L Legacy Programming Languages Gain Popularity
For decades, programming languages like Fortran and Delphi have been considered old news. However, based on the results of this month's Tiobe index, it seems that they are experiencing a resurgence in popularity.
According to the Tiobe index, which measures language popularity by assessing the number of skilled engineers worldwide, courses, and third-party vendors pertinent to each language, Fortran has climbed up to 11th place, while Delphi/Object Pascal ranks 10th. This trend is echoed in other indices, including the Pypl Popularity of Programming Language index.
The Rise of Legacy Languages
Tiobe CEO Paul Jansen attributes this increase in popularity to the need for companies to maintain vital legacy systems that have been developed using these older languages. As core developers begin to retire, companies are opting to keep and extend existing systems rather than replace them with newer systems based on modern languages.
This phenomenon is not unique to Fortran and Delphi. Other legacy languages like Ada (ranked 18th) and Cobol (ranked 20th) are also trending upward in the Tiobe index.
The Top 10 Languages
The current top 10 programming languages according to the Tiobe index for March 2025 are:
- Python: 23.85%
- C++: 11.08%
- Java: 10.36%
- C: 9.53%
- C#: 4.87%
- JavaScript: 3.46%
- Go: 2.78%
- SQL: 2.57%
- Visual Basic: 2.52%
- Delphi/Object Pascal: 2.15%
In contrast, the Pypl index, which ranks languages by Google search frequency, has a slightly different top 10 for March 2025:
- Python: 30.27%
- Java: 14.89%
- JavaScript: 7.78%
- C/C++: 7.12%
- C#: 6.11%
- R: 4.54%
- PHP: 3.74%
- Rust: 3.14%
- TypeScript: 2.78%
- Objective-C: 2.74%
The Importance of Legacy Languages
The resurgence of legacy languages highlights the importance of maintaining and updating existing systems rather than starting from scratch with newer technologies.
As Jansen noted, "These languages have evolved and are pretty up-to-date." The need to keep these systems running and maintainable is driving companies to explore older programming languages that were once considered obsolete.
The Future of Programming
The rise of legacy languages raises questions about the future of programming and whether we will see a shift towards maintaining and updating existing systems rather than adopting new technologies.
As the need for companies to maintain vital legacy systems grows, it is likely that we will see more programmers exploring older programming languages like Fortran and Delphi.