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programming-, scripting- and markup-languages

The survey clearly shows that the languages, frameworks or platforms used are of central importance to the developers. They are one of the reasons for zeal, satisfaction and job choice (see Part 12). As a result, businesses can capitalize on this factor in strategic planning. Because no matter how good a business idea is - it will only come off the ground if developers want to work with the underlying technology.

>Relevant data online as Excel (following soon)

Incidentally, the following platforms are available for international comparison:

>Githut

>Stack Overflow

>Tiobe

Software developers clearly state that it is important to them which language, framework or platform they can or must use. Therefore, it is absolutely important to consider this for new projects and to question it for existing solutions. A well sold technology that no software developer wants to touch will not get you far.

The pre-selection of languages, based on the answers of the previous years, with the meanwhile few additional mentions (free text) brings us to 42 languages. Only 32 languages have cleared the 1 percent hurdle.

Languages developers use

As in the previous year, we attach importance to a differentiated view and distinguish between "primary" and "supplementary" languages. A majority of developers need the latter in their daily work (HTML, CSS, SQL or Shellscript), but they would not call them primary languages - in contrast to Java, C#, JavaScript or Python etc..

This can also be seen well in the fact that the supplementary languages have many more mentions, while the primary languages are mentioned less often, indicating specialization. Therefore, we first show the supplementary languages in a separate list:

2020   2021    
HTML 78.16 HTML 86.25
SQL 73.44 SQL 84.79
Shellscript** 72.32 CSS 75.89
CSS 69.82 JavaScript* 75.40
JavaScript* 57.86 Bash/Shell 72.33

JavaScript* is furthermore an exception here, which should be considered as both "main" and "supplementary" language. This is because every web-related software project, which is almost all of them today, comes into contact with JavaScript. At the same time, there are more and more developers who use JavaScript in all areas, especially in the backend. Furthermore, more than twice as many developers use JavaScript than C#, PHP or Python. 

Exciting is a decrease of 8 percent for Java and an increase of 5 percent for PHP. Java is thus accelerating its downward trend and PHP has somehow found the curve. The question now is whether Java developers will switch to PHP or TypeScript, or perhaps even retire.

For the main languages, we arrive at the following ranking (listed from 1 percent mention):

 

2020

  

2021

JavaScript

68.57

JavaScript

75.40

Java

63.28

Java

55.50

TypeScript

41.45

TypeScript

47.41

Python

28.65

Python

29.13

C#

24.62

C#

25.08

PHP

18.08

PHP

23.46

C++

12.80

Groovy

12.62

Groovy

12.24

C++

11.00

C

11.40

Kotlin

9.71

Kotlin

8.07

C

8.74

Go

6.82

Go

7.93

VBA

6.40

Swift

5.50

Swift

5.98

VBA

4.85

Ruby

5.29

Ruby

4.21

Objective-C

4.59

Objective-C

4.21

Scala

4.03

Scala

3.88

R

3.48

R

3.56

VB.NET

2.78

Dart

3.07

Perl

2.64

Perl

2.10

Matlab

2.50

Matlab

2.10

Assembly

2.23

Assembly

2.10

Abap

1.81

VB.NET

1.94

Delphi

1.67

Elixir

1.94

WebAssembly

1.25

WebAssembly

1.78

Dart

1.11

Delphi

1.46
   

Rust

1.46
   

Abap

1.13
   

F#

1.13

If you compare the top 10 with last year, you can hardly see any change in the order. C++ and Kotlin have moved up one place and if the trend continues, Go will be included in the top 10 next year. 

The biggest change is seen in the drop in mentions of Java by 8 percent and the simultaneous further increase of TypeScript and JavaScript by about 6 percent each. At the same time, PHP increased by 5 percent, while Python managed just 1 percent.

In the lower ranks we see Dart with a tripling of mentions and Rust for the first time above the 1 percent mark. Two languages that we will be hearing a lot more about. None of the previous languages above the 1 percent mark has dropped out completely.

 

Languages developers would like to use

The picture is different for the languages that developers would like to use.  Of the top 10 languages used, Python, Kotlin, TypeScript, C# and C++ are on the bucket list. 

Strong differences between "Do I use" and "Would like to use" mentions are seen for JavaScript (75 percent vs. 3 percent), Java (56 percent vs. 33 percent), PHP (23 percent vs. 1 percent) and Groovy (13 percent vs. 2 percent).

In the case of languages that are not yet used as much but are desired, the reverse effect is seen above all with Rust (14 percent vs. 1 percent), Webassembly (11 percent vs. 2 percent) and F# (6 percent vs. 1 percent). 

Would like to use 2020

  

Would like to use 2021

  

In use 2021

  

Python

20

Python

18

JavaScript

75

Kotlin

19

Kotlin

17

Shell script (like bash, batch, PowerShell...)

72

Go

18

TypeScript

16

Java

56

TypeScript

17

Rust

14

TypeScript

47

Rust

15

Go

13

Python

29

WebAssembly

13

WebAssembly

11

C#

25

Swift

8

C#

7

PHP

23

C#

8

C++

7

Groovy

13

JavaScript

6

F#

6

C++

11

C++

6

Swift

5

Kotlin

10

Haskell

5

Scala

5

C

9

SQL

5

Haskell

5

Go

8

Scala

5

C

5

Swift

6

Shell script (like bash, batch, PowerShell...)

4

Dart

4

VBA

5

CSS (or SASS, Less...)

4

R

4

Ruby

4

R

3

CSS (or SASS, Less...)

4

Objective-C

4

F#

3

Shell script (like bash, batch, PowerShell...)

4

Scala

4

Ruby

3

JavaScript

3

R

4

Dart

3

Java

3

Dart

3

Java

3

Ruby

3

Perl

2

C

3

Erlang

3

Matlab

2

HTML

3

Clojure

3

Assembly

2

Clojure

3

Elm

3

VB.NET

2

Groovy

3

SQL

3

Elixir

2

Elixir

3

Elixir

3

WebAssembly

2

Erlang

2

HTML

2

Delphi

1

Matlab

2

Groovy

2

Rust

1

PHP

2

Matlab

2

Abap

1

Elm

2

Assembly

2

F#

1

Assembly

2

PHP

1

    

Objective-C

1

Objective-C

1

    
   

Delphi

1

    

Languages developers like

Please note: The word "like" is not synonymous with "frequently used". The focus in this section is clearly on languages that are both used and liked.

In the top 10, TypeScript took a big step forward from 39 percent in 2020 to 47 percent in 2021. In return, JavaScript has dropped by 6 percent, which may be a reciprocal effect as it is replaced by TypeScript.

Liked 2020

  

Liked 2021

  

Used 2021

  

SQL

57

SQL

62

SQL

86

HTML

54

HTML

61

HTML

85

Java

47

TypeScript

47

CSS (or SASS, Less...)

76

Shell script (like bash, batch, PowerShell...)

43

Java

47

JavaScript

75

TypeScript

39

CSS (or SASS, Less...)

45

Shell script (like bash, batch, PowerShell...)

72

CSS (or SASS, Less...)

37

JavaScript

40

Java

56

Python

35

Shell script (like bash, batch, PowerShell...)

39

TypeScript

47

JavaScript

34

Python

36

Python

29

C#

27

C#

28

C#

25

Kotlin

17

Kotlin

17

PHP

23

C++

17

PHP

17

Groovy

13

C

14

C++

13

C++

11

PHP

13

C

12

Kotlin

10

Go

13

Go

11

C

9

Swift

8

Rust

9

Go

8

Rust

8

Scala

7

Swift

6

Groovy

7

Swift

7

VBA

5

Ruby

7

WebAssembly

6

Ruby

4

WebAssembly

7

Groovy

6

Objective-C

4

Scala

6

Haskell

6

Scala

4

Haskell

6

Ruby

6

R

4

R

4

R

5

Dart

3

F#

4

F#

5

Perl

2

Objective-C

4

Assembly

4

Matlab

2

Matlab

4

Dart

4

Assembly

2

Assembly

3

Elixir

3

VB.NET

2

Delphi

3

Matlab

3

Elixir

2

Dart

3

Objective-C

3

WebAssembly

2

Clojure

3

Clojure

3

Delphi

1

Perl

3

Erlang

2

Rust

1

Elixir

2

Elm

2

Abap

1

Elm

2

Delphi

2

F#

1

Erlang

2

VB.NET

2

    

VB.NET

2

Perl

1

    

VBA

2

Cobol

1

    

Smalltalk

2

Smalltalk

1

    

What is not clear from the list is how many developers actually like the language they use. Accordingly, we have evaluated this for the top 6 main languages:

2020:

 

JavaScript 

Java

TypeScript

Python
C#

PHP

In used:

493

455

298

206

177

130

Liked:

210 (43%)

294 (65%)

204 (68%)

141 (68%)

132 (75%)

  69 (53%)

Not liked:

158 (32%)

  60 (13%)

  18 (6%)

  20 (10%)

  11 (6%)

  34 (26%)

 

2021:

 

JavaScript 

Java

TypeScript

Python
C#

PHP

In use:

466

343

298

180

155

145

Liked:

227 (49%)

246 (72%)

221 (74%)

113 (63%)

115 (74%)

  82 (57%)

Not liked:

134 (29%)

  39 (11%)

  20 (7%)

  25 (14%)

  9 (6%)

  39 (27%)

(The percentages above put "like" and "dislike" in relation to "use" - but only for people who  actually use that language. "Dislike" and "Like" are not coupled, so here both, neither, or only one may have been checked).

  • This shows that the top languages Java, TypeScript, Python and C# are also strongly liked by their developers - and will probably continue to be so in the foreseeable future.
  • JavaScript performs worst here in percentage terms - perhaps because many developers do not use it voluntarily, but only because of technological constraints (browser language). Accordingly, TypeScript as a superset and quasi as a "supplemented variant" of JavaScript would have a higher acceptance among its users, since its use is more voluntary. 
  • C# seems to have the highest level of satisfaction among its own users, with rejection matching that of TypeScript at a low level.
  • PHP is listed here because of its special status: This is because, compared to JavaScript, which is mostly used in a complementary way, software projects that use PHP are also primarily built on it. This means that there are a large number of developers who work on PHP projects, but have only limited fun with it - which is very important for efficient development.

Languages ​​developers don't like

In contrast to the table above, we do not show a comparison with the languages actually used.

Here we continue directly from the table above and show the complete list, without any link to usage. This means that all "I don't like" mentions made by developers who do not actively use the language are also listed here.

Not liked 2020

  

Not liked 2021

  

JavaScript

35

JavaScript

34

PHP

33

PHP

29

CSS (or SASS, Less...)

26

CSS (or SASS, Less...)

23

Java

22

Shell script (like bash, batch, PowerShell...)

22

VBA

21

Java

22

Shell script (like bash, batch, PowerShell...)

19

VBA

19

HTML

16

C++

13

C

15

C

13

C++

14

SQL

12

VB.NET

13

HTML

11

SQL

11

Python

11

C#

11

Groovy

11

Perl

11

VB.NET

11

Groovy

10

Perl

9

Objective-C

10

TypeScript

8

Python

10

C#

8

Assembly

8

Objective-C

8

Matlab

7

Ruby

6

TypeScript

7

Matlab

6

Ruby

6

Cobol

5

Cobol

6

Abap

4

Scala

6

Assembly

4

Abap

5

Scala

4

Fortran

5

Delphi

4

Delphi

4

Swift

4

Swift

4

R

4

R

4

Go

3

Kotlin

4

Fortran

3

Smalltalk

4

Haskell

2

Haskell

3

Kotlin

2

Go

3

Smalltalk

2

Dart

3

F#

2

Clojure

3

Dart

2

Rust

3

Elixir

2

F#

3

Clojure

2

Elm

3

Erlang

2

Erlang

3

Elm

2

Elixir

2

Rust

1

WebAssembly

2

WebAssembly

1

Languages ​​developers want to adopt

Here we clarify the question of which languages should also be introduced and compare languages that developers would like to use.

JavaScript and CSS have fallen out of the top 10 from 2020 to 2021, and C# and Scala have moved up in their place.

Adopt 2020

  

Like to use 2021

  

Like to use 2021

  

TypeScript

21

TypeScript

18

Python

18

Kotlin

14

Python

14

Kotlin

17

Python

13

Kotlin

13

TypeScript

16

Go

10

Rust

8

Rust

14

JavaScript

8

WebAssembly

7

Go

13

Rust

8

Go

7

WebAssembly

11

SQL

8

C#

6

C#

7

Java

7

Java

5

C++

7

WebAssembly

7

SQL

5

F#

6

CSS (or SASS, Less...)

6

Scala

4

Swift

5

HTML

6

HTML

4

Scala

5

Shell script (like bash, batch, PowerShell...)

6

JavaScript

3

Haskell

5

C#

5

CSS (or SASS, Less...)

3

C

5

Swift

4

Swift

3

Dart

4

C++

3

Shell script (like bash, batch, PowerShell...)

3

R

4

Scala

3

C++

3

CSS (or SASS, Less...)

4

F#

3

Dart

3

Shell script (like bash, batch, PowerShell...)

4

Dart

2

Haskell

3

JavaScript

3

Groovy

2

F#

3

Java

3

Haskell

2

R

3

Ruby

3

R

2

PHP

2

Erlang

3

PHP

2

Elixir

2

Clojure

3

Ruby

2

Elm

2

Elm

3

Clojure

1

Ruby

1

SQL

3

Elm

1

C

1

Elixir

3

C

1

Matlab

1

HTML

2

Elixir

1

Groovy

1

Groovy

2

Matlab

1

Assembly

1

Matlab

2
   

Clojure

1

Assembly

2
   

Erlang

1

PHP

1
   

Perl

1

Objective-C

1
       

Delphi

1

Languages developers want ​​to replace

Now the reverse question: Which languages are used but should be replaced?

Here, there were hardly any shifts of more than 2 percent in the top 10 compared to the previous year, except for C with 3 percent more mentions.

Replace 2020

  

Replace 2021

  

PHP

22

PHP

22

JavaScript

20

JavaScript

20

Java

18

Java

16

VBA

14

VBA

14

Shell script (like bash, batch, PowerShell...)

12

C

11

VB.NET

9

Shell script (like bash, batch, PowerShell...)

10

C

9

VB.NET

9

Objective-C

8

C++

9

Perl

8

Perl

9

Groovy

7

Objective-C

8

C++

7

Groovy

7

Cobol

7

Cobol

6

CSS (or SASS, Less...)

6

Ruby

6

SQL

5

Python

6

Ruby

4

Delphi

6

C#

4

C#

5

Delphi

4

CSS (or SASS, Less...)

5

Matlab

3

Scala

4

Assembly

3

SQL

3

Abap

3

Abap

3

Fortran

3

Matlab

3

Python

3

Assembly

3

HTML

3

TypeScript

3

Scala

2

Smalltalk

3

TypeScript

2

Swift

3

Smalltalk

2

Fortran

3

Kotlin

2

HTML

2

Swift

1

Elm

2

R

1

Go

2

F#

1

R

1

Go

1

Dart

1

WebAssembly

1

Clojure

1

Haskell

1

Haskell

1

Dart

1

F#

1

Erlang

1

Erlang

1

Clojure

1

Kotlin

1
   

Rust

1
   

Elixir

1
   

WebAssembly

1

Languages ​​developers want to keep

For the sake of completeness, here are the languages that are already in use and, according to the developers, should continue to be used by companies.

Keep 2020

  

Replace 2021

  

Replace 2021

  

HTML

54

HTML

59

PHP

22

SQL

54

SQL

58

JavaScript

20

CSS (or SASS, Less...)

42

CSS (or SASS, Less...)

50

Java

16

Shell script (like bash, batch, PowerShell...)

39

JavaScript

40

VBA

14

Java

37

Shell script (like bash, batch, PowerShell...)

39

C

11

JavaScript

32

Java

34

Shell script (like bash, batch, PowerShell...)

10

TypeScript

21

TypeScript

31

VB.NET

9

Python

19

Python

18

C++

9

C#

16

C#

17

Perl

9

C++

10

PHP

11

Objective-C

8

PHP

8

C++

8

Groovy

7

C

8

C

6

Cobol

6

Kotlin

5

Kotlin

6

Ruby

6

Groovy

4

Swift

5

Python

6

Swift

4

Groovy

4

Delphi

6

Go

4

Go

4

C#

5

Ruby

3

Ruby

2

CSS (or SASS, Less...)

5

Assembly

3

Assembly

2

Scala

4

R

2

R

2

SQL

3

Scala

2

Scala

2

Abap

3

Objective-C

1

Matlab

1

Matlab

3

Matlab

1

Dart

1

Assembly

3

Perl

1

F#

1

TypeScript

3

WebAssembly

1

VBA

1

Smalltalk

3

F#

1

VB.NET

1

Swift

3

Erlang

1

Objective-C

1

Fortran

3

VBA

1

Elixir

1

HTML

2

VB.NET

1

WebAssembly

1

Elm

2

Abap

1

Rust

1

Go

2

Haskell

1

Perl

1

R

1

Rust

1

Haskell

1

Dart

1
       

Clojure

1
       

Haskell

1
       

F#

1
       

Erlang

1
       

Kotlin

1
       

Rust

1
       

Elixir

1
       

WebAssembly

1

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