This project introduced me to the TIOBE index. It is an extremely interesting website that indexes the popularity of programming languages on a monthly basis to help industry professionals keep their skills up to date and also may help them to decide which language to use for future projects. Currently, Java is in the number one spot and has been for 5 years except for one month this Spring when C was the top language. The top five languages for November of 2010 are: Java, C, C++, PHP, and C# in that order.
When trying to decide which language I believe will be the most popular in the future (we weren't given a time constraint so in my mind I picked two years from now). I thought about what is popular now, and where trends seem to be going. Based on what I learned from Project 2, the future of the web is going more and more towards apps and mobile phone apps. It seems more and more people are getting smart phones and using apps on their phones. The two main smart phone market share holders currently are Apple's iPhone and Google's OS Android.
Apple iPhone apps are exclusively written in Objective C and Android apps are exclusively written in Java. So I narrowed the languages down to these two. Even though Objective C is currently number 8 it has been climbing very fast. Google versus Apple, wow what a match. So I looked at recent market trends for phones and based on what I found, I believe that Java will continue to be the most popular language in two years.
A recent CNN article, iPhone vs Android: By the Neilson Numbers, shows that currently Apple iPhones have 28 percent of the market and Android has 19 percent. But, by age groups, Androids are preferred for people under 35. Also what draws people in this age group to Androids is th freedom of choice. Androids are not restricted by any particular cell phone carrier or phone manufacturer. Since it is an Operating System and not a phone itself, it can be used on whatever smart phone is compatitle with it. Also, apps for Androids can be purchased from various sources not just one source like iPhone apps.
Since Java is currently the language of choice and there are probably millions of Java programmers and programs out there, this language will not be going anywhere anytime soon. Also it seems that most new programmers right now learn Java as one of their first languages. That coupled with the fact that Android smartphones are gaining market share and actually have been outselling iPhones this year (Report:Android Out Sells iPhone This Year) leads me to believe, that I made the correct choice in Java as the most popular language for Fall 2012. Now all I have to do is learn Java and purchase an Android smart phone with many cool apps!
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