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Tiobe and Stack Overflow rankings don't mean much. Look how popular Tiobe ranks VB due to Excel macros, or SO ranks Bash and PowerShell very highly simply beca

Tiobe and Stack Overflow rankings don't mean much. Look how popular Tiobe ranks VB due to Excel macros, or SO ranks Bash and PowerShell very highly simply because people ask a lot of questions about it.

Hamuko 5y ago
>or SO ranks Bash and PowerShell very highly simply because people ask a lot of questions about it. Isn't the Stack Overflow one done by a survey, not just by analyzing the questions?
- Mikeb85 5y ago
  You're right, although doesn't really change my premise. I use Bash everyday, even though I have never tried learning it, don't really care about it, etc... I really don't think Bash and Powershell are more popular for actual development than C++ and Go respectively. People just use them because they're there... Making the rankings a lot less meaningful.
  - Hamuko 5y ago
    >I really don't think Bash and Powershell are more popular for actual development than C++ and Go respectively. I'd be willing to bet money that Bash is way, way more popular in development than Go.
    - regularfry 5y ago
      If you mean popular as in "many people are using it", probably. If you mean popular as in "many people like using it", I would question your (and their) sanity.
      - smt88 5y ago
        > If you mean popular as in "many people like using it", I would question your (and their) sanity. According to Stack Overflow's survey[1], people enjoy Bash/Shell more than they enjoy Ruby. I personally hate both Ruby and Bash, so I assume my sanity is beyond question. 1. https://insights.stackoverflow.com/survey/2021#most-loved-dreaded-and-wanted-language-love-dread https://insights.stackoverflow.com/survey/2021#most-loved-dr...
    - Mikeb85 5y ago
      Again though, you have to qualify that. > in development This can be taken a few ways. I don't use Go, but I interact with Bash. So you're right in a sense. I'd also never write a web-app in bash, nor a non-trivial program, nor anything that isn't a shell script. So is it really meaningful when people are looking for a language to write a GUI app, web app, mobile app or game in?
smt88 5y ago
I cited the three most popular rankings. I don't know what else to do here. My own personal experience as a CTO and startup investor: I haven't seen Ruby (or even met someone whose primary language is Ruby) in a long time. I think it had a moment ~10 years ago when a lot of people started companies using Rails. Some of them still use it, most of them just went out of business. It hasn't been big since then. It seemed to only ever have become popular in a fairly limited bubble of startups, especially in Silicon Valley.
- Mikeb85 5y ago
  I mean, it's not Java, C#, Go or JS. It never was that big. But some pretty successful startups used it and some successful companies today use it. It's been a tool used to spawn quite a few billion+ dollar companies.
  - pmontra 5y ago
    Honestly, is Go as big as those three other languages?
    - Mikeb85 5y ago
      Not yet, but it's now in the category of "You won't get fired for picking X". It's seen as enterprise-y and 'safe' and yes, is definitely quite used. The fact it's used internally at Google and MS alone means it's got traction. I'm willing to bet lots of enterprise shops are using it for things, even if it's not #1.
    - ksec 5y ago
      The important question is would you have enough choices in Job Hunting if all you know is Go. And Go seems to be close to if not already a self sustainable status.
  - smt88 5y ago
    I agree, but we're talking about whether a language is popular, aren't we? Ruby is a fine language that some people have ridden to great success. It is still a fairly niche language. We're on a popular website written in Arc -- likely the only website written in Arc. Popularity isn't everything and I'm not suggesting it is.

Hamuko 5y ago

>or SO ranks Bash and PowerShell very highly simply because people ask a lot of questions about it. Isn't the Stack Overflow one done by a survey, not just by analyzing the questions?

Mikeb85 5y ago
You're right, although doesn't really change my premise. I use Bash everyday, even though I have never tried learning it, don't really care about it, etc... I really don't think Bash and Powershell are more popular for actual development than C++ and Go respectively. People just use them because they're there... Making the rankings a lot less meaningful.
- Hamuko 5y ago
  >I really don't think Bash and Powershell are more popular for actual development than C++ and Go respectively. I'd be willing to bet money that Bash is way, way more popular in development than Go.
  - regularfry 5y ago
    If you mean popular as in "many people are using it", probably. If you mean popular as in "many people like using it", I would question your (and their) sanity.
    - smt88 5y ago
      > If you mean popular as in "many people like using it", I would question your (and their) sanity. According to Stack Overflow's survey[1], people enjoy Bash/Shell more than they enjoy Ruby. I personally hate both Ruby and Bash, so I assume my sanity is beyond question. 1. https://insights.stackoverflow.com/survey/2021#most-loved-dreaded-and-wanted-language-love-dread https://insights.stackoverflow.com/survey/2021#most-loved-dr...
  - Mikeb85 5y ago
    Again though, you have to qualify that. > in development This can be taken a few ways. I don't use Go, but I interact with Bash. So you're right in a sense. I'd also never write a web-app in bash, nor a non-trivial program, nor anything that isn't a shell script. So is it really meaningful when people are looking for a language to write a GUI app, web app, mobile app or game in?

smt88 5y ago

I cited the three most popular rankings. I don't know what else to do here. My own personal experience as a CTO and startup investor: I haven't seen Ruby (or even met someone whose primary language is Ruby) in a long time. I think it had a moment ~10 years ago when a lot of people started companies using Rails. Some of them still use it, most of them just went out of business. It hasn't been big since then. It seemed to only ever have become popular in a fairly limited bubble of startups, especially in Silicon Valley.

Mikeb85 5y ago
I mean, it's not Java, C#, Go or JS. It never was that big. But some pretty successful startups used it and some successful companies today use it. It's been a tool used to spawn quite a few billion+ dollar companies.
- pmontra 5y ago
  Honestly, is Go as big as those three other languages?
  - Mikeb85 5y ago
    Not yet, but it's now in the category of "You won't get fired for picking X". It's seen as enterprise-y and 'safe' and yes, is definitely quite used. The fact it's used internally at Google and MS alone means it's got traction. I'm willing to bet lots of enterprise shops are using it for things, even if it's not #1.
  - ksec 5y ago
    The important question is would you have enough choices in Job Hunting if all you know is Go. And Go seems to be close to if not already a self sustainable status.
- smt88 5y ago
  I agree, but we're talking about whether a language is popular, aren't we? Ruby is a fine language that some people have ridden to great success. It is still a fairly niche language. We're on a popular website written in Arc -- likely the only website written in Arc. Popularity isn't everything and I'm not suggesting it is.