The TIOBE Programming Community Index for November shows that VB is still more popular than C# by a Very Wide margin, though you wouldn't know that if you listen to Microsoft and most of the DotNet community.
It's not that I am against using C# at all, it's just that when it comes to real world popularity C# still has a long way to go to gain on the installed base of developers that actually use the language.
Despite Microsoft pushing the language on everyone as a “more efficient and capable“ language it, like any language has its shortcomings. What I think would really be nice is a way to make regular C just as easy to use in Rapid Application development as any of the other DotNet Languages. If that were the case, the popularity of C# would dwindle even further down the list.
It's quite impressive that any new language can even make the top ten in the first 5 years of its release, but without widespread support from the Open Source community, it's interesting to see just how far ahead VB really is to C#.
Remove the Open Source Languages and you have VB, Delphi then C# as the contenders for the top crown in Microsoft OS driven languages. I also find it interesting that they separated C from C++ when the bulk of the real applications are a combination of the two and together represent over 20% of the entire pool.
C/C++ is still the clear winner of all languages with Java and VB running a fairly close race for second.
If VB had the Open Source push that Java gets would there be any doubt who the real winner would be for ease of use and popularity in development?
Copyright © 2003-2009 H. Steele Price, IV -
All opinions are my own, not necessarily those of my employer, your mother, or any government agency.