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
