The TIOBE index ranks popularity of programming languages according to their prevalence on the web. Back in February last year, the R language had risen to #25 in the charts, overtaking both SAS and Matlab. Earlier this month, TIOBE published its annual rankings of programming language popularity for 2011 and R has risen once again: it now ranks #19 in overall language popularity -- its highest ranking since entering the index in 2007. (Matlab is at #23, and SAS at #32.)
According to the TIOBE folks, S and S+ (which preceded R) are also on the list, though not in the top 50. Nonetheless, if you bundled S, S+ and R together, they would rank at #14.
R, a domain-specific language is unlikely to crack the top 10 though, which is dominated by general purpose langauges like C++ and Java. The new #1 fastest-rising language in the rankings is Objective-C, whose popularity is driven by the thriving iOS app market, where applications for iPhones and iPads must be based on Objective-C. The rise of Objective-C since mid-2009 is apparent in this rankings chart of the top 10 languages:
TIOBE Software: TIOBE Programming Community Index for January 2012
Another place to look at is GitHub. On Dec 12, R ranked at #29 (I have a record on Google+ https://plus.google.com/u/0/109653178371807724268/posts/Bnt4523ELMm); today it ranks at #28 (https://github.com/languages/R). One step up in a month.
Posted by: Yihui | January 16, 2012 at 16:23
Good point, Xie Yihui. Thank you for that link. I like to follow popularity of programming languages on GitHub too. But I was tracking the enduring presence of FORTRAN, mostly for amusement purposes, now at #37 of approx 73.
Tracking GitHub R usage on a monthly basis is an excellent benchmark for comparison-validation w.r.t. the TIOBE index. The difference in rank, #28 versus #19, does not concern me. The rate of increase in popularity over time will be more significant.
Posted by: Ellie Kesselman | January 17, 2012 at 18:40
I think Java is number 1, not ojbective C.
Posted by: Frank | January 17, 2012 at 19:34
I'm not convinced by the argument that R is a domain-specific language and thus not likely to break into the top 10. I'll grant that R is going to be used mainly for data analysis, and hence domain-specific in that sense. But everyone has data.
R is a great substitute for a lot of what is done in Excel (an accounting-specific language).
Posted by: Pat Burns | January 18, 2012 at 01:51
You're correct, thanks Frank. Objective-C was the fastest riser. I'll update the post.
Posted by: David Smith | January 19, 2012 at 10:03
Pat, good points. I'd love to see R in the top 10 myself, and I agree as more programmers focus on data-centric applications its usage (and rank) will rise further.
Posted by: David Smith | January 19, 2012 at 10:05
The methodology is a little suspect, but the rankings are mostly plausible. Except for Logo. I have no idea how it jumped so many positions.
Posted by: David | January 28, 2012 at 10:28
If R is ever packaged in a way it can compete for the run of the mill spread sheet user it could grab a lot of users. I don't know how much productivity would be lost by users tinkering writing the same tools over and over and trying to make the best graphical presentation rather than a very good one.
I have been trying to bend my mind around R for about 18 months to use for both data and models.
R can do things that most languages are used for as long as one is willing to use Java for human interfaces and C, C++, BASH shell scripts, HTML, system calls and such as needed. R makes those interfaces with other language and systems much easier than most language if it really is a language. I use it almost the same as would a Linux/Unix command line at times.
I can see doing point of sale, accounting and inventory control programs in R using either Java or HTML as human interface.
-Gordon
Posted by: Gordon Couger | February 14, 2012 at 22:36