TIOBE CEO Comes to Cangjie Edinburgh Team: Lighting the Way for Cangjie’s World Debut

On the morning of 17 March 2026, Paul Jansen, founder and CEO of TIOBE Software, visited the Bayes Cafe in Edinburgh to deliver a talk titled “Programming Language Popularity” to the Cangjie UK team. Dozens of team members, staff, and students from the University of Edinburgh attended the event, engaging in an in-depth exchange on the dynamics of programming language adoption and the path forward for Cangjie’s international growth.

Talk Overview

Paul Jansen is the creator of the TIOBE Programming Community Index and has been researching programming language popularity for over twenty-five years. Published monthly and drawing on search data from around 95 major websites worldwide, the TIOBE Index is a widely recognised barometer of programming language trends.

In his talk, Paul first explained the methodology behind the TIOBE Index, then reviewed how the landscape of mainstream languages has evolved over the past two decades, and concluded with the four key factors a programming language needs in order to become popular.

Factor 1: Fill a unique need and be the best at it

Every successful language commands a clear home territory: SQL for databases, Python for AI and data science, Swift for iOS. Paul used the case of Objective-C to show how the iPhone ecosystem propelled a niche language to a 12% peak in just a few years, and how swiftly it fell once Apple introduced Swift as a replacement. He noted that Cangjie’s clearest path to a breakthrough is to establish itself as the native language of HarmonyOS, in much the same way as Swift for iOS.

Factor 2: The language must be practical to use

Easy to learn, easy to install, performant, and capable of producing reliable programs: these are the fundamentals. Paul cited Python as a prime example, noting that its low barrier to entry was the decisive factor in its rise.

Factor 3: A large and active community

The number of engineers, third-party libraries, development tools, and conferences together form the ecosystem foundation of a language. Paul was candid that this is a chicken-and-egg problem requiring long-term commitment. He pointed to Rust as a reference: it took roughly fourteen years from entering the TIOBE rankings to reaching its current position around number fourteen.

Factor 4: Backing from a major company

Java has Oracle, C# has Microsoft, Go has Google, Swift has Apple, and Cangjie has Huawei. Paul noted that while this factor carries less weight than it once did, it still gives the market confidence that the language will be maintained for the long term.

Looking Ahead

This talk marks another step in the Cangjie UK team’s efforts to engage with the international academic and industry community. The systematic advice Paul Jansen offered, drawing on twenty-five years of industry observation, provides a clear reference point for Cangjie’s global outreach.

The full video of Paul’s talk will be released on Huang Danian Chaspark soon.