Java overtakes C++, takes number one development slot

2000-02-09

It's official – according to a survey by Bloor Research of over 40,000 job adverts in January, Java has taken the top slot in development language skills, with 36.8% of all programming job adverts in our sample now specifying Java. This figure is just ahead of demand for C++ skills. Meanwhile demand for VB and C are holding up with perhaps a tendency to decline, both hovering at around the 25% mark. These latter skills are still in widespread use but the slight decline suggests that we will start to see a drop in their use in 2001.

To use a well-worn phrase, of course there are lies, damn lies and statistics. A previous survey (reported on IT-Director) showed that the requirement for Java-based projects was holding static relative to Microsoft technologies. It has to be said, however, that a survey of the job market does present a pretty clear picture of exactly what is wanted right now, as opposed to projections and anticipated requirements. According to the ads, Java is what the world is using today.

It looks like Java’s position is becoming unassailable. Object orientation and component-based development are flavour of the month, both in the Microsoft camp (with COM) and the Java community (with Java beans). Non-OO languages such as C and Visual Basic are losing out to the brave new world of objects. C++ is still very popular, but it seems inevitable that it will go the same way as the other languages and Java will steal the field. Why? Because Java has already become the most popular teaching language at Universities. Because it is available on the largest number of platforms. Because it is of strategic importance to some of the largest IT companies, including Sun, IBM and Oracle. And because, once it moves ahead of other languages, it will build on its own success.

Fifteen years ago, few would have predicted that developers would still program in third generation languages such as the ones discussed here. The brave new world was one of self-generating code and dynamically customisable applications. Such visions remain pushed ever-further into the future; in the meantime, it looks like Java is set to rule the roost.

(First published 9 February 2000)