How do we determine the most popular programming languages? Is the the languages we use the most? Is it based on what companies are asking for? Or should we base it on what most developers prefer to work in?
Our partner, CodeEval – a platform used by developers to showcase their skills, also allows companies to set coding challenges to test the skills of developers they are interested in. Based on the languages most companies created coding challenges for, they came to the conclusion that the most popular language was Python. More details below:
Very interesting data – but it begs the question: Are companies creating coding challenges in Python because that is what they use the most, or is it because they feel that Python coding challenges will be more attractive to top talent?
RedMonk wanted to determine language popularity as well. They pulled data from GitHub and StackOverflow to analyse which were most in use by developers using the sites. They concluded that Python came 4th – after JavaScript, Java, and PHP.
More details on the chart and their conclusions here.
It would be interesting to see if the difference in numbers is due to developer preference, employer preference, or something else entirely. We’re currently running our data to see what we can add to the discussion.