AI's impact on programming language popularity revealed

AI is changing the game for programming languages. According to a new report, Python holds the top spot while JavaScript drops. The reason? "Vibe coding" with AI assistants.

Python holds the top spot in the IEEE’s “Spectrum” and “Jobs” programming language rankings for 2025. JavaScript didn’t fare so well, dropping from third to sixth place, quite a significant change in the top five.

According to IEEE, vibe coding could be the reason for JavaScript’s apparent decline in popularity; its ranking relies on public signals like Google searches, Stack Exchange questions, and GitHub activity. As more people ask AI for help, instead of other people, this traditional traffic is reducing and it’s believed that JavaScript could disproportionately be affected.

Top programming languages 2025
	Spectrum	Trending	jobs
#1	Python	Python	Python
#2	Java	Java	SQL
#3	C++	C++	Java
#4	SQL	C	JavaScript
#5	C#	C#	TypeScript

IEEE said that programmers are moving away from public forums like Stack Exchange, instead using private conversations with LLMs like Claude and ChatGPT. The number of weekly questions on Stack Exchange for all Top Programming Languages (TPLs) dropped to just 22% of what it was in 2024. AI assistants like Cursor and Windsurf reduce the need to ask questions in the first place.

According to IEEE, as AI takes over more coding, programmers will care less about the specifics of a language. It said that LLMs are powerful enough to generate code in a variety of languages, which blurs the lines between what’s the best language for a given task. One downside to the greater use of AI is that new languages might struggle to emerge because they lack the large datasets AIs need for training; IEEE said we could be creating a “frozen in time” effect.

IEEE speculated on a future where programmers tweak prompts to generate software rather than reading or maintaining source code. It said if this were to happen, computer science degrees and their emphasis on fundamentals could lead to a rise in their value over coding boot camps.

While programming with much dependence on AI can make programming more accessible to people, the code isn’t as clean as when a person writes it and can include vulnerabilities that the developer doesn’t have any clue about if the AI slipped them in. Apparently, businesses have started to hire back humans in order to fix sloppy work made by AI - this goes for coding too.