C++ surpassed C into the top three of the TIOBE Programming Language Community Index this month, a significant shake-up following the gradual growth of C++ and the gradual decline of C over the past year. The constant updates that C++ has received since 2011, its performance and its scalability have helped C++ grow. Additionally, Rust and Go saw a significant move further down the index.
The TIOBE programming community index shows trends in programming languages based on search engine volume.
Why did C++ reach second place now?
C++ has consistently held third place in the index since December 2022, at which point it overtook Java. Its popularity skyrocketed in February 2023 and has enjoyed modest but steady growth since then.
“C++ is widely used in embedded systems, game development, and financial trading software, just to name a few domains,” Jansen wrote.
C++ was first released in 1985 as an extension to C. That origin has benefited and may have delayed its rise to higher positions in the ranks.
“Its disadvantage is its many ways of doing things, namely its feature-rich language, which is due to its long history and its goal of backward compatibility,” wrote Paul Jansen, CEO of TIOBE Software, in the June index.
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On the other hand, “C++ began a new life starting in 2011 with its consistent updates every three years,” Jansen wrote. While not all engineers and compilers maintained that update schedule, the liveliness of the programming language put it on the path to steady popularity and growth in the index.
C++ standards are established by the International Organization for Standardization and the International Electrotechnical Commission. The current version is C++23.
Other changes in the TIOBE Index in June
Elsewhere in the TIOBE index, the Go programming language rose to seventh position, doubling its place in the ranking year on year. Rust reached an all-time high of #17. Fortran maintained its popularity from last month at #10. Finally, Kotlin, which received an update to version 2.0.0 in May, continued its year-over-year rise and is now in 19th place.
TechRepublic has reached out to TIOBE Software for more information.
