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R and the TIOBE Index

Alex Woodie notices a change in fortunes for R:

Don’t look now, but R, which some had written off as a language in terminal decline in lieu of Python’s immense and growing popularity, appears to be staging a furious comeback the likes of which IT has rarely seen.

According to the TIOBE Index, which tracks the popularity of programming languages (as expressed in Web searches), R has risen an unprecedented 12 spots, up from number 20 in the summer of 2019 to number 8 on its list today.

I’m happy to see this, as frankly, I think R’s a better language for statistical analysis and data visualization than Python and it’s not close. That’s the advantage of being a DSL: you get to focus on doing one or two things really well, and for R that’s statistical analysis and data visualization.