PHP plummeted to 17th position in the TIOBE Programming Index in April 2024 from 12th in March 2024, noted TIOBE Software CEO Paul Jansen in his rankings post in April 2024. C++ continues to move ahead to Java and cementing its place in the top three programming languages. The TIOBE programming community index (Figure A) shows trends in programming languages based on search engine volume.
The “glory days of the PHP programming language seem to be over”
“Today PHP still has a strong presence in the field of small and medium-sized websites, and is the language behind the most popular web content management system, WordPress. So PHP is certainly not gone, but its glory days seem to be over,” Jansen wrote about the TIOBE Index.
Since the inception of the TIOBE index in 2001, PHP has faced stiff competition in the website building space from web development frameworks like Rails, Django, and React, which were built on top of JavaScript, Ruby, or Python. PHP experienced a long list of security vulnerabilities that may have affected its popularity.
However, sometimes it is better to look at movement in the world of programming languages over decades rather than months.
“I don't think PHP will fall that fast,” Jansen said in an email to TechRepublic. “I hope it stays in the top 20 for at least another year.”
PHP was the ninth most popular programming language on the index in April 2023.
Other changes in the TIOBE Index in April
Another notable change to the index lately has been the return of the venerable Fortran language. First used in 1958, Fortran rose from 20th in April 2023 to 10th in April 2024. Jansen said he will likely do more analysis of Fortran's popularity ahead of the TIOBE index next month.
For more changes to the TIOBE index in April, see TechRepublic's Top 10 Most Popular Programming Languages.
