This document discusses trends in programming languages used on popular open source software forges. It analyzes over 2 million commits across SourceForge, GitHub, Google Code and CodePlex from January to May 2011 to determine the most commonly used languages. The top languages were JavaScript, PHP, Python, Java and C#. The document also notes that while C and C++ remain popular, their usage has declined on forges in recent years, which may indicate a shift toward newer languages over time.

1. Survival of the Forges: Do
Language Trends Tell the
Story?
Steve O’Grady, RedMonk
Peter Vescuso, Black Duck Software

2. Speakers
Peter Vescuso Steve O’Grady
 EVP of Marketing and  Industry analyst, founder,
Business Development, RedMonk
Black Duck Software
Copyright © 2011 Black Duck Software, Inc. All Rights Reserved.

3. Agenda
 Market Dynamics
 Forge and language Trends
 Summary
 Q&A
Note: All webinar registrants
receive a copy of the slides
and a link to the recording
Copyright © 2011 Black Duck Software, Inc. All Rights Reserved. 3

4. The Abundance of Open Source
 100+ billion of lines of code
 500,000+ projects
 10+ million staff years of development
 Billions of $$ of development
 50,000+ security vulnerabilities
 550+ cryptographic algorithms
 2,000+ unique licenses
Copyright © 2011 Black Duck Software, Inc. All Rights Reserved.

5.  Free FOSS
directory and
developer
community
 Forge,
repository and
language
neutral
Copyright © 2011 Black Duck Software, Inc. All Rights Reserved. 5

6. Background: Forge Trends as Revealed by
Language
 Four forges analyzed:
– SourceForge, Github, GoogleCode, CodePlex
– General purpose forges, does not include language-
specific forges such as Rubyforge
 Analyzed language on a commit basis
 Using commits as a gauge of current activity
 Time period: January to May 2011
 Over 2.1 M language commits across four forges
– Only count commits that contained code
– If a commit includes more than one language, each
language is counted.
 Did not include: Shell, XML, Assembler
Copyright © 2011 Black Duck Software, Inc. All Rights Reserved. 6

7. 7
7

8. 8
8

9. 9
9

10. 10
10

11. 11
11

12. 12
12

13. 13
13

14. 14
14

15. 15
15

16. 16
16

17. 17
17

18. 18
18

19. 19
19

20. Information Resources
 Data on open source project info on licenses,
projects, languages
– www.blackducksoftware.com/oss
– www.Ohloh.net
 SPDX – info on new data exchange standard
– www.blackducksoftware.com/spdx/intro_to_spdx.mov
 Android white paper and webinar
– www.blackducksoftware.com/android
– www.blackducksoftware.com/webinars/legal/android.html
Copyright © 2011 Black Duck Software, Inc. All Rights Reserved. 20

21. Questions?
Note: All webinar registrants receive a copy of the slides
and a link to the recording
Copyright © 2011 Black Duck Software, Inc. All Rights Reserved. 21