Top Programming Languages of 2020

Click

Subscribe to the “IEEE Electrical and Electronics Engineers” public account above. Gather global technology frontier dynamics and open up ideas for scientific research and entrepreneurship.

IEEE Spectrum has released its programming language rankings once again. To rank the programming languages in the list, my team (the author, hereinafter referred to as I) used a method that combines indicators from 11 rich sources to evaluate the popularity of 55 languages. Recognizing that different programmers have different needs and areas of interest, we did not choose to merge the indicators from different sources into a single ranking rule.

2020 was undoubtedly a turbulent year, but one thing remains unchanged: Python’s dominance.

Because different programmers have different interests and needs, our online ranking is interactive, allowing you to weight the indicators as you see fit. Therefore, you can assign higher weights to the indicators you value, thus generating a ranking that meets your own needs. We have many preset rankings and thank CareerBuilder for opening their database this year, which can no longer be accessed via public APIs.

Our default ranking is weighted according to the interests of IEEE members. Looking at the top-ranked entries, we can see that Python has maintained its excellent leading position, with Java and C ranking second and third respectively. Arduino has made a significant leap, rising from 11th to 7th. (Purists may argue that Arduino is not a language but a hardware platform, which uses a derived Wiring language that is itself derived from C/C++. However, we have always taken a very pragmatic approach to the definition of “programming languages”; the reality is that when people want to use microcontrollers compatible with Arduino, they typically search for “Arduino code” or buy books on “Arduino programming,” rather than “Wiring code” or “C programming.”)

One explanation for Python’s high ranking is that its metrics have swelled with its use as a teaching language: students keep asking and searching for answers to the same basic questions over and over again. There is a historical parallel here. In the 1980s, BASIC was very prominent, with books, magazines, and even television programs dedicated to the BASIC language. However, very few professional programmers used it, and when the home computer bubble burst, BASIC did too, although high-level derivatives like Microsoft Visual Basic remained relatively popular in professional fields.

However, the COVID-19 pandemic also left some marks on the rankings in 2020. For example, if we look at the Twitter metrics in isolation, Cobol ranks seventh. This is likely because, in April of this year, when we collected data on Twitter, Cobol became a news focus as unemployment benefit systems in U.S. states stalled due to shutdowns, leading to a collapse of the unemployment benefit system. It turned out that many of the systems had not been significantly upgraded since their creation decades ago, leading to calls for Cobol programmers to help.

There is always lively discussion online about Spectrum’s top programming languages, so we encourage you to dive into the complete ranking and leave your comments and insights — especially if you want to nominate an emerging language to join next year’s ranking.