points by fancyfredbot 4 days ago | 0 comments
C++ is the third most popular programming language according to TIOBE behind C and python. It's got an 8.87% ranking. So yes it looks like C++ is still relevant. In fact C++ usage has risen slightly.
Rust is in tenth place with 1.44% ranking, it's rising fast but still has a long way to go before it catches C++.
I'm not going to speculate about why Rust hasn't yet supplanted C++ but I will say I don't find it surprising.
[–] miffy900 4 days ago
[–] gmueckl 4 days ago
Github is also skewed because it only captures a subset of open source projects, and open source is realistically a teeny tiny fraction of the world's written code.
[–] account42 4 days ago
Yes, GitHub is heavily skewed towards "hip" projects.
[–] fancyfredbot 4 days ago
You didn't mention why people shouldn't cite TIOBE so I checked. It's because they measure search engine queries to assess popularity. GitHub measures actual code usage in real repos.
I agree the GitHub methodology seems better. I don't think TIOBE methods mean that it's ranking is completely irrelevant but it'll be noisy and you could easily game it.
[–] afdbcreid 4 days ago
TIOBE is nonsense.
But, of course, there is still a lot of new C++ code written, more than Rust. I believe C++ will become legacy, but it's not there yet and even once that happens it'll take at least decades to stop writing C++.
A much more accurate snapshot would be Github - they recently published the top langauges for the year (so far, up til Sept 2026) by distinct monthly contributors and C++ comes in at 9 out of the top 10, and Rust doesn't even place in the top 10 yet, so yes it is highly relevant and prevalent, but not because TIOBE said so.
But, TypeScript, Python and Rust are the fastest growing languages, in that order, so also you cannot discount Rust.
https://github.blog/news-insights/octoverse/octoverse-commit...