The surprise new entry, or rather re-entry, to the TIOBE index this month is Perl, which has jumped up from #24 last month to #19, replacing Kotlin which has tumbled to #25.

A quick look at this month's Top 10 chart shows that the gap between Python and its nearest rivals is wider than ever, despite the fact that Python's rating is down slightly - at 23.08% compared to 23.88% two months ago, February 2025.

The cluster of C++, C and Java are closer to each other in terms of their ratings (10.33%, 9.94% and 9.63%) than last month and C has overtaken Java which is again relegated to #4.

Because C# in #5 dipped down, it now looks as if it belongs to the group at the bottom of the chart.

The headline news for April as provided by Paul Jansen, CEO of TIOBE Software and the person who maintains the index, is 

Former top 20 players Kotlin, Ruby and Swift have a hard time

and as usual he offers valuable insights into why, writing: 

Kotlin and Swift have the same reason why they are declining. They are both mainly used for one particular mobile platform, Android and iOS, respectively, whereas there are other sufficiently good languages and frameworks to develop cross platform nowadays. Yes, Swift can be used for Android development but it is pretty difficult. And Kotlin on iOS never really took off. 

Turning to Ruby, he continues:

For many years Ruby has been competing with Python and Perl. While Perl was declining, Ruby stabilized. But now that Python has become the lingua franca in the programming world, there is not much room left for Ruby.

What Jansen doesn't mention, however, is that Perl has just returned to the top 20, having been lower in the ranks for some time. Ironically, it now occupies the position, #19, that was Kotlin's last month. 

Looking at Perl's individual chart shows that it's heyday, reaching #3 in the index in 2005, is long behind. In view of the information that it's lowest ever position, #32, was in January 2025 it does seem surprising that just three months later it is at #19 with only a change of 0.42% in its rating. However this probably says more about the nature of the index than about Perl itself. 

Paul Jansen notes:

The top 20 languages currently cover 83.56% of the total market. This is a very high number; it usually is around 75%. 

This means that currently small differences in percentage ratings can lead to relatively big fluctuations in rankings and this month it sees with Perl on the up and Kotlin going down.

More Information

TIOBE Index

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