When it comes to measuring and determining the best programming or used language, it is a grey area and very difficult to decide which one is because different languages employ different skills and uses with different use cases.
I usually want to call it a variable that is dynamically assigned.
Today, we may be able to stand and say PHP is slowly headed to extinction but you would be surprised to find out that most websites still run PHP including this very blog of mine.
Programming languages have been proposed even before the era of the modern computer.
As years have gone by, computer resources have increased and application domains have expanded, leading to the proliferation of hundreds of programming languages, each attempting to improve over others or to address new programming paradigms.
There are various methods used in trying to solve this dilemma and some are:
🎈 Youtube Videos
🎈 Tutorials about the language
🎈 University Education
🎈 GitHub Commits
🎈 Google Trends
🎈 Strong Community
🎈 Job Postings
🎈 Company Usage
Let's see the top measuring metrics, indexes and entities out there. Please note that this list is not in any particular order and I prefer Stack Overflow Annual Dev Survey personally.
0 .PYPL ✔
The PYPL PopularitY of Programming Language index is an indicator based on Google Trends, reflecting the developers' searches for " tutorial", instead of what pages are available.
PYPL Index is created by analyzing how often language tutorials are searched on Google. The index is updated once a month.
1 .TIOBE ✔
The monthly TIOBE Programming Community Index has been published since 2001, showing the top 10 languages graphically, the top 20 languages with a rating and delta, and the top 50 languages by rating.[13]
The numbers are based on searching the Web with certain phrases that include language names and counting the numbers of hits returned. In 2021, the top-ranking languages included: C, Python, Java, C++, and C#.
It is important to note that the TIOBE index is not about the best programming language or the language in which most lines of code have been written.
The index can be used to check whether your programming skills are still up to date or to make a strategic decision about what programming language should be adopted when starting to build a new software system.
The name TIOBE stands for “The Importance Of Being Earnest” . Visit TIOBE
2 .Trendy Skills ✔
It searches and extracts from popular advertising websites the skills and technologies that employers are seeking and classifies them into categories, one of which is Programming Languages.
It displays trends for one or more skills or categories during specified time ranges. Data is also accessible via a public API, so anyone can generate their own statistics.
Visit them
Stack Overflow ✔
Stack Overflow is the largest, most trusted online community for developers to learn, share their programming knowledge, and build their careers.
Stack Overflow is a question and answer website for professional and enthusiast programmers. It is the flagship site of the Stack Exchange Network.
Stack Overflow's Annual Developer Survey polls site users. In 2021, the most popular were: JavaScript, HTML/CSS, Python, and SQL.
I personally believe in these more than any other index because I participated in the last survey.
See last year's survey here :
3 .IEEE Spectrum ✔
IEEE is the world's largest technical professional organization dedicated to advancing technology for the benefit of humanity.
IEEE Spectrum's annual ranking of top programming languages. In 2021 it used 11 metrics from 8 sources: GitHub, Google, Twitter, Stack Overflow, Reddit, Hacker News, Career Builder, and IEEE Xplore Digital Library,
In 2021, the top languages were Python, Java, C, C++, and JavaScript. The interactive ranking app allows adjustment of each metric's weight, and also filtering languages by "type" (Web, Mobile, Enterprise, Embedded).
This is an extra feature you may not find in other indexes. It stands for the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers.
Visit IEEE's Spectrum here
4 .RedMonk ✔
RedMonk is an industry analyst firm focused on software developers.
The RedMonk Programming Language Rankings are derived from a correlation of programming traction on GitHub (usage) and Stack Overflow (discussion). As of June 2021, the top-ranking were: JavaScript, Python, Java, PHP, CSS.
Visit RedMonk
Other companies like Indeed, Google etc carry out related surveys and you may want to see their output too.
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Ronnie Atuhaire