JavaScript is one of the heavyweights in the programming world these days, at least when comparing languages based on usage. Last week I wrote about how Dart, Google’s attempt to replace JavaScript, was not (yet) making any real headway in its challenge. Today, as if we need more proof, a new analysis of programming language usage on GitHub reinforces JavaScript’s hegemony.
Developer Asad Dhamani recently looked at the breakdown of code repositories on GitHub by programming language. Completely unshockingly, JavaScript comes out on top in just about every measure. For example, JavaScript has...
The most repositories
1,006,356 of the 16.9 million repositories currently on GitHub are JavaScript-based, more than any other language. GitHut, which also tracks programming language use in GitHub, in this case by quarter, regularly shows that JavaScript has the most number of active repositories. In the most recent quarter, Q3 2014, 15% of all active repos were JavaScript-based.
The most starred repositories
JavaScript ranks first among all languages on GitHub in terms of repositories with one or more stars (328,892 of 2,209,178) and repositories with over 10,000 stars (34 of 68). Dhamani also found that, of the 10 most starred repositories on GitHub, 7 of them were JavaScript-based.
The most forked repositories
When looking at repositories that were forked at least once, 170,704 out of 944,872 were JavaScript-based.
Given that JavaScript has the most repositories on GitHub, it’s not surprising that Dhamani also found that it leads all other languages in the number of issues (open or closed). Likewise, it’s not surprising that GitHut shows that JavaScript also leads in terms of total code pushes.
JavaScript, then, remains the king (or queen?) of programming languages on GitHub. To see how languages stack up behind it, I encourage you to take a look at Dhamani’s analysis and pie charts. It’s a nice read for programming language ranking junkies like me.
This story, "JavaScript still rules GitHub" was originally published by ITworld.