# IEEE Spectrum programming language ranks **URL:** \ **Category:** Uncategorized\ **Created:** [August 25, 2021, 1:05am UTC](https://fortran-lang.discourse.group/t/ieee-spectrum-programming-language-ranks/1743 "2021-08-25T01:05:40Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 3\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Beliavsky](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/ba8739/32.png) [@Beliavsky](https://fortran-lang.discourse.group/u/Beliavsky)\ **Post date:** [August 25, 2021, 1:05am UTC](https://fortran-lang.discourse.group/t/ieee-spectrum-programming-language-ranks/1743/1 "2021-08-25T01:05:40Z")
2016 #28 (inferred from next quote) [2017](https://spectrum.ieee.org/the-2017-top-programming-languages) #28 > Speaking of stabilized programming tools and languages, it’s worth noting [Fortran](http://fortranwiki.org/fortran/show/HomePage)’s continued presence right in the middle of the rankings (sitting still in 28th place) [2019](https://spectrum.ieee.org/the-top-programming-languages-2019) #38 > Finally, some older languages are still alive and kicking. In particular, despite being over 60 years old, Fortran still comes in at No. 38, likely due to the enormous legacy power of being the original scientific computing language. The language is still under active development, with the most recent [Fortran standard](https://wg5-fortran.org/f2018.html) released at the end of 2018, incorporating improved interoperability with C and better support for massive parallel computations. [2020](https://www.hpcwire.com/2020/07/22/python-again-tops-ieee-spectrums-programming-language-list/) #25 [2021](https://spectrum.ieee.org/top-programming-languages/) #25 Are the year-by-year rankings for all languages available in a table? (Error noted by @certik is corrected above.) ---
**Author:** ![certik](https://yyz2.discourse-cdn.com/free1/user_avatar/fortran-lang.discourse.group/certik/32/4_2.png) [@certik](https://fortran-lang.discourse.group/u/certik)\ **Post date:** [August 25, 2021, 2:05am UTC](https://fortran-lang.discourse.group/t/ieee-spectrum-programming-language-ranks/1743/2 "2021-08-25T02:05:04Z")
It says Fortran #25 for me: ![Screen Shot 2021-08-24 at 8.04.18 PM](https://global.discourse-cdn.com/free1/uploads/fortran_lang/original/1X/669e43f2bd263229bb9239207b2801c45ae2289b.png) ---
**Author:** ![nbehrnd](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/e0b2c6/32.png) [@nbehrnd](https://fortran-lang.discourse.group/u/nbehrnd)\ **Post date:** [August 26, 2021, 6:25pm UTC](https://fortran-lang.discourse.group/t/ieee-spectrum-programming-language-ranks/1743/3 "2021-08-26T18:25:06Z")
I suggest to substitute a statement like «rank #25 for Fortran in 2021» by an extension in lines of «rank #25 for Fortran in 2021 among 55 languages». Perhaps previous compilations by IEEE equally constrained the set of languages to this number, perhaps IEEE did not. Languages gain and loose popularity, thus enter and depart such surveys. The suggested addition however provides _some_ context (like grading exams on a scale of 20 in France) ahead of accessing the primary source.