On Jan 25, 2008, at 02:44, Tim Bunce wrote:
>> He's just making it up: "For all of its strengths, perl seems to be
>> going
>> the way of the dinosaur. Most new, open source talent is being
>> funneled
>> into Java, PHP, Ruby, and Python." That second sentence is a guess
>> at
>> best.
>>
No, he's not. It might be completely wrong, but it is a widely-held
perception. So even if it's not true, it's not made up. It's what
people believe. That's why I was asking if anyone has put together
some real numbers demonstrating otherwise. Hard data are one tool we
can use to try to change perceptions.
> I may be speaking on matters perlish at the Irish Web Tech
> Conference in Feb.
> Perl seems to have a pretty low profile in web development in Ireland,
> so I certainly won't be preaching to the converted - assuming anyone
> turns up to my session!
>
> Anyway, just yesterday for research I asked a mailing list of irish
> web
> development (more or less) folk for their opinions of perl, good or
> bad.
>
> I'm still collecting their replies, which I'll summarize for them
> and us.
> The general perception doesn't seem far off "going the way of the
> dinosaur".
Precisely. I rest my case.
> Meanwhile, one included a link to a site I'd not seen before:
>
> The TIOBE Programming Community index gives an indication of the
> popularity of programming languages. The index is updated once a
> month.
> The ratings are based on the world-wide availability of skilled
> engineers, courses and third party vendors. The popular search
> engines
> Google, MSN, Yahoo!, and YouTube are used to calculate the ratings
>
> http://www.tiobe.com/tpci.htm
>
> It's a pity they don't offer more information about their methodology.
Yes, that would be nice. Fascinating move by Python, actually. Note
that Ruby is down one, like Perl. I think that the backlash against
Rails has begun, which is a shame for Ruby.
> Interesting to see some 'hard' trend data that not just jobs[1],
> though.
>
> [1] http://use.perl.org/~Tim+Bunce/journal/35267
Those are interesting numbers, too. PHP there does seem to be way up.
Not surprising, given its low barrier to entry.
Best,
David
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