5 and eventually the top 3. Python is becoming increasingly ubiquitous. It is already the first choice at universities (for all kinds of subjects for which programming is demanded) and is now also conquering the industrial world. Python's selling points are easy to learn, easy to install and easy to deploy."

The new report also saw Objective-C make a big jump from No. 18 to No. 10, while big moves downward in the top 20 were shown by Perl (falling from No. 9 to No. 17), R (from No. 11 to No. 18) and Visual Basic (down to No. 20 from No. 14, though the more modern variant, Visual Basic .NET, rose from No. 8 to No. 5).

"Other interesting moves this month are: Rust jumps from No. 36 to No. 31, Groovy from No. 44 to No. 34 and Julia from No. 50 to No. 39," the TIOBE report said.