Developer Survey Insights
Exploring Programming Language Trends for 2025
Everyone involved in software development is, in some way, a technologist and an enthusiast of the ever-evolving landscape of programming languages, frameworks, and platforms.
We keep up with language and framework trends not just out of curiosity but to stay competitive. New features often improve performance, security, and development efficiency, making coding easier with cleaner syntax, smarter tools, and better design.
At Infosys STG, the Senior Technologist role reflects this deep engagement with the latest trends, ensuring that teams stay at the forefront of innovation while delivering business value.
This article reflects on 2024’s key programming trends, backed by reputable stats and surveys, and looks ahead to what 2025 may bring in technology and business impact.
Language Trends - GitHub stats
One of the best sources for tracking language trends is GitHut, which analyzes GitHub code commits across various metrics. While the latest data only covers Q1 2024, it still offers valuable insights. Examining this raw data - representing a massive volume of commits - helps us identify key shifts in developer preferences and technology adoption.
One limitation of this research is that it only analyzes public repositories on GitHub, excluding private repositories on the same platform and projects hosted on other services like Bitbucket or GitLab. This means the data may not fully represent enterprise and proprietary development trends.
A look at the top 20 languages brings both expected results and some interesting insights. Even though not full surprises, certainly noteworthy trends.
Programming Language Popularity Ranking
It’s no surprise that Python remains the most popular language, given its dominance in machine learning and AI development. Its rich ecosystem, extensive libraries, and ease of use make it the choice for both research and production applications in these fields.
Java ranks second in popularity, largely due to its strong presence in enterprise software development. Its stability, scalability, and platform independence make it a reliable choice for businesses building large-scale applications. With robust frameworks, long-term support, and a vast developer community, Java continues to be a cornerstone of financial systems, backend services, and enterprise solutions.
JavaScript follows closely, remaining the dominant language for web development, powering frameworks like Angular, React and Vue.js. Interestingly, JavaScript and TypeScript are often used together within the same projects, with TypeScript adding type safety to JavaScript-based applications. When combined, the two languages account for 18.7% of total usage, surpassing even Python in overall popularity.
Despite the growing interest in cross-platform mobile development and continuous improvements to the ecosystem, Dart - the language behind the Flutter framework - ranks only 20th in popularity, indicating limited traction, at least based on GitHub activity. While Flutter remains a strong choice for mobile and multi-platform applications, this suggests that native and other cross-platform alternatives still dominate developer preferences.
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Language Trends - StackOverflow 2024 Survey
Raw GitHub data is invaluable because, often, the numbers speak for themselves. These are real code commits, making the insights unbiased. However, since the dataset is limited to public repositories, it excludes private repositories used for enterprise software, closed-source projects, and confidential client work - leaving a gap in understanding the full industry landscape.
For a broader perspective on languages and frameworks, the Stack Overflow Developer Survey 2024 offers valuable insights. Covering multiple aspects of developer preferences, one particularly interesting section is "Admired and Desired." Here, developers express their appreciation for languages they know and their interest in learning new ones, revealing potential trends in reskilling and technology adoption. I highly recommend exploring the full survey for deeper insights.
Python once again tops the list of admired languages, reflecting its global recognition, particularly in AI and ML, and it remains one of the most desired skills. However, it is not the most desired language - Rust and Zig take the lead. Interestingly, both are potential C++ replacements, offering memory safety as a core feature. From a data perspective, their high desirability but relatively low admiration suggests that while developers see the need for safer C++ alternatives, they may not be fully satisfied with the current implementations.
The desired list also highlights strong interest in Kotlin and Swift, the primary languages for native mobile development. Meanwhile, Dart makes it into the top 20 but ranks lower than both Kotlin and Swift in admired and desired categories - indicating that while Flutter is growing, it still lags behind native development in developer preference.
Another interesting section of the survey is about AI adoption by developers https://survey.stackoverflow.co/2024/technology#ai
A staggering 76% of developers plan to use AI tools this year, up from 70% in 2023, with actual adoption rising significantly (62% vs. 44% last year). This confirms and strengthens the trend of AI-assisted development becoming mainstream.
However, despite increased usage, developer sentiment towards AI tools has declined. In 2024, 72% of respondents viewed AI positively, down from 77% in 2023. This suggests that while AI is becoming an essential part of the workflow, concerns about its effectiveness, accuracy, or long-term impact may be growing.
Recent surveys confirm that 75% of companies are leveraging AI to cut development time in half. However, this speed improvement does not necessarily translate to better code quality. Tariq Shaukat, CEO of Sonar, notes that he is “hearing more and more” about companies experiencing downtime due to AI-generated code.
Another growing concern is the rise in code churn - the amount of code that must be fixed or reverted after deployment. This suggests that while AI accelerates development, it can also introduce instability, requiring additional time to correct errors and maintain overall software reliability.
https://www.techrepublic.com/article/ai-generated-code-outages/ https://devops.com/does-using-ai-assistants-lead-to-lower-code-quality/
Like any new technology, AI must be adopted wisely and handled with care. While advancements are happening rapidly, the human factor remains essential in distinguishing useful AI-generated code from flawed or risky suggestions. AI can boost productivity, but human oversight is key to ensuring reliability, maintainability, and overall software quality.
Out of curiosity and the need to stay updated with industry trends, I’ll be exploring recent improvements in some of the top-voted languages in my next blog post, coming soon!
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