Google Dart cracks Top 50 list of programming languages

Infoworld - Google's Dart programming language, envisioned as a JavaScript rival, has for the first time cracked a monthly Top 50 list of the most popular programming languages.

Launched in late-2011, Google has intended for Dart to be a Web programming language that addresses supposed shortcomings of JavaScript, such as difficulties in maintaining structure once a program grows beyond being a simple Web application. Dart ranked 43rd in the Tiobe Programming Community Index for October 2012.

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That index, though, gave Dart a rating of just .189 percent, based on Tiobe's calculations. "It's Google's aim to let Dart replace JavaScript as the dominant programming language of Web development," Tiobe said in its report. But Tiobe questioned how much momentum Dart can build without support for it in major browsers.

A representative at Mozilla said Monday the company would not add support for Dart to the Mozilla Firefox browser. Microsoft also does not support Dart in Internet Explorer. But Microsoft last week revealed its own TypeScript project, which is intended to enable JavaScript to support the development of more complex applications. TypeScript features a subset of JavaScript capabilities for static typing, classes, and modularization.

The Tiobe index is gauged by assessing the number of skilled engineers worldwide, programming courses, and third-party vendors interested in a particular language. Search engines such as Google, Bing, and Yahoo are examined, along with websites such as Wikipedia and Amazon, in calculating the ratings. 

Topping this month's ranking was the C language, which had a 19.822 percent rating, followed by Java, at 17.193 percent; Objective-C (9.477 percent), C++ (9.260 percent) and C# (6.530 percent). 

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