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Comment by empath75 | Hacker News Reader

Doesn’t seem plausible that both c and c++ are more popular than python.

Why not? C++ is still the de facto standard for desktop software (including games), last I checked, and C is still the de facto standard for systems and embedded programming. Python hasn't really displaced anything in either realm as far as I can tell (some C/C++ codebases use Python for user-customizable scripting or plugins, sure, but it probably ain't doing the heavy lifting).

This doesn't match what I see and hear, on Windows if you already have a C/C++ codebase, its likely that one will stick with that. Otherwise, legacy Visual Basic/Delphi programs seem to consistently be rewritten in C# (primarly due to Microsoft heavily pushing it, providing tons of documentation and easy examples).

This is the impression I get from a few proprietary software vendors I used to work with, and those that pop up at local events in my area. I can't name one actively migrating to C/C++, C# is big if your stuck on Windows.

That being said, I have been diligently avoiding proprietary software for the last few years. My life is much happier without it, ain't got no licensing worries :D

That entirely depends on how “popular” is defined. If you mean “preferred choice for greenfield consumer and B2B apps”, then yes, C/C++ would be ranked way lower. But as far as I understand this statistic is based in search results, so it takes into account the huge body of existing software that needs maintenance (after all, you need to stay up-to-date and also look things up again from time to time), as well as domains in which C and C++ are a good still dominating, such as programming embedded devices.

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