The TIOBE ranking for May 2025 is marked by some spectacular movements in the area of less publicized languages. Python consolidates its dominance, reaching a record score of 25.35%, while Ada, R, and Perl make a strong comeback in the top 20 after years of fluctuations.

🔝 Top 5 languages – No major surprises:

1. Python – 25.35% (+9.02%)

2. C++ – 9.94%

3. C – 9.71%

4. Java – 9.31%

5. C# – 4.22% (decreasing)

Python continues to be the absolute king, with a significant increase compared to last year. C# suffers another notable loss, falling below 4.5%.

🚀 Spectacular comebacks:

• R climbs from 24th to 12th (+0.71%)

• Ada from 22nd to 13th (+0.58%)

• Perl, which had dropped to 30th, returns directly to 16th position (+0.63%)

These increases suggest either a rediscovery of these languages in niche contexts, or an influence of education, academic tools, and government or industrial projects.

📉 Languages losing ground:

• MATLAB slightly decreases to 1.02%

• Assembly and Rust stagnate

• Visual Basic remains surprisingly high, although interest is declining among modern developers

📊 Consolidation and tradition

According to TIOBE, the top 20 languages now cover over 83% of the market, showing a clear preference for stable and established technologies. It is a defensive period, in which the IT industry prefers reliability over experimentation.

📌 Which language should you learn?

If you are just starting out, Python, C++, and Java remain safe bets. If you are passionate about embedded or critical software, maybe it’s time to rediscover Ada. And if you are nostalgic or working on legacy projects, Perl still has a word to say.