[Python-Dev] Re: Stability and change

[Tim Peters]

[Alex Martelli]
> Not an issue of being cynical -- it's just a fact that C enjoyed no
> "visible backing" from AT&T (or did you have some other corp in
> mind?) to help it gain mindshare, and neither did C++.
>
> If "backing from multi-billion dollar corps" mattered as much as you
> seem to think we'd all be using PL/? or maybe some APL.  Or do
> you forget who DID back _those_, and how much Big Blue dominated
> the computer scene until not-all-that-many years ago?

No, I don't think backing matters much at all to how a language *becomes*
popular.  C and C++ and Java have both popularity and the backing of
billion-dollar companies *now*, and big money wants to play with big money.
This becomes very relevant when considering how big shops make adoption
decisions:  a small money player has an uphill battle even to get noticed.
Programming languages, databases, web content management systems -- I don't
care, it's all the same.  Big shops want their suppliers to have deep
pockets.  Little shops can be more flexible, but a lot of them just copy
what the big shops do.  The only reason C got into big shops is that
American management is so incompetent it didn't notice what kinds of risk
the hippies in the IT department were taking <0.9 wink>.

give-the-psf-a-billion-dollars-and-we'll-put-it-to-the-test-ly y'rs  - tim