JavaScript Is The Language Of 2014
Written by Ian Elliot   
Thursday, 08 January 2015

The January 2015 TIOBE index is out and it names JavaScript as the language of 2014. At long last, JavaScript is Language Of The Year.


Javascriptlogo

 

JavaScript has been around for a while, but so far its performance, in the TIOBE index at least, has been mediocre. In many ways this has reflected badly on the index as it has been obvious to everyone that JavaScript, the language we all love to hate, has been on the rise since it was introduced and seems destined to take over the world. 

The reason that it is TIOBE's language of the year is not that it tops the charts, but that it has increased its position more than any other language during the past 12 months. It moved 1.7% over the year. The closest other language was PL/SLQ (1.38%) and surprisingly, given all of the recent talk about its decline, Perl at (1.33%). 

 

TIOBE

 

The big mystery when you look at the overall performance of JavaScript is why the decline in 2010? Notice that JavaScript hasn't made it back to its pre-2010 levels even now.

 Tiobe2015javascript

 

In terms of ranking, C is still at number one, closely followed by Java. We then have a big jump to reach the rest of the languages with Objective-C, C++ and C# forming a cluster at 3,4 and 5.

At position 6, PHP is still higher than JavaScript, which comes in at 7, having moved up from 9 over the year. Finishing the top half of the list we have Python, Perl and PL/SQL.

After this the world goes mad with MATLAB, ABAP, COBOL and Assembly. Ruby, another language much believed to be in decline, is down at number 15, sliding from 12th at the start of the year.  

Here is the complete table:

Jan 2015

Jan 2014

Programming Language

Ratings

Change

1 1 C 16.703% -1.24%
2 2 Java 15.528% -1.00%
3 3 Objective-C 6.953% -4.14%
4 4 C++ 6.705% -0.86%
5 5 C# 5.045% -0.80%
6 6 PHP 3.784% -0.82%
7 9 JavaScript 3.274% +1.70%
8 8 Python 2.613% +0.24%
9 13 Perl 2.256% +1.33%
10 17 PL/SQL 2.014% +1.38%
11 15 MATLAB 1.390% +0.62%
12 26 ABAP 1.273% +0.80%
13 27 COBOL 1.267% +0.81%
14 24 Assembly 1.171% +0.68%
15 12 Ruby 1.130% +0.07%
16 11 Visual Basic .NET 1.074% -0.48%
17 - Visual Basic 1.074% +1.07%
18 44 R 1.042% +0.79%
19 10 Transact-SQL 0.874% -0.68%
20 20 Delphi/Object Pascal 0.837% +0.24%

 

Of course, if you put C and C++ together, then Java and the rest would be nowhere to be seen. Similarly putting Visual Basic and VB .NET together would put Basic up in the top ten.

The coming year is going to see things a little more turbulent in that Apple's introduction of Swift will disrupt the cosy group of Cs by reducing the use of Objective C. If it doesn't then there are going to be some interesting questions to answer. 

And before you start to make a fuss - yes TIOBE is a very blunt instrument that doesn't measure anything much directly related to programming language use or popularity, but it has been going for a long time and it does indicate the relative importance and year-on-year changes.

 

 Javascriptlogo

 

 

Banner


Lightbend Announces Akka 3
15/11/2024

Lightbend, the company that developed Akka, has announced Akka 3, and has changed its name to Akka. The company produces cloud-native microservices frameworks, and Akka is used for building distribute [ ... ]



Random Gifts For Programmers
24/11/2024

Not really random. Not even pseudo random, more stuff that caught my attention and that I, for one, would like to be given. And, yes, if I'm not given them, I'd probably buy some for myself.


More News

 

espbook

 

Comments




or email your comment to: comments@i-programmer.info

 

Last Updated ( Thursday, 08 January 2015 )