An outfit that tracks such things has a new report out showing that Java has slipped from the number one spot on the list of popular programming languages, which is now occupied by C.

This Wired article suggests that the problem lies not so much with the Java language but rather Oracle's takeover of Sun and the suggestion that they have more lawyers filing lawsuits than developers enhancing the technology. Sounds about right.

Objective C has moved up to number three, replacing C# which has slipped to number five. You can probably attribute this to the advent of iEverything and the decline of Microsoft.

Looking at this alphabet soup of languages, I have no idea what I would develop in if I were launching a major new business software project today. Probably not anything Microsoft, because of their propensity to abandon proprietary technology and leave developers and their apps in the lurch. (Steve Ballmer should have been fired a long time ago.) On the other hand, I'd probably rather be Bill Gates' bitch than have Larry Ellison as my evil overlord.

I'd probably go with COBOL (number 24 on the list, just ahead of FORTRAN at number 25).