C# popularity

Question

Does anyone know roughly how many C# programmers there are out there? (Either what Microsoft claims or from a neutral source.) And how many new C# programmers arrive on the scene each year?

balu · Answer

this is the my answer for u r quetioun : in .net upto 44 lang are their. nearly 7-10 lag are comming yearly.

Scott Lysle · Answer

It is difficult to say; since the release of Visual Studio 2005 over 4 million copies have been shipped; of course these editions support C# C++ and VB (and others) and so you can't draw the conclusion that the number is entirely applicable to C# developers. In 2001 Bill Gates said that there were 8 million installed copies of VB running around (that they knew about) but the number of installed copies is not really a valid metric since one person may use several machines and account for several installed copies; as for illegal copies that is another factor to consider. I bring up VB because it is supposed to be the most popular language in the world and therefore I would assume the C# programmer count trails the VB count but I don't know by what margin. Personally I code in several languages and therefore I don't consider myself specifically a C# programmer. Even trying to derive a count from sold copies of Visual Studio won't take into account those that might use the SDK alone or that may use some other IDE capable of supporting C#. I have actually tried to get the counts that you are talking about and I have never found a definitive answer; if you do please post it here I am sure a lot people would be interested in the knowing the counts.