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C# Fails in TIOBE Programming Language of the Year Bid

Python edged out C#'s bid to be named programming language of the year by TIOBE Index, one of the leading trackers of language popularity.

Last month TIOBE Software CEO Paul Jansen said C# was "by far the most likely candidate for this title," which is awarded to the language that marks the biggest increase in its rating over the year. Python had captured the title in two of the last four years (alternating awards with C), including last year, so it looked like C# might break the stranglehold of those two perennial leaders, but it was not to be.

"C# was on its way to get the title for the first time in history, but Python surpassed C# in the last month," Jansen said in his January 2022 post. Python's rating change was 1.86 percent, beating out the 1.73 percent registered by C#.

Final Standings
[Click on image for larger view.] Final Standings (source: TIOBE Index).

"Python started at position #3 of the TIOBE index at the beginning of 2021 and left both Java and C behind to become the number one of the TIOBE index," Jansen continued. "But Python's popularity didn't stop there. It is currently more than 1 percent ahead of the rest. Java's all time record of 26.49 percent ratings in 2001 is still far away, but Python has it all to become the de facto standard programming language for many domains. There are no signs that Python's triumphal march will stop soon."

C# started and stopped the year at the same position in the rankings: No. 5.

Past Winners
[Click on image for larger view.] Past Winners (source: TIOBE Index).

"Are there any serious contenders for Python?" Jansen asked. "Any new and shiny languages that might compete in the future? If we look at the promising languages of the last few years, we see the following changes in 2021: Swift from #13 to #10, Go from #14 to #13, Rust from #26 to #26, Julia from #23 to #28, Kotlin from #40 to #29, Dart from #25 to #37, and TypeScript from #42 to #49. So, except may be for Swift and Go, we don't expect any new languages entering the top 5 or even the top 3 any time soon."

About the Author

David Ramel is an editor and writer at Converge 360.

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