Microsoft’s object-oriented programming language for .NET development had the largest increase in popularity, gaining on Java, C++, C, and Python. Credit: Thinkstock As expected, Microsoft’s C# language has won the Tiobe programming language of the year award for 2023, with the largest uptick in popularity year over year, at 1.43 percentage points. C#, an object-oriented language for building .NET applications, wins the award for the first time, Tiobe announced on January 6. The Tiobe Programming Community Index itself dates back to 2001. Tiobe’s index gauges language popularity based on the number of skilled engineers worldwide, courses, and third-party vendors, which are calculated using searches in search engines such as Google, Bing, Yahoo, and Wikipedia. C# has been a top 10 programming language for more than two decades, and is catching up to the “big four” languages Python, C, C++, and Java, Tiobe said. Runners up for the largest gain in share were Scratch (0.83%) and Fortran (0.64%). “C# is eating market share from Java and is getting more and popular in domains such as web application back ends and games,” Tiobe said. Apart from C#, the Tiobe index last year had Fortran and Kotlin become permanent top 20 players, replacing R and Perl. Fortran is viewed as fit to crunch numbers while Kotlin is viewed as a competitor to Java. Languages viewed as possibilities to enter the Tiobe top 20 in 2024 include Dart and TypeScript. The Tiobe top 10 for January 2024: Python, with a 13.97% rating C, 11.44% C++, 9.96% Java, 7.87% C#, 7.16% JavaScript, 2.77% PHP, 1.79% Visual Basic, 1.6% SQL, 1.46% Scratch, 1.44% The alternative Pypl Popularity of Programming Language index analyzes how often language tutorials are searched on in Google. The Pypl top 10 for January 2024: Python, with a 28.2% share Java, 15.73% JavaScript, 8.91% C/C++, 6.8% C#, 6.67% R, 4.59% PHP, 4.54% TypeScript, 2.92% Swift, 2.77% Objective-C, 2.34% Related content analysis Beyond the usual suspects: 5 fresh data science tools to try today The mid-month report includes quick tips for easier Python installation, a new VS Code-like IDE just for Python and R users, and five newer data science tools you won't want to miss. By Serdar Yegulalp Jul 12, 2024 2 mins Python Programming Languages Software Development analysis Generative AI won’t fix cloud migration You’ve probably heard how generative AI will solve all cloud migration problems. It’s not that simple. Generative AI could actually make it harder and more costly. By David Linthicum Jul 12, 2024 5 mins Generative AI Artificial Intelligence Cloud Computing news HR professionals trust AI recommendations HireVue survey finds 73% of HR professionals trust AI to make candidate recommendations, while 75% of workers are opposed to AI making hiring decisions. By Paul Krill Jul 11, 2024 3 mins Technology Industry Careers how-to Safety off: Programming in Rust with `unsafe` What does it mean to write unsafe code in Rust, and what can you do (and not do) with the 'unsafe' keyword? The facts may surprise you. By Serdar Yegulalp Jul 11, 2024 8 mins Rust Programming Languages Software Development Resources Videos