Paul Krill
Editor at Large

Google Dart cracks Top 50 list of programming languages

news
Oct 9, 20122 mins

But monthly Tiobe index still has Dart garnering only a tiny popularity rating

Google’s Dart programming language, envisioned as a JavaScript rival, has for the first time cracked a monthly Top 50 list of the most popular programming languages.

Launched in late 2011, Google has intended for Dart to be a Web programming language that addresses supposed shortcomings of JavaScript, such as difficulties in maintaining structure once a program grows beyond being a simple Web application. Dart ranked 43rd in the Tiobe Programming Community Index for October 2012.

[ Also read InfoWorld’s interview with Lars Bak, the lead software engineer for Dart. | For more software news and analysis, subscribe to InfoWorld’s Developer World newsletter. ]

That index, though, gave Dart a rating of just 0.189 percent, based on Tiobe’s calculations. “It’s Google’s aim to let Dart replace JavaScript as the dominant programming language of Web development,” Tiobe said in its report. But Tiobe questioned how much momentum Dart can build without support for it in major browsers.

A representative at Mozilla said Monday the company would not add support for Dart to the Mozilla Firefox browser. Microsoft also does not support Dart in Internet Explorer. But Microsoft last week revealed its own TypeScript project, intended to enable JavaScript to support the development of more complex applications. TypeScript features a subset of JavaScript capabilities for static typing, classes, and modularization.

The Tiobe index is gauged by assessing the number of skilled engineers worldwide, programming courses, and third-party vendors interested in a particular language. Search engines such as Google, Bing, and Yahoo are examined, along with websites such as Wikipedia and Amazon, in calculating the ratings.

Topping this month’s ranking was the C language, which had a 19.822 percent rating, followed by Java, at 17.193 percent; Objective-C (9.477 percent), C++ (9.260 percent) and C# (6.530 percent). 

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Paul Krill

Paul Krill is editor at large at InfoWorld. Paul has been covering computer technology as a news and feature reporter for more than 35 years, including 30 years at InfoWorld. He has specialized in coverage of software development tools and technologies since the 1990s, and he continues to lead InfoWorld’s news coverage of software development platforms including Java and .NET and programming languages including JavaScript, TypeScript, PHP, Python, Ruby, Rust, and Go. Long trusted as a reporter who prioritizes accuracy, integrity, and the best interests of readers, Paul is sought out by technology companies and industry organizations who want to reach InfoWorld’s audience of software developers and other information technology professionals. Paul has won a “Best Technology News Coverage” award from IDG.

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