... at least according to the TIOBE index, which measures language popularity based on the number of web searches:

The ratings are calculated by counting hits of the most popular search engines. The search query that is used is +”<language> programming” The search query is executed for the regular Google, Google Blogs, MSN, Yahoo!, and YouTube web search for the last 12 months. The web site Alexa.com has been used to determine the most popular search engines.

Observations

• PHP moves up one spot from last year into #4 and still dominates the web languages
• ActionScript enters top 20 (as #20) and I expect it to grow even more in the coming years
• Java dominates with 20% market share and sits comfortably at the #1 spot
• Pascal enters top 20 as well at #15, jumping up eight spots in one year! This one I’m just confused about, but I do miss the language
• JavaScript and Ruby are #9 and #10 respectively, though over last 4 years, Ruby has risen tremendously (#27 in 2004) with the help of Ruby on Rails

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