Recently, the GitHub Octoverse 2024 report revealed that Python has surpassed JavaScript as the most popular language on GitHub, primarily driven by its dominance in fields like data science, machine learning, and scientific computing. Generative AI continued its significant prominence in software development, with a substantial increase in contributions to generative AI projects on GitHub.
GitHub staff published a blog post summarizing the Octoverse report. It stated that contributions to generative AI projects on GitHub have increased by 59%, with a 98% increase in new projects. Developers are increasingly incorporating AI models into applications, expanding beyond code generation to explore new use cases like AI agents and smaller, more efficient AI models.
The report highlighted that Python is now the most used language on GitHub, surpassing JavaScript. The rise of Jupyter Notebooks (92% growth) also further emphasizes its appeal among data scientists and researchers. About Python’s overall popularity on GitHub, the blog post quoted Deb Nicholson, the Python Software Foundation’s executive director,
Our goal is for Python to be a great tool that helps the ever-growing developer community build the world they envision. We couldn’t be more pleased to learn about Python’s continued rise in popularity on GitHub, especially coupled with the increased use of Jupyter Notebooks, data analysis, AI, and open source technology.
The official post on GitHub's X handle, referencing this aspect of the Octoverse 2024 report, has garnered significant engagement, with 79,000 views, 157 retweets, and 598 likes at the time of writing. In addition to its rise on GitHub, Python continues to dominate across various other platforms, including the TIOBE Programming Community Index.
The global developer community has experienced significant growth, with India projected to surpass the United States as the largest developer population by 2028. India has seen a 28% year-over-year growth in the developer community. Nigeria (28% growth) and Brazil (27%) are also among the fastest-growing regions. In Asia-Pacific, countries like Indonesia (23%) and the Philippines (29%) are also seeing rapid growth.
Open source remains a cornerstone of innovation on GitHub, with nearly 1 billion contributions made to public repositories in 2024. The report mentioned that commercially backed projects and generative AI initiatives attracted the most activity. Tools like GitHub Copilot have empowered first-time contributors while maintaining high-quality contributions. Frameworks like home-assistant/core and flutter/flutter remain the top choices for contributors.
The report also stated that there is a growing interest in smaller-scale AI models that require less computational power but still deliver strong performance. This trend is seen from the rise of projects including ollama/ollama, which focuses on locally run large language models (LLMs). Developers are increasingly experimenting with these models for specialized use cases such as academic research or embedded systems
The report discussed tools like Copilot Autofix, which helps developers identify and fix vulnerabilities faster than manual methods and enhance software security. Developers are also increasingly relying on GitHub Actions for CI/CD pipelines, with usage growing by nearly 30% year-over-year.
This report is based on anonymized user and product data collected from GitHub between October 1, 2023, and September 30, 2024. Additional data is accessible through the GitHub Innovation Graph, a resource designed for organizations and individuals interested in exploring global software development trends on GitHub.