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They rank C number 1. There is no way that reflects reality. JavaScript is easily number one for reasons that will surprise nobody. On the WakaTime public lead

by eloff 6y ago

They rank C number 1. There is no way that reflects reality. JavaScript is easily number one for reasons that will surprise nobody. On the WakaTime public leaderboards it dominates to such an extent that I think programmers spend more time writing JavaScript than all the other languages combined. I don't know if that generalizes to the broader population, but it gives one an idea how ubiquitous it is.

0x445442 6y ago
Was going to say the same thing. Considering total amount of running code, yeah C might be #1 but there's no way it's the most "popular".
cmrdporcupine 6y ago
I can't actually say what the popularity of C/C++ is. But I don't know what you do for a living but in general Hackernews tends to have webdev tunnel vision. Embedded, operating system development, browser development, OS, driver dev, games, telecoms, compilers, lots of IoT, systems development generally, all of this is in C/C++, and will be for the forseeable future. That is a lot of lines of code, but mostly invisible to people whose role in the industry is "full stack development" type jobs.
- eloff 6y ago
  I've worked (not just played with) almost twenty languages in a career about the same length in years. I'm well aware of the things C and C++ are used for. I'm currently mostly working in Rust at that moment to make use of libraries in C++. But I think web development easily swamps that kind of work in terms of number of developers.
  - jcelerier 6y ago
    > But I think web development easily swamps that kind of work in terms of number of developers. does it though. IBM alone, a service company, has 380000 employees. And there are tons of service companies like that - at least in my country they are mostly doing Java and the like.
- fortran77 6y ago
  I do most of my work in C/C++. There's a ton of it in every microwave oven, washing machine, car, telephone, device driver, etc.
  - cmrdporcupine 6y ago
    Likewise, my day job has been C++ for the last decade. And it's not just in devices or games, or in OSs. Before I worked in hardware devices I worked in video pipeline stuff in Google Fiber. And before that, I worked on the ad serving stack at Google and another company before that. All in C++. A good portion of servers @ Google are in C++. Now, if you strictly interpret the "C" in this popularity nonsense as "C", then sure. Pure ANSI C has a fairly restrictive use environment. But "C/C++" is a much much larger ecosystem. Also get a laugh out of the people here calling C "simple". Ho boy.
    - iainctduncan 6y ago
      Maybe I'm crazy, but recently I had to dive into ANSI C in a big way for some computer music projects (many old computer music code bases are pure C) and I'm really liking it. It's like you have a handful of really damn sharp tools and you can do amazing things with only those if you keep in mind you gotta keep your fingers clear of the blades.
marcosdumay 6y ago
> They rank C number 1. There is no way that reflects reality Get a thousand random developers and ask them to list all the languages they know well. What do you think will be the most common? C seems quite realistic given what they measure.

by eloff 6y ago

0x445442 6y ago

Was going to say the same thing. Considering total amount of running code, yeah C might be #1 but there's no way it's the most "popular".

cmrdporcupine 6y ago

I can't actually say what the popularity of C/C++ is. But I don't know what you do for a living but in general Hackernews tends to have webdev tunnel vision. Embedded, operating system development, browser development, OS, driver dev, games, telecoms, compilers, lots of IoT, systems development generally, all of this is in C/C++, and will be for the forseeable future. That is a lot of lines of code, but mostly invisible to people whose role in the industry is "full stack development" type jobs.

eloff 6y ago
I've worked (not just played with) almost twenty languages in a career about the same length in years. I'm well aware of the things C and C++ are used for. I'm currently mostly working in Rust at that moment to make use of libraries in C++. But I think web development easily swamps that kind of work in terms of number of developers.
- jcelerier 6y ago
  > But I think web development easily swamps that kind of work in terms of number of developers. does it though. IBM alone, a service company, has 380000 employees. And there are tons of service companies like that - at least in my country they are mostly doing Java and the like.
fortran77 6y ago
I do most of my work in C/C++. There's a ton of it in every microwave oven, washing machine, car, telephone, device driver, etc.
- cmrdporcupine 6y ago
  Likewise, my day job has been C++ for the last decade. And it's not just in devices or games, or in OSs. Before I worked in hardware devices I worked in video pipeline stuff in Google Fiber. And before that, I worked on the ad serving stack at Google and another company before that. All in C++. A good portion of servers @ Google are in C++. Now, if you strictly interpret the "C" in this popularity nonsense as "C", then sure. Pure ANSI C has a fairly restrictive use environment. But "C/C++" is a much much larger ecosystem. Also get a laugh out of the people here calling C "simple". Ho boy.
  - iainctduncan 6y ago
    Maybe I'm crazy, but recently I had to dive into ANSI C in a big way for some computer music projects (many old computer music code bases are pure C) and I'm really liking it. It's like you have a handful of really damn sharp tools and you can do amazing things with only those if you keep in mind you gotta keep your fingers clear of the blades.

marcosdumay 6y ago

> They rank C number 1. There is no way that reflects reality Get a thousand random developers and ask them to list all the languages they know well. What do you think will be the most common? C seems quite realistic given what they measure.