Fast and memory-safe, the Rust programming language has landed the 13th spot—its highest ever in the Tiobe index. Credit: AL-art/Shutterstock Rust has leaped to its highest position ever in the monthly Tiobe index of language popularity, scaling to the 13th spot this month, with placement in the top 10 anticipated in an upcoming edition. Previously, Rust has never gone higher than 17th place in the Tiobe Programming Index. Tiobe CEO Paul Jansen attributed Rust’s ascent in the just-released July index to a February 2024 US White House report recommending Rust over C/C+, for safety reasons. He also credited the growing community and ecosystem support for the language. “Rust is finally moving up. After the tailwind of the US government, which recently announced to recommend moving from C/C++ to Rust for security reasons, things are going fast for Rust,” Jansen said. “The community is growing, including the number of third-party libraries and tools. In short, Rust is preparing itself for a top 10 position in the Tiobe index.” Rust is billed as being fast and memory-safe, with no runtime or garbage collector. It can power performance-critical services, run on embedded devices, and integrate with other languages, proponents say. Still, C++ in particular has done well recently in climbing the index, even after the US White House report, rising to second place in June. Software quality services vendor Tiobe’s monthly index bases ratings on the number of skilled engineers worldwide, courses, and third-party vendors pertaining to languages, examining websites such as Google, Amazon, Wikipedia, and more than 20 others to determine the monthly numbers. The top 10 programming languages for July 2024 are as follows: Python, with a rating of 16.12% C++, 10.34% C, 9.48% Java, 8.59% C#, 6.72% JavaScript, 3.79% Go (golang), 2.19% Visual Basic, 2.08% Fortran, 2.05% SQL, 2.04% In the rival Pypl Popularity of Programming Language index, which assesses how often languages are searched on in Google, the top 10 languages for July 2024 are as follows. Python, with a 29.35% share Java, 15.6% JavaScript, 8.49% C#, 6.9% C/C++, 6.37% R, 4.73% PHP, 4.49% TypeScript, 2.96% Swift, 2.78% Rust, 2.55% More on Rust: Safety off: Programming in Rust with `unsafe` What’s new in Rust 1.76 6 Rust programming mistakes to watch out for 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