The eleventh programming language ranking from IEEE Spectrum has been published. The annual study uses various metrics to create three meta rankings: in the Spectrum, Trending and Jobs categories. It shows that Python is the undisputed leader in the first two categories. However, when it comes to jobs, Python appears second only to SQL, while TypeScript makes a leap.
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Overall winner Python, job winner SQL
In the “Spectrum” ranking, which is based on the profile of a specific IEEE member (Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers), Python once again ranks first by a wide margin. Python also won the “Trending” ranking, which determines the currently popular programming languages. However, Java, the language ranked second in both categories, is closer to Python than it is in “Spectrum”. JavaScript can be found in third place.
Study creators see the reason for Python’s popularity, among other things, in the fact that the programming language is often used for artificial intelligence – with the help of a number of popular libraries – and in the education sector.
However, in the “Jobs” ranking, just like last year, Python only managed to reach second place after SQL, albeit only by a narrow margin. Java comes in third place here. IEEE Spectrum considers the advantage of the database language SQL in the professional field based on cloud-based system architectures in which databases play a key role.
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The top 20 in the 2024 IEEE Spectrum Ranking in the “Jobs” meta ranking is led by SQL.
(Image: IEEE Spectrum)
Rising stars: TypeScript and Rust
Last year, TypeScript ranked eleventh in the “Jobs” category. This year, JavaScript’s superset has moved up in all categories, most notably to fourth place in “Jobs”. This ranking is based on job offering websites – employers are increasingly looking for developers who have experience with TypeScript.
The Rust language, which is designed for memory safety, is also one of this year’s newcomers. In the job environment, the language continues to play a subordinate role at number 24, but ends up in eleventh place in the “Spectrum” ranking and tenth in the “Trending” ranking.
Fortran and COBOL expertise will still be relevant in 2024
The dinosaurs among programming languages ​​in this ranking – Fortran (released in 1957) and COBOL (released in 1959) – are still represented in the IEEE Spectrum rankings because employers are looking for developers with these skills. For Fortran, this is a particularly specialized group of people who are also familiar with particle physics (high-energy physics). For COBOL, the field is somewhat broader, as many government and financial systems continue to use decades-old infrastructure.
Data and methodology
Spectrum, the specialist magazine of the US-based technical professional association Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE), has been compiling a programming language ranking once a year since 2014. It currently looks at 63 programming languages ​​based on eight manually assessed data sources: Google, Stack Overflow, IEEE Explore Digital Library, IEEE Job Site, CareerBuilder, GitHub, Trinity College Dublin Library and Discord. More information about the methodology can be found on the IEEE Spectrum website.Data collection for this year’s rankings took place from July to August 2024.
a blog entry including interactive graphics Provides more details about the current study.
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