Due to the volume of views, I have expanded upon this in an article at Is Interest in JavaScript Declining? (https://goldglovecb.medium.com/is-interest-in-javascript-declining-a27bdbb70b15)

tl;dr Interest in JavaScript is not declining.

Using Google trends to determine interest is a flawed approach, because it only measures what people search for on Google. Most developers don’t go to Google first anymore. Instead, they search on Github, StackOverflow, and even publications like Medium/Twitter. Remember, the Google search engine isn’t a source of technical knowledge… it’s a conduit to it. You search, then click on a link to take you to the actual source of information. JavaScript is so widespread now that people understand how to use it and don’t need Google to tell them where to find information. There may not be as much growth anymore, but interest in the language most definitely isn’t declining.

Consider the Tiobe index. It is a more accurate measure of which programming languages companies are actually using, not just searching for. This is the latest published ranking as of this writing (Dec 2020):

JavaScript has fluctuated a few positions over the years, but consistently remained in the top 10 through most of its 18yr tenure on the index.

Now consider the rankings found on Github, whereJavaScript has been #1 since 2014.

If you want to see additional relevant analysis, see How Popular is JavaScript in 2019? (https://medium.com/javascript-scene/how-popular-is-javascript-in-2019-823712f7c4b1) (a Medium post).

The bottom line: don’t make assumptions from a single chart lacking real industry context. JavaScript interest isn’t in decline at all.

Update (1/25/21)

A comment suggested Google trends search terms are relative to other search terms and asked why JavaScript would be less popular to users of Google. Google trends tracks search volume by time. Remember, during this time period, the volume of Google searches (as a whole) skyrocketed as the company grew. Higher total volume impacts averages. A particular user population will have a smaller impact on these averages.

Here is the Google trends chart for multiple programming languages. Notice the downward trend across all languages except C++. Python showed some increased trending as data science terms became more influential in business vocabulary, yet it is still a relatively low volume of the total.

C/C++ has been a fundamental language since before Google existed.

Keyword/term tracking is still not a good indicator of interest though. A single term rarely defines all aspects of a discipline. Consider that many people search for the term “js” instead of “javascript”. Here’s the Google trend chart for “js”:

When comparing “js” to “javascript”, the chart looks like this:

While the “javascript” term appears to drop drastically, the “js” term steadily rises during that same time. As the “js” term becomes common vernacular, it can replace terms people used before… especially if they’re searching from their phones (which couldn’t be done in 2004).

Outside events effect these trends too. In 2004, JavaScript was used very differently. Many people were still creating server-rendered pages, while JavaScript was reinventing itself (jQuery, AJAX, widget frameworks). In 2008, both Github and StackOverflow were founded. As their popularity grew, developers increasingly made those sites their first stop for finding all things “programming”. This reduces the data Google can capture (no visitor, no data).

Additionally, Google isn’t the only search engine. Bing has been around for several years, not to mention it is the default in Microsoft Edge/Windows. Search engines like Baidu and Yandex also take from some of Google’s international audience. The point: there are many detractors from any individual search source, so these trend lines cannot be relied upon to determine global interest in a subject. It is very hard to determine this without a complete data set from all providers, which nobody has.

The trend I believe is more indicative of interest is the fact more programming-specific communities are being created, like Github and StackExchange. It’s niche-specific searching, by and for programming communities. The fact that so many people use these niche-specific providers as a first stop for programming shows there is enough interest to shift the entire community to a different platform.

I believe in this so strongly that I’ve started my own efforts to build a new tech community around documentation (Metadoc). I’m betting the global tech community will continue shifting to platforms more finely tuned for specific purposes. I don’t believe people are searching for the programming language name as often as they are using related terms to understand tech concepts. To illustrate, here’s a Google trend chart for some conceptual terms that are related to programming, but aren’t language-specific:

The upward trend suggests people are searching for information about tech concepts, but using niche-specific sites as reference material. In other words, Google is good for “what is ___ and why should I use it”, while niche platforms focus on “how do I use ___”. When the world accepted JavaScript at a global scale, it stopped asking “what/why?” and started asking “how?”. Seeing a downward trend of “what/why” queries does not mean the interest in “how” diminished. That’s why a single trend chart alone doesn’t provide enough relevant context to make statements about global interest of any language.