Every once in awhile I stumble across someone who is trying to find their way and decide what they will do in their career. As the organizer of a PHP user group I see many new developers passing through. Of course I always speak of how strong PHP is in the web markets, and encourage new web developers to pursue PHP as a tool in their box of goodies. Because as a web developer it would be a career limiting move to not have any knowledge of PHP. Here is why...

He shares a few different sources including w3tech's overall and PHP-specific information (PHP5 specific here) and the current results of the TIOBE index showing language popularity. For each he talks some about what the results mean (and don't mean) and how, if you're a "professional developer" you should, at the least, know PHP - the most dominant language in the web space.

I decided to take a look and see what was going on behind the scenes by reading on the index definition to see if I could understand what happened. After reading through the definition I still don't know what happened, or even why it happened.

He goes through how the index data is created - search results from the top 6 hits in Alexa for each language result - and how he, basically, found nothing out of the ordinary. He points out that, because of inconsistencies like this, the TIOBE index shouldn't be regarded as much more than a loose guide. Since it's based on hard-coded search strings, it'll never be a true judge of "popularity" overall.

In their latest analysis PHP has entered the top 3 of most popular programming languages, and that is something that both makes us proud and provides further proof that PHP is still growing and here to stay. [...] What makes PHP's number 3 position remarkable is that the numbers 1 and 2 are very much general purpose languages. Java and C are pretty much used from anywhere from low level processes to desktop applications.

Some of the other languages in their top ten (according to their indexing tools) include Perl, Python, Ruby and Javascript.

The TIOBE Programming Community index gives an indication of the popularity of programming languages. The index is updated once a month. The ratings are based on the number of skilled engineers world-wide, courses and third party vendors. [...] PHP enters top 3 for the first time.

PHP pushed ahead of now number four on the list, C++, with an almost one percent gain jumping up from number five on the previous month's list. The post includes graphs showing the trends and a link to the definition of the reports.

The TIOBE Programming Community index gives an indication of the popularity of programming languages. The index is updated once a month. The ratings are based on the world-wide availability of skilled engineers, courses and third party vendors. The popular search engines Google, MSN, and Yahoo! are used to calculate the ratings. Observe that the TIOBE index is not about the best programming language or the language in which most lines of code have been written.

PHP kept its ranking right alongside other popular languages like C++, Java and Perl to remain in the top five of the list. Their graph still shows a downward trend for the presence of PHP on the web, but it's the same trend that can be seen affecting several other languages as well.

PHP has moved back up to take its spot back at #4 with (Visual) Basic falling back down to #5. As the trends graph shows, PHP had a sharp spike back up to overtake VB starting with the new year. If it continues the climb, it could be back up to levels it was during the middle of last year.

The TIOBE Programming Community index gives an indication of the popularity of programming languages. The index is updated once a month. The ratings are based on the worldwide availability of skilled engineers, courses and third party vendors.

PHP, previously in the number four slot, has been superseded by Visual Basic by a decent margin (a difference of 1.18%). This shows as a drop in popularity (as measured by the survey) to be trending back down to where it was around the middle of 2005. It still remains in the top five, though, in a close race with Visual Basic and C++ for those three positions.

The full language list and graph showing the trends back to 2002 can be found on the TIOBE website.

As the long term trends graph shows, though, PHP and Basic are neck and neck, with one only gaining slightly over the other. As the International PHP Magazine site notes:

As the graph on TIOBE's web site indicates, PHP has been charting an uneven course, facing ups and just as many downs. However, PHP's position as of Feb 2006 is significantly higher than that of 2005.

You can get all of the stats and graphs for this latest month of results from the TIOBE site.

Most of the top languages on the index are staying around the same spot, but two languages - Visual Basic and Python - are nipping at the top four's heels. Things are getting pretty neck and neck for three languages - PHP, Basic, and C++. Their stats have been fluctuating just around each other, but not changing enough to make a difference in the listings.

You can check out the full listing on the TIOBE Software website (including a graph of each language in relation to the others).

PHP stands at fourth place in the October 2006 edition of the TIOBE Programming Community index. Its position has jumped a notch since last month, while Java continues to hold the top spot.

In long-term trends, PHP shows a significant jump from October 2001 to February 2002. As the graph on TIOBE's web site indicates, PHP has been charting an uneven course, facing ups and just as many downs. However, PHP's position as of Feb 2006 is significantly higher than that of 2005.

You can check out either their post or the actual index to get more information.