C is at the top of the list of TIOBE’S Index for February 2021 with Java in second place. Those two languages swapped positions on the list as compared to 2020, but the rest of the list is almost exactly the same as a year ago. Python is in the No. 3 spot followed by C++, C#, Visual Basic, JavaScript, PHP, and SQL.

Assembly Language rounds out the top 10 list, up from spot 12 in 2020. R moved up two spots over the last year from 13 to 11. Groovy jumped to the 12h spot, up from 26 a year ago. Classic Visual Basic is on the rise also moving up four spots to 18. Go and Swift both declined in popularity over the last year.  

Paul Jansen, CEO of TIOBE Software, said in a blog post about this month’s index that positions 9 and 10 are not as fixed as the top 8. 

“The last 12 months, these 2 positions were occupied by SQL, Assembly, R, Groovy, Go, and Swift,” he said. “I am curious to know which of these languages will become a steady top 10 player.”  

SEE: Python named TIOBE’s 2020 top programming language, but C tops the January index (TechRepublic) 

The TIOBE Programming Community Index reflects the popularity of programming languages and is updated once a month. The ratings are based on the numbers of skilled engineers, courses, and third-party vendors as well as activity on search engines.

Python’s consistency in the top three of the index reflects hiring and training efforts in the industry. Python is at the top of the priority list for hiring managers who are recruiting new developers, according to a new survey from programmer training company CodinGame. The language is third after JavaScript and Java as the other most in-demand languages, as Owen Hughes wrote for TechRepublic. Sixty-two percent of recruiters said they were looking for people with JavaScript skills, followed by Java at 59%, and Python at 48%.

SEE: Hiring kit: Python developer (TechRepublic Premium)

A recent O’Reilly survey found that developers have Python at the top of their to-learn lists, as Lance Whitney wrote for TechRepublic. The report, “Where Programming, Ops, AI, and the Cloud are Headed in 2021,” found that Python is the most popular language for people to learn, reflecting a 27% increase over the previous year. 

Cambridge Quantum Computing just gave Python developers a new tool for working with quantum algorithms. The company’s latest quantum software development kit provides open access to the Python module. Tket is an architecture agnostic quantum software stack and compiler. Pytket, the Python module, interfaces with tket. This latest release allows any Python user with access to a quantum computer to deploy the tket SDK in any commercial or research context. 

In addition to encouraging professional developers to learn Python, Microsoft is working with NASA to get students to learn the language. The two organizations created a series of lessons based on space exploration efforts, as Dallon Adams explained on TechRepublic. The project includes three lessons designed to teach programming fundamentals by using a space exploration theme.

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