The highest three programming languages on the TIOBE Programming Group Index noticed a significant shakeup in September, as C dropped to fourth place on the listing. That is the bottom rating C has ever held since its first look on the inception of the index in 2001.
C moved from 9.17% in August to eight.89% in September. This continues the downward development for C, which peaked at 16.56% in December 2022 and has largely fallen ever since.
The TIOBE Programming Group Index exhibits developments in programming languages primarily based on search engine quantity.
Why did C’s reputation fall?
“Large C programs are hard to maintain because of the lack of object oriented features,” wrote TIOBE Software program CEO Paul Jansen within the month-to-month launch of the TIOBE Index. “Now that embedded systems tend to grow in functionality and thus in code size, and since more and more embedded compilers have good C++ support, there is tendency to switch from C to C++.”
As well as, the U.S. authorities recognized C as a memory-unsafe language. Corporations could select Rust over C in an effort to match with memory-safe requirements.
Nonetheless, “C might lose its mojo, but it will stay in the TIOBE index top 10 for a very long time,” Jansen wrote. “Its installed base is incredible and it is part of a zillion of safety-critical systems around the world.”
C nonetheless generates performant code, Jansen famous, and has been a cornerstone of embedded programs. Nonetheless, its lack of object-oriented options makes it onerous to scale. C++ solves that downside.
Different adjustments within the TIOBE Index in September
C leaving the highest three on the listing made room for Java to take third place, leaping from 9.16% in August to 9.45% in September. Fortran held on to tenth place.