This is the year Ruby will overtake... ABAP?

So often I hear about "Ruby the Java killer."

I just saw the "TIOBE Index", which rates the popularity of programming languages by measuring hits on various search engines. Not too scientific, but it seems like a good "ballpark" indicator.

Java is in position #1, with over 22% popularity (and that's a 4% increase from last year).

I looked for Ruby, expecting it to be somewhere near the top. To my surprise (and disappointment), it was down at number 22, nipping at the heels of... ABAP? What in the world is ABAP? Turns out that it is the language of SAP's application server, and that it is similar to COBOL [yuck] (which happens to be #13 on the popularity list).

Don't get me wrong. I think Ruby is a great language. It's popularity is sure to increase in 2006, and for very good reason. I certainly hope that Java folks are paying attention to Ruby and Rails and that they incorporate some of the great concepts pioneered by Ruby developers into Java and its frameworks. I'm watching JRuby closely. I also hope to be able to write some Ruby apps soon. From playing with it so far, that looks like that will be fun.

But Java is still fun for me, and it is still holding its own. In a very strong way.

Keep learning, but don't forget what you know.