The Short Story
The latest version of this monthly rank can be found here (COBOL still appears on the second part of the ranking, and VB is pretty much up in the ranking): http://www.tiobe.com/tiobe_index?page=indexThe rationale behind the calculations (or the index definition) is described here ("unfortunately" porn sites are excluded - just kidding).
The Long Story
Let me quickly share the TIOBE Index, aka as "the manhood index for programmers" (if they are men) - translated to PT this would translate to "Índice de Macheza do Pugramador" (sic). And this is why: A man should only be considered a man if it is programming on its current position using one of the top 3 languages in this index. If not, you can say to you (man) colleague: "Ah, you're really a chicken" (or something alike, preferably equally insulting).Talking more seriously, you can look at this index in several ways:
- The current month rank: Shows what languages are more popular (or at least what have been more researched upon)
- The recent years trend (since June 2001)
You can look at this index in several ways: I want to position myself in a "popular" language (which translates to "top ranking language" in this ranking) over the last few years (define the number of years for your particular case); this could be a wise career decision (medium-long term).
But don't forget to look it the other way (the short term): Older languages (like COBOL or Delphi / Object Pascal) are not so popular but because resources are scarce they will be highly paid and could be in high demand: For instance look for job positions of Delphi Programmers in the UK to sort it out (is 320 GBP a day good enough for you?).
