Top Five
The languages that stand out above the rest in popularity are:
- Python
- C
- C++
- Java
- C#
These languages are at least twice as popular as any other, making them great place to start your programming career.
Why Popularity Matters
There is often debate on which programming language is the best. While it may not be very important to win that fight, determining programming language popularity may have a big impact on your career. Even if your preferred language isn't considered "the best", it could still impact how marketable your skills are.
The benefits of learning a popular language include: more learning materials, a more active community, and more job openings looking to hire for that skill. If you have a particular field in mind, you will want to consider learning these as well. But it is best to start out with the languages that have the most demand and best support.
A new programmer might want to consider these rankings when deciding which language to become an expert in. (You likely won't find many jobs interested in your Clojure or Erlang skills.) Focusing on mastering popular languages first can give you the flexibility move between industries and you learn more about what kind of work interests you.
A seasoned programmer will want to keep an eye on emerging technologies, especially those that might kill off their current language. For example, Lisp went from second in 1989 to thirtieth in 2024. Though there are still plenty of jobs that require Lisp in 2024, it might be a good idea to consider if your industry is replacing Lisp and to get trained in that language as well.
Observations
We see the Big 4 (Python, C, C, and Java) dropping this month. We've seen Java on a steady decline since its peak around the year 2000, making it not even a third as popular as it used to be. C is even more popular, something we haven't seen since the 90's. If C# takes much more market share away from Java, we might have to start referring to these as the Big 5. Regardless of these shifts, Python, C, C++, Java, and C# all remain top choices of languages to learn.
There aren't any small languages rising quickly these day. Scratch has gone from twentieth to tenth place over the last year, but that is still small in absolute terms. The most notable change among the smaller languages is that Visual Basic continues the slide in popularity that it began early in 2022. I doubt it is indicative of a larger trend, but it is interesting to see old-timers Fortran and COBOL rise into the top 20.
Sources
TIOBE Index for January 2024 https://www.tiobe.com/tiobe-index/