Can Python Overtake C? Inside the September 2021 TIOBE Language Rankings
The September 2021 TIOBE Index shows C, Python and Java topping the list, with Python just 0.16% behind C, while numerous languages shift positions and historical charts reveal long‑term trends in programming language popularity.
Recently, the TIOBE Index released its September 2021 programming language ranking. Among the 100 languages, C (11.83%), Python (11.67%) and Java (11.12%) occupy the top three positions, with Python only 0.16% behind C, indicating a possible overtaking.
For the first time, both C and Java entered the top three.
In the top ten, Python remains at #2, just 0.16% away from the lead, while Assembly language rose from 9th to 8th place with a 2.42% rating, surpassing PHP.
Other notable movements in the top 20 include Assembly moving to #8, Ruby climbing from 15th to 13th, Go advancing from 18th to 14th, and Delphi/Object Pascal returning to #20 with a 0.77% rating.
Below are charts showing the ranking trends of various languages over recent years.
The list also includes rankings for positions 21‑50, showing continuous shifts such as Assembly moving to #8, Ruby to #13, and Go to #14.
Positions 51‑100 are listed alphabetically without ratings, including languages such as Alice, AutoLISP, Bash, C shell, OCaml, PostScript, Solidity, Zig, and many others.
A historical chart of the top ten programming languages from 1986‑2021 is also provided for comparison.
The article notes that SQL has long been absent from the TIOBE rankings, despite being considered Turing‑complete since 2018.
About TIOBE
The TIOBE Programming Community Index measures the popularity of programming languages. The ranking is updated monthly and is based on the number of skilled engineers, courses, and third‑party vendors, using search engines such as Google, Bing, Yahoo, Wikipedia, Amazon, YouTube and Baidu to calculate usage.
It is important to understand that the TIOBE Index does not indicate the best language or the language with the most lines of code; it is intended to help you assess whether your programming skills are up‑to‑date and to make strategic decisions about which language to adopt for new software projects.
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