News
Java Holds Steady as Python Claims Programming Language of the Year
- By John K. Waters
- January 7, 2025
Despite Python's meteoric rise to claim Tiobe's Programming Language of the Year for 2024, Java has quietly reinforced its position as a critical player in the global developer ecosystem. With a 2.3% increase in Tiobe's ratings, Java has solidified its spot in the top three, even as newer languages jostle for attention.
Python topped the Tiobe Index for 2024 with a 9.3% surge in popularity, cementing its dominance in fields like data science, artificial intelligence, and automation. "Python is everywhere nowadays," said Tiobe CEO Paul Jansen in a statement. He noted that Python's versatility makes it a default choice across industries. However, Python's runtime error-prone nature and limited performance leave room for other languages, such as Java, to remain competitive.
Java, often hailed as the backbone of enterprise software, ended 2024 by surpassing the C language in the Tiobe rankings, climbing to third place behind Python and C++. Its reliability and widespread use in web development, Android applications, and embedded systems underscore its ongoing importance.
"Java and C++ are currently battling for the second position," Jansen said. This growth is mirrored in the Pypl Index, where Java holds second place, capturing 15.35% of developer interest, behind Python's 29.8%.
While Java flourished, Kotlin fell out of Tiobe's top 20 rankings, marking a surprising setback for a language once poised to rival Java in Android development. In contrast, Go entered the top 10, fueled by its growing popularity in cloud-native and backend development. Rust also continued to gain momentum, praised for its speed and memory safety, though its steep learning curve still limits broader adoption.
2024 also saw a surge in interest in newer languages like Zig and Mojo. Zig climbed from 149th to 61st, while Mojo rose from 194th to 68th. Jansen expressed high hopes for Mojo, predicting it could break into the top 20 in 2025.
January 2025 Tiobe Rankings
Python - 23.28%
C++ - 10.29%
Java - 10.15%
C - 8.86%
C# - 4.45%
JavaScript - 4.2%
Go - 2.61%
SQL - 2.41%
Visual Basic - 2.37%
Fortran - 2.04%
Although Python's explosive growth dominates headlines, Java's steady climb underscores its lasting relevance. As emerging languages like Go and Rust capture developer interest, Java remains a cornerstone of enterprise applications and large-scale systems. Its endurance in a rapidly evolving programming landscape is a testament to its reliability, scalability, and vast ecosystem.
About the Author
John K. Waters is the editor in chief of a number of Converge360.com sites, with a focus on high-end development, AI and future tech. He's been writing about cutting-edge technologies and culture of Silicon Valley for more than two decades, and he's written more than a dozen books. He also co-scripted the documentary film Silicon Valley: A 100 Year Renaissance, which aired on PBS. He can be reached at [email protected].