RIse and fall of languages in 2012

[Craig Yoshioka]

At one point or another I'm pretty sure I've googled "_____ sucks" for every language I've ever used- even the ones I like. ie: Python easily more than once. 

Craig reporting from the road
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On Jan 10, 2013, at 3:32 PM, Steven D'Aprano <steve+comp.lang.python at pearwood.info> wrote:

> On Thu, 10 Jan 2013 12:42:49 -0700, Michael Torrie wrote:
> 
>>> And from the TIOBE Index, Python is steady at number 8:
>>> 
>>> http://www.tiobe.com/index.php/content/paperinfo/tpci/index.html
>> 
>> The TIOBE index is meaningless.  Since it's based on google searches,
>> one could probably guess that any language that is awkward and difficult
>> will require more searches to figure out how to use the thing.  Thus of
>> course C is top!  Especially if ranked by sarcastic queries like, "C
>> sucks," and "why does C suck so much."
> 
> If you have a problem with TIOBE's methodology, feel free to come up with 
> your own. Or take it up with them.
> 
> I dispute that TIOBE measures difficulty of language. If it did, Malbolge 
> would likely be at the top of the list. Yes, there are sarcastic queries 
> asking "C sucks", but that's just measurement error: 21,200 hits for "C 
> sucks" versus 9,900,000 for "C programming". It's not as if there is any 
> language, not even Python, that is so easy to use that nobody needs to 
> write about it.
> 
> 
>> Javascript is doing much more than just "treading water."
> 
> How do you know? What's *your* methodology for determining the popularity 
> of a language?
> 
> * "But everybody knows that Javascript is super popular!!!"
> 
> * "All my friends are using Javascript."
> 
> * "I'm a web developer, and I use Javascript for my day job."
> 
> * "I counted 14 job adverts on Monster.com for Javascript devs last week, 
> what more evidence does anyone need?"
> 
> * "I googled for `What's the most popular language?` and found a blog 
> that says it's Javascript, that's good enough for me."
> 
> * "I have a gut feeling."
> 
> If you are going to criticise TIOBE's methodology, and then make your own 
> claims for language popularity, you really need to demonstrate that your 
> methodology is better.
> 
> 
>> Javascript
>> may not be glamorous but it is *the* glue that makes the web run.
> 
> And web development is a tiny fraction of all software development.
> 
> 
> 
> -- 
> Steven
> -- 
> http://mail.python.org/mailman/listinfo/python-list