Déjà vu: Python wins TIOBE Programming Language of the Year

Déjà vu: Python wins TIOBE Programming Language of the Year Ryan is a senior editor at TechForge Media with over a decade of experience covering the latest technology and interviewing leading industry figures. He can often be sighted at tech conferences with a strong coffee in one hand and a laptop in the other. If it's geeky, he’s probably into it. Find him on Twitter (@Gadget_Ry) or Mastodon (@gadgetry@techhub.social)


According to TIOBE, Python was the programming language that stole developers’ hearts in 2021.

It’s the second time in a row that Python has been crowned the TIOBE Programming Language of the Year.

Last month, TIOBE Software CEO Paul Jansen floated the possibility that C# may take the crown for the first time after posting the highest rating growth (+2.21%) in the top 20 of the TIOBE Index in December.

“It is interesting to note that C# has never won the TIOBE Programming Language of the Year award during its 21 years of existence, although it has been in the top 10 for the past two decades,” said Jansen.

Alas, it wasn’t to be. Python bounced back in January with +1.86 percent growth in the most recent TIOBE Index compared to +1.73 percent for C#.

Here’s the TIOBE Index top 20 for January 2021:

The TIOBE Index isn’t designed to indicate what the best language is but helps to ensure your skills are “still up to date” and/or to help make “a strategic decision about what programming language should be adopted when starting to build a new software system.”

The methodology has been criticised as it only uses one query (“<language> programming”) across services like Google, QQ, Sohu, Amazon, and Wikipedia, in addition to a special formula and only includes English queries. TIOBE is considering adding further parameters.

While it’s not perfect, it does give some idea of each language’s overall health. Rankings that use alternative methodologies – such as Redmonk, GitHub, SlashData, and Stack Overflow – give similar results. Some languages trade a couple of places but Python can generally be found in the top spots.

(Photo by Giorgio Trovato on Unsplash)

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