DISQUS

#comments: Why is the internet so extreme? or No, your language is not dead.

  • mpodrazik · 1 year ago
    Perl is totally dead, so is JavaScript:
    http://blog.symbiont.net/2008/06/javascript-is-...

    Seriously though, I agree with you about the hype factor surrounding languages like Ruby. I think though that another contributing factor beyond general extremeness is growth rate. If you look at the job trends at indeed.com for an arbitrary selection of languages, (http://www.indeed.com/jobtrends?q=c%2Cjava%2Cc%...), it shows perl beating out other dynamic languages like php, python and ruby, (although still behind c, java, c++ and c#).

    If you check the relative scale though, (http://www.indeed.com/jobtrends?q=c%2Cjava%2Cc%...), ruby is just off the chart. Yeah, you can say that because it's mindshare/marketshare is so small that it's easy for it to rack up big growth rates, and you'd be right, but big moves like that that are new are the definition of news, and that in turn feeds the blogs and the general zeitgeist.

    The ruby hyperbole I think is on its way out. What is good though, I think, is a general acceptance of dynamic languages, and maybe more than that but a breaking down of peoples' inhibitions about language proliferation in general. That can only be good for something like perl once 6 is official, right?
  • felix · 1 year ago
    Yeah, Ruby definitely has the momentum now, although it seems to be quieting down. Python's always had a little momentum, with a big backer like Google it's hard not to. But definitely, it just isn't hard to increase a tiny userbase - although, Apple like, it does seem to be a very high quality small userbase. Huh, Ruby/Python : Apple - PHP : Dell? Heh.

    I like to think, though, that it was PHP that provided the general acceptance of dynamic languages. Unfettered by Perl's unfortunate tie (in people's minds) with the slowness of CGI scripting everyone started using it. I think what Ruby and Python are doing are giving it more of an academic flavor so that even snobby folk can finally be ok with it. :)

    I agree with you re: Perl 6. In many ways, though, I'm more excited for Parrot. Seeing the performance improvement that SquirrelFish brought to javascript by moving to (amongst other things) a register based VM makes me think that the world would not be bad off with a general register based vm for all dynamic languages. An Apache mod_parrot could be a powerful thing.