Source: InfoWorld (June 2019)
Python Hits a Record High on the Tiobe Index
Python reached its highest-ever rating in the June 2019 edition of the Tiobe Index, the monthly ranking of programming language popularity. The language earned a rating of 8.53 percent, edging past its previous record of 8.376 percent set in December 2018. Python held third place overall, behind Java and C.
Tiobe attributed Python’s surge to its relative ease of use compared to Java and C, noting that the language continues to attract a large number of newcomers. At its current growth trajectory, Tiobe projected that Python could surpass both Java and C to become the index’s most popular language within three to four years.
How the Tiobe Index Works
The Tiobe Index calculates ratings using a formula that aggregates search query data from major search engines including Google, Yahoo, and Bing. Ratings reflect the volume of search activity related to a language’s courses, skilled engineers, and third-party vendors — not lines of code written or GitHub repositories.
A separate index, the Pypl (Popularity of Programming Language) Index, uses a different methodology: it ranks languages solely by how frequently their tutorials are searched on Google. Python already held the top position on the Pypl index at this time, with a commanding lead over Java.
The Tiobe Index Top 10 — June 2019
The following were the ten most popular programming languages in the June 2019 Tiobe Index:
- Java — 15.004%
- C — 13.3%
- Python — 8.53%
- C++ — 7.384%
- Visual Basic .NET — 4.624%
- C# — 4.483%
- JavaScript — 2.716%
- PHP — 2.567%
- SQL — 2.224%
- Assembly — 1.479%
The Pypl Index Top 10 — June 2019
The following were the ten most popular programming languages in the June 2019 Pypl Index. Python’s lead here was especially pronounced, more than doubling Java’s share:
- Python — 28.08%
- Java — 20.51%
- JavaScript — 8.29%
- C# — 7.41%
- PHP — 6.96%
- C/C++ — 5.76%
- R — 4.15%
- Objective-C — 2.82%
- Swift — 2.36%
- Matlab — 1.95%
Other Notable Movers in the June 2019 Tiobe Index
Swift and Objective-C
Apple’s Swift climbed to 11th place with a rating of 1.419 percent, up from 15th a year earlier and 18th the previous month — a notable acceleration. Its predecessor, Objective-C, ranked 12th with a rating of 1.391 percent. Tiobe predicted that Objective-C would drop out of the top 20 within two years as Swift continued to absorb its developer base.
Groovy’s Unexpected Climb
Groovy was one of the most dramatic risers in the index, jumping to 14th place with a rating of 1.3 percent. A year earlier it had sat at 60th with a barely measurable 0.19 percent. Tiobe attributed the surge largely to Groovy’s adoption as a scripting language for the Jenkins continuous integration platform — widely used in DevOps pipelines. However, Tiobe also raised questions about whether Groovy could maintain a top-20 position long-term without broader adoption beyond the CI/CD tooling space.
Why Python’s Growth Matters for DevOps and Engineering Teams
Python’s rise is not isolated to a single domain. The language has become a default choice across machine learning, data engineering, infrastructure automation, and scripting — areas that overlap heavily with modern DevOps practice. Tools such as Ansible are Python-native, and the language’s extensive standard library and active package ecosystem (PyPI) lower the barrier for engineers moving between disciplines. The combination of readability, versatility, and ecosystem depth explains why both beginner developers and experienced engineers continue to drive its search volume upward.
Note: The rankings and ratings in this article reflect the Tiobe and Pypl indices as published in June 2019 and should not be taken as current standings. Both indices are updated monthly and rankings change over time.