Survey: Machine Learning/Data Science Propel Python Past Java -- ADTmag

A big new developer survey shows that Python has finally passed Java in the programming language popularity wars, propelled by its heavy use in machine learning and data science projects. "Python has reached 8.2 million active developers and has taken the No. 2 spot, surpassing Java in terms of popularity," says the brand-new "Developer Economics State of the Developer Nation 16th Edition" report in which SlashData Ltd. polled more than 19,000 developers in 165 countries. A previous edition of the survey last fall predicted that Python would overtake Java, stating: "Python has reached 7 million active developers and is closing in on Java in terms of popularity, thanks to 62 percent of machine learning developers and data scientists who now use Python." The new report sees that "closing in" prediction coming true, noting that Python "is the second-fastest growing language community in absolute terms with 2.2 million net new Python developers in 2018. The rise of machine learning is a clear factor in its popularity. A whopping 69 percent of machine learning developers and data scientists now use Python (compared to 24 percent of them using R)."