Why the TIOBE Index Misleads You: A Deep Dive into Programming Language Rankings

Krishna, a developer, criticizes the TIOBE Programming Community Index for its unreliable methodology.

The TIOBE index measures language popularity by counting the number of search‑engine results for queries containing the language name, using engines such as Google, Bing, Yahoo, Wikipedia, Amazon, YouTube and Baidu.

He notes that the exact calculation method is described on the official TIOBE site.

As an illustration, he points out that the “xkcd” language yields about 24.9 million Google results, yet no one actually programs with it.

Krishna also shows a TIOBE trend chart where Java and C scores dropped dramatically in 2016‑2017 (Java ‑ 42%, C ‑ 62%) without any industry downturn, then rebounded in 2018, suggesting a search‑engine algorithm issue.

He further highlights specific ranking anomalies:

JavaScript, often the most popular language in surveys, ranks only seventh in TIOBE, behind Visual Basic.

Visual Basic’s score jumped six‑fold within a month in March 2020, a surge unsupported by Google Trends or Stack Overflow data.

According to TIOBE, Visual Basic’s score is more than twice the combined scores of Swift and Objective‑C, despite the latter powering the entire Apple ecosystem.

The latest TIOBE ranking (image below) continues to show these inconsistencies.

Krishna proposes evaluating a programming language based on technical fit rather than popularity:

Can the language be adopted through hiring or training?

Are developers willing to use it?

What is the development speed and operational burden?

Does it rely on third‑party code, and what is the quality of that code?

Answers vary by team, business model, local talent pool, and budget, and long‑term trends must also be considered.

Related link: https://blog.nindalf.com/posts/stop-citing-tiobe/