Python, Scala climb the ranks of language popularity

Python’s rise has been steady, while Scala’s rise this time may last longer than before

Python has scaled to the top of the monthly PyPL language popularity index, overtaking Java. Also on the rise, in the rival Tiobe index, is Scala, which has again cracked the index’s Top 20.

Python takes the top spot

This month’s PyPL index marks the first time Python has taken the top spot. The PyPL Popularity of Programming Language index, which assesses language popularity based on how often language tutorials are searched on in Google, had Python snagging a 22.8 percent share, ahead of Java’s 22.5 percent share. Python was in second place last month with a 22.2 percent share.

Praised for its simplicity, Python has been gaining in popularity lately, such as for use in machine learning.  For the second year in a row, Python was rated the most-wanted language in the recent Stack Overflow Developer Survey, meaning It was the language that developers who do not use it yet most want to learn.

Python also fares well in the Tiobe Index, where it is in fourth place this month with a rating of 5.912 percent. Tiobe rates language popularity based on a formula assessing searches on languages in popular search engines, including Google, Bing, and Yahoo.

Scala’s rise may persist this time

But the language grabbing attention in this month’s Tiobe index was Scala, which came in 20th place, with a rating of 0.9 percent. The object-oriented, functional language, originally built for the JVM, was in the Top 20 once before for just a month.

Tiobe, which offers software quality services, believes it could now have a much longer run among the index’s top-ranked languages this time around. Scala not only can be used with Java but could be a substitute for it, being the less-verbose language, Tiobe said.

PyPL Top 10 programming languages

PyPL’s top 10 languages in April 2018 were:

1. Python, at 22.8 percent
2. Java, at 22.5 percent
3. JavaScript, at 8.57 percent
4. PHP, at 8.33 percent
5. C#, at 7.87 percent
6. C/C++, at 6.26 percent
7. R, at 4.22 percent
8. Objective-C, at 3.56 percent
9. Swift, at 2.8 percent
10. Matlab, at 2.33 percent

Tiobe Top 10 programming languages

The top 10 languages for TIobe in April 2018 were:

1. Java, at 16.38 percent
2. C, at 14 percent
3. C++, at 7.668 percent
4. Python, at 5.192
5. C#, at 4.402 percent
6. Visual Basic .Net, at 4.124 percent
7. PHP, at 3.321 percent
8. JavaScript, at 2.923 percent
9. SQL, at 1.987 percent
10. Ruby, at 1.182 percent

Source: infoworld.com

Author: Paul Krill