Python Is The Truly Object Oriented Successor To Perl

Paul Jansen, the managing director of TIOBE Software in an interview with Dr. Dobbs Journal talks of the changes seen on TIOBE Programming Community Index. The TIOBE index tries to measure the popularity of programming languages by monitoring their web presence.

DDJ: Which language has moved to the top of the heap, so to speak, in terms of popularity, and why do you think this is the case?

PJ: If we take a look at the top 10 programming languages, not much has happened the last five years. Only Python entered the top 10, replacing COBOL. This comes as a surprise because the IT world is moving so fast that in most areas, the market is usually completely changed in five years time. Python managed to reach the top 10 because it is the truly object-oriented successor of Perl. Other winners of the last couple of years are Visual Basic, Ruby, JavaScript, C#, and D (a successor of C++). I expect in five years time there will be two main languages: Java and C#, closely followed by good-old Visual Basic. There is no new paradigm foreseen.

DDJ: Which languages seem to be losing ground?

PJ: C and C++ are definitely losing ground. There is a simple explanation for this. Languages without automated garbage collection are getting out of fashion. The chance of running into all kinds of memory problems is gradually outweighing the performance penalty you have to pay for garbage collection. Another language that has had its day is Perl.

Reference – Programming Languages: Everyone Has a Favorite One

Related :
* No programming language offers what Python does philosophically
* Python is very powerful, very clear and easy to learn for students
* I’m amazed at how far Python has come