5 ms·

Programming Language Rankings: February 2012

71 points by keyle 14y ago

arcos 14y ago
Am I the only one that feels discouraged that Java still maintains this level of popularity? I thought Google's primary language was Python, why isn't that running on Android?
nikic 14y ago
Is the scale in the first image logarithmic?
- tgrass 14y ago
  No. Original dataset from the site: http://www.dataists.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/12/language_ranks1.csv http://www.dataists.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/12/language_... [EDIT] It is surprising it's not exponential.
  - igouy 14y ago
    Which column are you looking at - so.rank or so.tagcount? ;-)
- kjhughes 14y ago
  No, and it is important to realize that the axes are project/tag count rankings not direct project/tag counts. So, no conclusions regarding relative popularity between two languages should be drawn from the diagram. (It's just an ordering. The distance between the first and second most popular language, for example, is exactly 1.)
  - nikic 14y ago
    Oh, thanks, now I understand!
yahelc 14y ago
Full-size copy of the chart: http://img.skitch.com/20120208-jqctdbqg7yfbj785pe9gjtjp8t.jpg http://img.skitch.com/20120208-jqctdbqg7yfbj785pe9gjtjp8t.jp...
- SudarshanP 14y ago
  On the top right the scripting languages() seem to be below the diagonal and the compiled languages above the diagonal. Maybe it is just co-incidental :). I have suggestion for another chart someone may be interested in creating. A time series of such images. It would be even more awesome if the traces all the movements are depicted in a single image like a snake.
  - sogrady 14y ago
    we're waiting until we have a couple of quarters of data, but then yes, a time series is indeed in the works.
    - igouy 14y ago
      afaict the "popularity" of most of those languages is being grossly distorted when you convert the "# of Tags" and "# of Projects" data to rankings. (You haven't provided raw data, so I'll take an example from the raw data Drew Conway posted.) The range in rank value for the stackoverflow tags is from 1 to 56, but the range in "# of Tags" that rank is based upon is from 0 to 82,923 and the data is so skewed that only 11 of 56 languages have above average "# of Tags". Most spreadsheets will provide easy to use functions to calculate the mean, standard deviation, and normalized scores (STANDARDIZE in LibreOffice). Please plot normalized data not rankings. --- Similarly, the range in rank value for the github "# of Projects" is from 1 to 56, but the range in "# of Projects" is more like 0 to 104,239! http://www.r-chart.com/2010/08/github-stats-on-programming-languages.html http://www.r-chart.com/2010/08/github-stats-on-programming-l...
      - gus_massa 14y ago
        I would like to see the "Repositories vs. Users" graph in a log-log scale, so it's possible to see the distribution of the big and small languages simultaneously.
runn1ng 14y ago
It is really interesting that not only Java is amongst the most popular languages, but the popularity is also growing. It's really surprising, judging how everyone is spitting on Java. Also, I wish Scala was more popular :)
- Zigurd 14y ago
  Java is on a rocket due to Android. Now that the Oracle threat has receded, that trend could accelerate.
  - cageface 14y ago
    This has to be the explanation. You can also hedge your bets with Java a bit, because unlike Obj-C it's important outside mobile apps.
  - reirob 14y ago
    I can second it. Some people I know, never used Java before in their life and started now to code apps for Android.
- trimbo 14y ago
  I chose Java for a major (non-android) project last year (other potential choices were Ruby, C++ and Scala). It's a great middle ground. Statically typed, fast and well known with very good tooling. I've ended up loving it because it works well for what it is and is super practical, not because it's a beautiful, perfect language.
  - runn1ng 14y ago
    What I really dislike on Java is that you have to repeat yourself, over and over and over. For example, you have to write all these getters and setters ad nauseam, even if all they do is just setting the damn variable. Or the anonymous classes, the syntax is horrible. Now I understand that the object model is simple and easy to understand, but still, I prefer Scala more. It works with java, but it's many times easier to actually use.
agumonkey 14y ago
I love the last bunch with Ioke, Factor.
- agumonkey 14y ago
  Why the downvotes, I wasn't sarcastic. Those are really interesting languages.
whyme 14y ago
I don't see how the number of tags/projects translates into a worthy popularity metric. Maybe some of these popular languages have more tags because they're POS languages that cause grief and consequently many more questions/posts that are created by even a smaller group of users. Also there's no time element, so a supposed popular language may have had zero tags created in the last year, yet it only drops marginally relative to the pack. And an highly active new language is ranked against all historical data of older languages making it less popular than it really is.
stumacd 14y ago
I don't think stackoverflow is a particularly useful metric. If there is a simple easy to use and install language with good documentation, examples and a forum/mailing list with a small number of new users, it will be much lower on an equally as popular language with complex syntax and no community with a larger proportion of novice users. Stackoverflow really fills the gap if there is no good alternative, it's a reflection of the ecosystem around the language than its popularity. Perhaps the number of new projects or commits in a given language would be more indicative of a language's true popularity. (Not that it's a perfect metric either)

71 points by keyle 14y ago

arcos 14y ago

Am I the only one that feels discouraged that Java still maintains this level of popularity? I thought Google's primary language was Python, why isn't that running on Android?

nikic 14y ago

Is the scale in the first image logarithmic?

tgrass 14y ago
No. Original dataset from the site: http://www.dataists.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/12/language_ranks1.csv http://www.dataists.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/12/language_... [EDIT] It is surprising it's not exponential.
- igouy 14y ago
  Which column are you looking at - so.rank or so.tagcount? ;-)
kjhughes 14y ago
No, and it is important to realize that the axes are project/tag count rankings not direct project/tag counts. So, no conclusions regarding relative popularity between two languages should be drawn from the diagram. (It's just an ordering. The distance between the first and second most popular language, for example, is exactly 1.)
- nikic 14y ago
  Oh, thanks, now I understand!

yahelc 14y ago

Full-size copy of the chart: http://img.skitch.com/20120208-jqctdbqg7yfbj785pe9gjtjp8t.jpg http://img.skitch.com/20120208-jqctdbqg7yfbj785pe9gjtjp8t.jp...

SudarshanP 14y ago
On the top right the scripting languages() seem to be below the diagonal and the compiled languages above the diagonal. Maybe it is just co-incidental :). I have suggestion for another chart someone may be interested in creating. A time series of such images. It would be even more awesome if the traces all the movements are depicted in a single image like a snake.
- sogrady 14y ago
  we're waiting until we have a couple of quarters of data, but then yes, a time series is indeed in the works.
  - igouy 14y ago
    afaict the "popularity" of most of those languages is being grossly distorted when you convert the "# of Tags" and "# of Projects" data to rankings. (You haven't provided raw data, so I'll take an example from the raw data Drew Conway posted.) The range in rank value for the stackoverflow tags is from 1 to 56, but the range in "# of Tags" that rank is based upon is from 0 to 82,923 and the data is so skewed that only 11 of 56 languages have above average "# of Tags". Most spreadsheets will provide easy to use functions to calculate the mean, standard deviation, and normalized scores (STANDARDIZE in LibreOffice). Please plot normalized data not rankings. --- Similarly, the range in rank value for the github "# of Projects" is from 1 to 56, but the range in "# of Projects" is more like 0 to 104,239! http://www.r-chart.com/2010/08/github-stats-on-programming-languages.html http://www.r-chart.com/2010/08/github-stats-on-programming-l...
    - gus_massa 14y ago
      I would like to see the "Repositories vs. Users" graph in a log-log scale, so it's possible to see the distribution of the big and small languages simultaneously.

runn1ng 14y ago

It is really interesting that not only Java is amongst the most popular languages, but the popularity is also growing. It's really surprising, judging how everyone is spitting on Java. Also, I wish Scala was more popular :)

Zigurd 14y ago
Java is on a rocket due to Android. Now that the Oracle threat has receded, that trend could accelerate.
- cageface 14y ago
  This has to be the explanation. You can also hedge your bets with Java a bit, because unlike Obj-C it's important outside mobile apps.
- reirob 14y ago
  I can second it. Some people I know, never used Java before in their life and started now to code apps for Android.
trimbo 14y ago
I chose Java for a major (non-android) project last year (other potential choices were Ruby, C++ and Scala). It's a great middle ground. Statically typed, fast and well known with very good tooling. I've ended up loving it because it works well for what it is and is super practical, not because it's a beautiful, perfect language.
- runn1ng 14y ago
  What I really dislike on Java is that you have to repeat yourself, over and over and over. For example, you have to write all these getters and setters ad nauseam, even if all they do is just setting the damn variable. Or the anonymous classes, the syntax is horrible. Now I understand that the object model is simple and easy to understand, but still, I prefer Scala more. It works with java, but it's many times easier to actually use.

agumonkey 14y ago

I love the last bunch with Ioke, Factor.

agumonkey 14y ago
Why the downvotes, I wasn't sarcastic. Those are really interesting languages.

whyme 14y ago

I don't see how the number of tags/projects translates into a worthy popularity metric. Maybe some of these popular languages have more tags because they're POS languages that cause grief and consequently many more questions/posts that are created by even a smaller group of users. Also there's no time element, so a supposed popular language may have had zero tags created in the last year, yet it only drops marginally relative to the pack. And an highly active new language is ranked against all historical data of older languages making it less popular than it really is.

stumacd 14y ago

I don't think stackoverflow is a particularly useful metric. If there is a simple easy to use and install language with good documentation, examples and a forum/mailing list with a small number of new users, it will be much lower on an equally as popular language with complex syntax and no community with a larger proportion of novice users. Stackoverflow really fills the gap if there is no good alternative, it's a reflection of the ecosystem around the language than its popularity. Perhaps the number of new projects or commits in a given language would be more indicative of a language's true popularity. (Not that it's a perfect metric either)