This is too bold a claim. Not an inaccurate one, as with some languages runtime does play a huge factor in widespread adoption, but as with many things, it's ju

This is too bold a claim. Not an inaccurate one, as with some languages runtime does play a huge factor in widespread adoption, but as with many things, it's just more complicated than that. Obviously scripting languages like python do not depend on runtime for popularity, except when they do. How can you even separate Go's syntax and paradigms from its runtime when it's defining attributes (parallelism) are so tightly coupled to it? I don't really disagree with any of the overarching points here, other than the supposition that "runtime" is anywhere close to the one factor to rule them all. Adoption is determined by....mostly adoption. You generally choose the most popular language that fits your needs, however stringent they might be, and initial adoption has so many factors that go into it, and if syntax and paradigms were irrelevant, then why would C++ have superseded C, only to be replaced itself by a variety of languages addressing a variety of needs?