Why Do Programming Languages Succeed Or Fail? 201
magicmat writes "UC Berkeley EECS graduate researchers Leo Meyerovich and Ari Rabkin have compiled an interesting data set on the sociological aspects of programming language usage and adoption. 'Socio-PLT' is the result: compiling survey results from Berkeley's recent 'software engineering' massive online open course, SourceForge, and two years of The Hammer Principle online surveys, they have discovered some interesting phenomenon about what we, as programmers think about our languages, and why we use them. You can head over and explore the data yourself using cool interactive visualizations, and even fill out a survey yourself to have your say."
This has been covered here before (Score:5, Funny)
The main factor in determining whether or not a language succeeds is the quality of its creator's beard:
http://entertainment.slashdot.org/story/08/04/29/181249/facial-hair-and-computer-languages [slashdot.org]
Re:Girl Analogy (Score:5, Funny)
Programming languages must have a certain elegance, a flow or symmetry that entices the mind. Pascal/Delhpi have always done that for me. She's not the hottest girl at the dance, a little older and not dressed to the 9's, but she's the one I'm taking home that night. It's entirely personal, and I could'nt care less what others use.
Much like Ruby is called "Perl's younger, much prettier sister".
Dear Perl,
Look, I know that we were an item for quite a few years.
You were my one and only. My true love.
But I've gotta admit, when I saw your younger sister Ruby a few years back... well, I thought she was hot. But of course, she was too young then so I stayed away from her.
Now, more recently I have to confess that I went out with Ruby for a few dates and believe me, she is plenty mature now!
Not only that but her library seems somehow more complete than yours and certainly better organized. And her object oriented features - OO la la! Look, you're a great gal, but you're certainly not anywhere near as well endowed in THAT department.
And now that Ruby's got transportation (ok, so she likes to ride the rails) we're really getting around.
So, dear Perl, I have to tell you that it's over between you and me. From now on it's me and Ruby.
Please don't take it too hard. Maybe you'll find someone else after you're makeover.
Re:Because programmers use them or they don't (Score:5, Funny)
Ah but Lisp is a success even though no programmer actually uses it.
Re:Girl Analogy (Score:5, Funny)
Unlike a girl, a good programming language is good for more than one thing.
If you have more than one girlfriend, then you run into the same problems as SMP and multi-threaded programming: resource contention, careful locking, semaphore signalling overhead, etc. Woe betides you if one finds cosmetics stuff from another on the wrong stack in the bathroom.
Spin locks are, quite literally, a bitch.
Re:Girl Analogy (Score:5, Funny)
Programming languages must have a certain elegance, a flow or symmetry that entices the mind. Pascal/Delhpi have always done that for me. She's not the hottest girl at the dance, a little older and not dressed to the 9's, but she's the one I'm taking home that night. It's entirely personal, and I could'nt care less what others use.
Much like Ruby is called "Perl's younger, much prettier sister".
Dear Perl,
Look, I know that we were an item for quite a few years.
You were my one and only. My true love.
But I've gotta admit, when I saw your younger sister Ruby a few years back... well, I thought she was hot. But of course, she was too young then so I stayed away from her.
Now, more recently I have to confess that I went out with Ruby for a few dates and believe me, she is plenty mature now!
Not only that but her library seems somehow more complete than yours and certainly better organized. And her object oriented features - OO la la! Look, you're a great gal, but you're certainly not anywhere near as well endowed in THAT department.
And now that Ruby's got transportation (ok, so she likes to ride the rails) we're really getting around.
So, dear Perl, I have to tell you that it's over between you and me. From now on it's me and Ruby.
Please don't take it too hard. Maybe you'll find someone else after you're makeover.
After a few go-rounds, you then discover she has 6 different STDs and is intellectually about as deep as a summer puddle in a Florida parking lot.
Yep. Sounds like Ruby.
Re:Girl Analogy (Score:5, Funny)
Re:Because programmers use them or they don't (Score:5, Funny)
1. Why is a programming language successful? - Because programmers use it, or don't.
2. Why do programmers use it? - Because it does what they want.
3. What do programmers want from a language? - For it to do what is required, quickly and easily.
4. Why do programmers want to do things quickly and easily? - Because programmers are lazy.
5. Why are programmers lazy? - Because they want to get their work out of the way as quickly as possible so they can get back to doing things they really enjoy.
There are your five why's, answered succinctly and glibly.
Why Do Programming Languages Succeed Or Fail? (Score:5, Funny)
Because those are the only two options.