Slashdot has reported:

R overtook SQL and Julia returned to the top 20 in the October 2026 TIOBE Index, a monthly measure of programming-language popularity. The rankings were largely stable among the top 10, but Go dropped out of that group, while Delphi/Object Pascal fell sharply. The index also added Mandarin Chinese search terms to broaden its geographic representation.

Python remained No. 1, followed by C, C++, Java, C# and JavaScript. Rust held No. 10, up from No. 16 a year earlier. Julia climbed from No. 21 to No. 18, its first appearance in the top 20 in three years.

SQL ranked No. 9 in October 2026, compared with No. 10 in October 2025, when R was No. 13. Go fell from No. 8 a year earlier to No. 11. Delphi/Object Pascal dropped from No. 9 to No. 19.

TIOBE CEO Paul Jansen said Julia's growing popularity “is largely driven by the demand for modern programming languages that combine high performance with ease of learning, particularly for numerical computing.” The language aims to bridge a gap between Python, which offers an accessible, high-level approach to numerical computing but can hit performance limits, and C++, which provides strong performance with a steeper learning curve and lower level of abstraction.

Dart and OCaml were also approaching the top 20. Dart rose from No. 41 to No. 27 in October, supported by the popularity of its Flutter user interface toolkit, and has spent considerable time near the top 20. OCaml jumped from No. 38 to No. 26, with growing use in real-time trading systems and parsing technology cited as factors.

The TIOBE Index draws on factors that include skilled engineers, courses and third-party vendors. Its rankings track programming-language popularity using those indicators.