Python use growing or shrinking

[Alan James Salmoni]

Erik Max Francis <max at alcyone.com> wrote in message news:<3E2DFBC6.32058F2C at alcyone.com>...
> Greg Brunet wrote:
> 
> > Just as a point of information, I was reading this article about Java
> > and the recent ruling that MS must include it in Windows & .NET
> > (http://www.salon.com/tech/feature/2003/01/21/java/print.html). It
> > had a link to this site (http://www.tiobe.com/tpci.htm) which ranks
> > Python as a "B" status language with declining popularity.
> 
> I coincidentally just noticed this latter site (the one that ranks
> Python as a "B" language with declining popularity), and had probably
> the same reaction.  It purports to estimate the rankings based on Google
> searches, and turns those results into a "rating," and then assigns a
> "status" (A or B) based on, presumably, the value of that rating.
> 
> So little information about this rating system is given that I would be
> inclined not to give it much weight.  The consideration of HTML and
> (particularly) XML as "programming languages," the arbitrary cutoff
> between "A" and "B" languages, and the total lack of detail (I admit to
> not poring over the site, but I couldn't find any obvious quantitative
> information about how these figures are calculated and where the lines
> are drawn) leads me to put very little weight into the information
> presented there.
> 
> They admit to subjective elements being present (to their credit), but
> give such heavy-hitting advice as, "Programming languages that have
> status 'A' are considered to be mainstream languages. It is strongly
> adviced [sic] to stick to those languages for industrial,
> mission-critical software systems."  Since we don't know how these
> ratings are calculated, and what distinction they've chosen between an
> "A" and a "B" language, I find it extremely hard to take this advise
> [sic] terribly seriously :-).

I suppose somebody had better tell NASA that they shouldn't be using
Python. And saying that Basic is better for "industrial,
mission-critical software systems" than Ada? I thought that was
precisely the kind of task that Ada excels at (things like control
systems for nuclear power stations, missile control systems and the
like).

>From the site: "The ratings are based on the world-wide availability
of skilled engineers, courses and third party vendors. The popular
search engine Google is used to calculate the ratings."

It is also possible that the way in which a language operates is an
important factor: With Python, there is little need for third party
vendors as it comes with so much in the basic installation, and its
ease of learning reduces the need for courses.

Alan James Salmoni
SalStat Statistics
http://salstat.sunsite.dk