{"id":566,"date":"2010-12-07T22:09:09","date_gmt":"2010-12-07T22:09:09","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/awgentry.com\/?p=566"},"modified":"2010-12-07T22:09:09","modified_gmt":"2010-12-07T22:09:09","slug":"programming-language-popularity","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/awgentry.com\/weblog\/programming-language-popularity\/","title":{"rendered":"Programming Language Popularity"},"content":{"rendered":"
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It’s a well-known fact to those who frequent this blog (all three of you) that I’m rather fond of pounding out a bit of code — that’s computer programming<\/a>, for you non-geeks — every so often. My experience goes back to when I was a wee lad…<\/p>\n

I’ve grown up with computers for as long as I can remember, using them often both for fun and work. My first computer programming experience was on an old TI-99<\/a> computer using TI BASIC<\/a>, in the late ’80’s or so. I continued on with various versions of BASIC<\/a>, dabbled in other languages, and later taught myself HTML<\/a> in college (which I know isn’t technically programming). From there I went to JavaScript<\/a>, and PHP<\/a>, and a few other Web programming<\/a> languages. I’ve done freelance Web design<\/a> and been a Webmaster<\/a> for a radio station and a couple stores, too. Right now I’m taking a college class in Visual Basic<\/a>. That said, I’m certainly interested in which languages are the most marketable, versatile, and nifty overall for my personal and professional endeavors.<\/p>\n

Which languages are truly the most popular? With that critical question in mind, I began a quest to discover the most-used languages among programming gurus, code monkeys, and the companies that feed them.<\/p>\n

I’ve adopted a rigorous research method that requires each source to (1) appear relatively scientific and\/or (2) contain pretty graphs.<\/p>\n

<\/strong><\/strong><\/a>\"\"<\/a><\/strong>LangPop:<\/a><\/strong> The first one I checked on my epic (Google) search<\/a>, this site included an impressive array of charts from a variety of places. It’s interesting to see how the big picture graph compares to searches from niche sources such as Delicious<\/a> and Slashdot<\/a>.<\/p>\n

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\"Tiobe<\/a><\/dt>\n
Image via Wikipedia<\/a><\/dd>\n<\/dl>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

TIOBE Index:<\/a><\/strong> This software company publishes a monthly Billboard-style<\/a> chart that lists which languages are currently popular and which have gained or lost popularity, and by how much. Their methods are quite thorough, but make sure you\u2019re prepared with a big caffeinated beverage if you want to try reading the heady explanation<\/a> they provide.<\/p>\n

Honorable Mention: <\/strong>Though they don’t specifically list languages by popularity, here are some related websites:<\/p>\n

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