C++ named "language of the year" in 2022

C++ is elected "language of the year" in the TIOBE ranking, which lists the most popular programming languages. C++ is ahead of Python which was in 1st position the two previous years. The reason for the popularity of C++ is its excellent performance while being a high-level object-oriented language. As a result, it is possible to develop fast and large software systems (more than millions of lines of code) in C++ without necessarily getting into a maintenance nightmare.

C++ named "language of the year" in 2022

It had not been elected language of the year since... 2003. This time, the C++ language is ahead of the finalists C and Python! Freshly elected "programming language of the year 2022 by TIOBE", it steals the show from Python which has been leading the ranking for two years in a row. And for good reason, the C++ language has seen significant growth of 4.62% between January 2021 and January 2022, compared to an increase of 3.82% for C and 2.78% for Python.

New language of internet.

Among the reasons for its success: the constant publication of new language standards with interesting features and modules. Indeed, it is the release of C++11 in 2011, and more recently C++20, that have allowed C++ to move up in this ranking in recent years, after having been in constant decline since 2001.

According to the TIOBE index, C++'s popularity also lies in its performance and maintainability: "the reason for C++'s popularity is its excellent performance while being a high-level object-oriented language. As a result, it is possible to develop fast and large software systems (over millions of lines of code) in C++ without necessarily getting into a maintenance nightmare".

Other developments of 2022 to remember

What happened in 2022 for programming languages?

The TIOBE ranking reminds us of some important facts:

JAVA gets overtaken by C++ at the end of the year, dropping from 3rd to 4th place,

The RUST language takes the 20th place in December 2022, whereas it was in 26th position one year earlier,

LUA, known for its ease of interface, dropped from position 30 to position 24,

The #F language moved sharply in one year, from #74 to #33.

TIOBE also points out that the promising languages Kotlin, Julia and Dart still have some way to go before reaching the top 20.

How is the TIOBE index calculated?

The TIOBE ranking is based on the 100 most searched programming languages on search engines such as Google, Bing, Yahoo!, Amazon, YouTube, Baidu or Wikipedia. These languages are classified by grade, according to their use by developers. This selection allows these professionals to learn about the most popular programming languages and thus orient their work accordingly if they wish.

TIOBE does not designate the best programming language. It identifies those that are currently the most widely used.