Re: Perl "Going the way of the dinosaur"

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