If you have been following the hype around the wonder language Python, then this headline will come as no surprise. Is this Python's 15 minutes of fame?

Well the answer to the question is probably not, because there are some good reasons that Python is such a big hit. Perhaps the main one is the way the language manages to be easy to use for the complete beginner while still having a lot of deep semantic and syntactic richness. Python is used as a first language and it is the de facto language for all manner of AI. In plain terms Python suits a lot of different types of user. It isn't perfect but it is flexible.

All through the year, as evidenced in our round up 12 News Days of Xmas, Python kept on being mentioned as the best for one reason or another. Even the slight blip at the end of the year due to Guido van Rossum resigning from his position as Benevolent Dictator For Life didn't seem to put a damper on the enthusiasm for the language.

Python has now been named Language of the Year for 2018 by the TIOBE index. We all know how flawed the TIOBE index is and this is no place to go over it all again. What is interesting is that Python doesn't top the index - that goes to Java at number one and C at number 2. Python is language of the year because at number 3 it gained more ranking points than any other language. It is difficult to see how Java and C could be pushed off their perch but if any language can do it then it would be Python. Notice that this puts Python above C++. You can see the rise in Python (the green line) over last year quite clearly:

As the Tiobe blog puts it:

 "It is the most frequently taught first language at universities nowadays, it is number one in the statistical domain, number one in AI programming, number one in scripting and number one in writing system tests. Besides this, Python is also leading in web programming and scientific computing (just to name some other domains). In summary, Python is everywhere."

Couldn't have put it better myself.

It seems that everyone's perception that Ruby is less popular than it used to be is reflected in its drop from 11 to 18. On the other hand, Rust seems to be everyone's favourite even if they aren't using it and it moved from 46 to 33. Kotlin rose from 39 to 31 and this doesn't really reflect its new found role in the Android world.

Don't take the fine detail of the TIOBE charts too seriously but I think Python being language of the year fits in with most programmer's expectations. 

• Mike James is the author of Programmer's Python: Everything Is an Object, the first volume in his series subtitled Something Completely Different. He is also the author of books on Kotlin and Android.
  

More Information 

TIOBE Index

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Python Tops Language Ranking Again

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TIOBE Index - Top 10 Languages Slump

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