Tiobe index
Encyclopedia
TIOBE programming community index is an ordered list of programming languages, sorted by the frequency of web search using the name of the language as the keyword. The index covers searches in Google
, Google Blogs, MSN
, Yahoo!
, Wikipedia and YouTube
. The index is updated once a month. The current information is free but the long term statistics over many years of observation is for sale. The index authors think that it may be valuable when accepting various strategic decisions. TIOBE focuses on Turing complete languages, so it does not provide information about the popularity of, for instance, SQL
or HTML
.
According to the site, TIOBE index is not about the best programming language or the language in which most lines of code have been written, However the site does claim that the frequency of searches may reflect the number of skilled engineers, courses and jobs worldwide. Tim Bunce, author of the Perl DBI
, has been critical of the index and its methods of ranking.
For many years, TIOBE has been a subject of flame wars. In particular, decrease of Perl
popularity (while it is in general not ranked low) raised discussions that maybe this language is "dying," followed by wide negative response from the Perl community. Similarly, the growth of Python
has been discussed as a success in the Python community. Java staying at the top has been interpreted as a success, but some decline over many years has also raised a discussion if this is a dying language." TIOBE indicates that C# is growing in popularity as it has been rising on the chart, but ten years after its introduction it was still on the sixth position, comparable to Python
by popularity. TIOBE index does not give a particularly high rank for Fortran
, Eiffel
and some other notable languages.
TIOBE index is sensitive to the ranking policy of the search engines on which it is based. For instance, in April 2004 Google performed a cleanup action to get rid of unfair attempts to promote the search rank. As a consequence, there was a huge drop for languages such as Java
and C++
, yet these languages have stayed at the top of the table. To avoid such fluctuations, TIOBE now uses more search engines.
Google
Google Inc. is an American multinational public corporation invested in Internet search, cloud computing, and advertising technologies. Google hosts and develops a number of Internet-based services and products, and generates profit primarily from advertising through its AdWords program...
, Google Blogs, MSN
MSN
MSN is a collection of Internet sites and services provided by Microsoft. The Microsoft Network debuted as an online service and Internet service provider on August 24, 1995, to coincide with the release of the Windows 95 operating system.The range of services offered by MSN has changed since its...
, Yahoo!
Yahoo!
Yahoo! Inc. is an American multinational internet corporation headquartered in Sunnyvale, California, United States. The company is perhaps best known for its web portal, search engine , Yahoo! Directory, Yahoo! Mail, Yahoo! News, Yahoo! Groups, Yahoo! Answers, advertising, online mapping ,...
, Wikipedia and YouTube
YouTube
YouTube is a video-sharing website, created by three former PayPal employees in February 2005, on which users can upload, view and share videos....
. The index is updated once a month. The current information is free but the long term statistics over many years of observation is for sale. The index authors think that it may be valuable when accepting various strategic decisions. TIOBE focuses on Turing complete languages, so it does not provide information about the popularity of, for instance, SQL
SQL
SQL is a programming language designed for managing data in relational database management systems ....
or HTML
HTML
HyperText Markup Language is the predominant markup language for web pages. HTML elements are the basic building-blocks of webpages....
.
According to the site, TIOBE index is not about the best programming language or the language in which most lines of code have been written, However the site does claim that the frequency of searches may reflect the number of skilled engineers, courses and jobs worldwide. Tim Bunce, author of the Perl DBI
Perl DBI
In computing, the Perl DBI offers a standardized way for programmers using the Perl programming language to embed database communication within their programs. The latest DBI module for Perl from CPAN can run on a range of operating systems....
, has been critical of the index and its methods of ranking.
For many years, TIOBE has been a subject of flame wars. In particular, decrease of Perl
Perl
Perl is a high-level, general-purpose, interpreted, dynamic programming language. Perl was originally developed by Larry Wall in 1987 as a general-purpose Unix scripting language to make report processing easier. Since then, it has undergone many changes and revisions and become widely popular...
popularity (while it is in general not ranked low) raised discussions that maybe this language is "dying," followed by wide negative response from the Perl community. Similarly, the growth of Python
Python (programming language)
Python is a general-purpose, high-level programming language whose design philosophy emphasizes code readability. Python claims to "[combine] remarkable power with very clear syntax", and its standard library is large and comprehensive...
has been discussed as a success in the Python community. Java staying at the top has been interpreted as a success, but some decline over many years has also raised a discussion if this is a dying language." TIOBE indicates that C# is growing in popularity as it has been rising on the chart, but ten years after its introduction it was still on the sixth position, comparable to Python
Python (programming language)
Python is a general-purpose, high-level programming language whose design philosophy emphasizes code readability. Python claims to "[combine] remarkable power with very clear syntax", and its standard library is large and comprehensive...
by popularity. TIOBE index does not give a particularly high rank for Fortran
Fortran
Fortran is a general-purpose, procedural, imperative programming language that is especially suited to numeric computation and scientific computing...
, Eiffel
Eiffel (programming language)
Eiffel is an ISO-standardized, object-oriented programming language designed by Bertrand Meyer and Eiffel Software. The design of the language is closely connected with the Eiffel programming method...
and some other notable languages.
TIOBE index is sensitive to the ranking policy of the search engines on which it is based. For instance, in April 2004 Google performed a cleanup action to get rid of unfair attempts to promote the search rank. As a consequence, there was a huge drop for languages such as Java
Java (programming language)
Java is a programming language originally developed by James Gosling at Sun Microsystems and released in 1995 as a core component of Sun Microsystems' Java platform. The language derives much of its syntax from C and C++ but has a simpler object model and fewer low-level facilities...
and C++
C++
C++ is a statically typed, free-form, multi-paradigm, compiled, general-purpose programming language. It is regarded as an intermediate-level language, as it comprises a combination of both high-level and low-level language features. It was developed by Bjarne Stroustrup starting in 1979 at Bell...
, yet these languages have stayed at the top of the table. To avoid such fluctuations, TIOBE now uses more search engines.