The C language has been a programming staple for decades. Here’s how it stacks up against C++, Java, C#, Go, Rust, Python, and the newest kid on the block—Carbon.

Software firm Tiobe's December 2020 programming language rankings place C as the most popular language, followed by Java, Python, C++, C#, Visual Basic, JavaScript, PHP, R, and SQL.

Image: Getty Images/iStockphoto JavaScript, Python, Java, TypeScript and C# are the most widely used programming languages in GitHub projects, according to GitHub's 2022 Octoverse report.

Older, and arguably more-difficult-to-learn, languages such as C and C++ are still used as well, though increasingly they are being taught alongside Java and Python.

Toppling Java off its podium, C++ witnessed a substantial 4.21% growth, but in reality, at 11.94% and 11.82%, both programming languages remain incredibly tight as they continue to be favored by ...

What just happened? For the first time in more than 20 years, the Python programming language has overtaken Java, JavaScript, and C as the most popular language.

About 22 percent of all software programmers used C++, and 19 percent used C as of 2023, according to Statista, making them less popular than JavaScript, Python, Java and a few others.

The C language kept its number one ranking for November, but Python slipped into the number two spot, edging Java and C++ into third and fourth place, respectively. Python has enjoyed something of a ...