Declining languages | Hacker News Reader

Declining languages

google.com

8 pointsjraines10 comments

Most languages show this decline, presumably because programmers are decreasing as a proportion of web users.

On the other hand, ruby and python remain relatively level: http://www.google.com/trends?q=ruby%2C+python&ctab=0&...

Another interesting one, digg is falling, while reddit is steadily climbing: http://www.google.com/trends?q=reddit%2C+digg&ctab=0&...

But why would that matter if they're just graphing the number of searches for the term? Is Trends displaying the result of an algorithm for term popularity and not just number of searches?

I know these are also skewed because of other reasons people would search for these terms (ie, "ruby", "python", "java", or "arc"). But the graph of a term that's unlikely to be confused with something else ("Ruby on Rails") seems to make sense in terms of what the number of searches ought to be.

Isn't the news volume supposed to provide a ground reference of absolute volume? Or did I get it wrong?

Fun to play with, even if it means nothing. Interesting how San Francisco is the only U.S. city in the top 10 for these searches. Check out India's huge lead -- they love them some Java!

If you add Ruby, Python, or Lisp, they just show up as straight lines along the bottom.

Here's another decline: http://www.google.com/trends?q=google+trends&ctab=0&...

I went to the Colorado Software Summit. At the presentations and nightly convocations, they were giving out as the door prizes: 'Programming Ruby' books. And the presenters/organizers gushed 'it's really cool, the next big thing. Ruby is it'. That was seven or eight years ago.

While Ruby broke out with Ruby on Rails, Java is firmly entrenched and as someone who is trying to learn Ruby/Ruby on Rails - I'm finding the learning curve painful as Ruby/Ruby on Rails is more than just a syntax or a language it's a different way of doing things. We're trying to justify a small project (business case) but even though the application we are intending to build is perfect for RoR - they are almost like why not Spring/Hibernate/Flex.

I believe many Java programmers are happy that Java is a near default language for a lot of non-startup IT/software shops - you can't learn Ruby on Rails from a 5-day bootcamp.

Good programmers will know more than one language, and if given opportunity do something different (i.e. if they worked mostly on java, they would like to switch to python, ruby or something else). Crappy programmers know only one language, and are very resistant to change, b/c it will take them eons to learn another one.

Scripting languages can be harder for crappy programmers, as you have to be extra careful, especially in large programms. While in java, editors such eclipse are very good with auto completion, generation of stubs, finding references, etc... that can make even a crappy programmer semi-productive.

Usually, big boring corp attracts only crappy programmers (if you are smart, you probably are working somewhere else), therefore Java is the default language.

Hence the resistance for change in big corps to switch from java to something else.

Even if you are smart programmer at big corp, you will find often Java is the only "allowed" programming language by your bozo CTO.

That seems to include news about Java the island for the java news.

Let's create a language called "porn" and make it the most popular language ever.

Some people spend way too much time worrying about which language to use. Just pick one that doesn't suck too badly for the job you need, and use it.

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