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Just searching for "programming language popularity": - TIOBE [0]: Go 7 :: Rust n/a (> 10) - IEEE Spectrum [1]: Go 8 :: Rust 11 - Stack Overflow [2]: Go 13 :

Just searching for "programming language popularity": - TIOBE [0]: Go 7 :: Rust n/a (> 10) - IEEE Spectrum [1]: Go 8 :: Rust 11 - Stack Overflow [2]: Go 13 :: Rust 14 (they're pretty close here) - GitHub [3]: Go 10 :: Rust n/a (> 10) - PYPL [4]: Go 12 :: Rust 10 - HackerRank [5]: Go 8 :: Rust n/a (> 13) - Pluralsight [6]: Go 9 :: Rust n/a (> 10) - Redmonk [7]: Go 12 :: Rust 19 Although I admit we probably don't have great measures of this, there's clearly a sizable gap here. Maybe you'd want to argue about TypeScript, Swift or Kotlin? I consider TypeScript JavaScript (because TypeScript wouldn't be popular unless all JavaScript programs were TypeScript programs), and I think Swift and Kotlin only survive because of their mobile platforms (they're also all below Go in these lists, on average). [0]: https://www.tiobe.com/tiobe-index/ https://www.tiobe.com/tiobe-index/ [1]: https://spectrum.ieee.org/top-programming-languages-2024 https://spectrum.ieee.org/top-programming-languages-2024 [2]: https://survey.stackoverflow.co/2024/technology https://survey.stackoverflow.co/2024/technology [3]: https://github.blog/news-insights/octoverse/octoverse-2024/#the-most-popular-programming-languages https://github.blog/news-insights/octoverse/octoverse-2024/#... [4]: https://pypl.github.io/PYPL.html https://pypl.github.io/PYPL.html [5]: https://www.hackerrank.com/blog/most-popular-languages-2024/ https://www.hackerrank.com/blog/most-popular-languages-2024/ [6]: https://www.pluralsight.com/resources/blog/upskilling/top-programming-languages-2025 https://www.pluralsight.com/resources/blog/upskilling/top-pr... [7]: https://redmonk.com/sogrady/2025/06/18/language-rankings-1-25/ https://redmonk.com/sogrady/2025/06/18/language-rankings-1-2...

tialaramex 1y ago
You seem to be arguing that Go is more popular than Rust, but that's not what we're talking about. The claim made was "Go is the only popular modern language (ie from this millennium)" That's a binary, either a programming language is "modern" (from this millennium) or not and either it is "popular" (undefined) or it is not, Go is popular and modern according to the claim. On your lists you find Go is anywhere from 7th to 13th in popularity. So apparently "popular" might mean 9th like Ada on TIOBE's list right? Or maybe "modern" includes Typescript, on several of these lists? No, the whole contrivance is silly. Go is a relatively popular modern language, nobody is surprised to discover that. Is it the most popular? No. Is it the most modern? Also no.
- camgunz 1y ago
  TL;DR: mostly what I mean is Go is the only language from this millennium that's consistently in the top 10 most popular programming languages. >> This requires you to squint so that "popular" happens to identify only a handful of languages but conveniently catches Go and not say Swift or Rust. It's not difficult to do this, but it's not very honest to yourself. > You seem to be arguing that Go is more popular than Rust, but that's not what we're talking about. Isn't this exactly what we're talking about? I don't think you have to squint too hard to invent the gap between Go and Rust (et al). > So apparently "popular" might mean 9th like Ada on TIOBE's list right? No because it's only on that list. > Or maybe "modern" includes Typescript, on several of these lists? No because TypeScript is JavaScript, which is from the last millennium. > No, the whole contrivance is silly. Emotionally I agree with you, but in practice you gotta pick a stack, and there's a lot of benefit to choosing Go over Rust/Kotlin/Swift/TypeScript/Java/C#/C/C++/Ada. > Go is a relatively popular modern language, nobody is surprised to discover that. Eh I'm making the Stroustrup "there's two kinds of programming languages" argument. IMO, at this point Go criticisms are just jeers from the cheap seats.
  - tialaramex 1y ago
    > TL;DR: mostly what I mean is Go is the only language from this millennium that's consistently in the top 10 most popular programming languages. So, if you don't count the lists where it isn't in the top ten, and you don't count languages like Typescript? Does that feel like an important distinction to you with the exceptions, rather than an arbitrary post doc justification ? > Isn't this exactly what we're talking about? I don't think you have to squint too hard to invent the gap between Go and Rust (et al). Likewise for Go and Python or Javas, so why the "top 10" ? Arbitrary. > TypeScript is JavaScript No. Javascript is (very bad) Typescript, but Typescript is not Javascript. That's why they have a transpiler. If you contend that the similarity means they're the same language that makes C++ also C and I don't think you want to start that fight. My pithy response to the Stroustrup argument is a T-shirt I own which says "Haters gonna make some good points". Yes of course people will criticize your popular language, but this observation does not make the criticisms untrue, and resorting to Stroustrup's argument is best understood as an admission that he has no response to the actual criticism. C++ is remarkably bad. You're looking at popularity lists. What else is on those lists which has similar levels of criticism? Go is a long way short of perfect but it's nowhere close to C++. If Go is the Stallone "Judge Dredd" then maybe C++ is "Batman & Robin".

tialaramex 1y ago

You seem to be arguing that Go is more popular than Rust, but that's not what we're talking about. The claim made was "Go is the only popular modern language (ie from this millennium)" That's a binary, either a programming language is "modern" (from this millennium) or not and either it is "popular" (undefined) or it is not, Go is popular and modern according to the claim. On your lists you find Go is anywhere from 7th to 13th in popularity. So apparently "popular" might mean 9th like Ada on TIOBE's list right? Or maybe "modern" includes Typescript, on several of these lists? No, the whole contrivance is silly. Go is a relatively popular modern language, nobody is surprised to discover that. Is it the most popular? No. Is it the most modern? Also no.

camgunz 1y ago
TL;DR: mostly what I mean is Go is the only language from this millennium that's consistently in the top 10 most popular programming languages. >> This requires you to squint so that "popular" happens to identify only a handful of languages but conveniently catches Go and not say Swift or Rust. It's not difficult to do this, but it's not very honest to yourself. > You seem to be arguing that Go is more popular than Rust, but that's not what we're talking about. Isn't this exactly what we're talking about? I don't think you have to squint too hard to invent the gap between Go and Rust (et al). > So apparently "popular" might mean 9th like Ada on TIOBE's list right? No because it's only on that list. > Or maybe "modern" includes Typescript, on several of these lists? No because TypeScript is JavaScript, which is from the last millennium. > No, the whole contrivance is silly. Emotionally I agree with you, but in practice you gotta pick a stack, and there's a lot of benefit to choosing Go over Rust/Kotlin/Swift/TypeScript/Java/C#/C/C++/Ada. > Go is a relatively popular modern language, nobody is surprised to discover that. Eh I'm making the Stroustrup "there's two kinds of programming languages" argument. IMO, at this point Go criticisms are just jeers from the cheap seats.
- tialaramex 1y ago
  > TL;DR: mostly what I mean is Go is the only language from this millennium that's consistently in the top 10 most popular programming languages. So, if you don't count the lists where it isn't in the top ten, and you don't count languages like Typescript? Does that feel like an important distinction to you with the exceptions, rather than an arbitrary post doc justification ? > Isn't this exactly what we're talking about? I don't think you have to squint too hard to invent the gap between Go and Rust (et al). Likewise for Go and Python or Javas, so why the "top 10" ? Arbitrary. > TypeScript is JavaScript No. Javascript is (very bad) Typescript, but Typescript is not Javascript. That's why they have a transpiler. If you contend that the similarity means they're the same language that makes C++ also C and I don't think you want to start that fight. My pithy response to the Stroustrup argument is a T-shirt I own which says "Haters gonna make some good points". Yes of course people will criticize your popular language, but this observation does not make the criticisms untrue, and resorting to Stroustrup's argument is best understood as an admission that he has no response to the actual criticism. C++ is remarkably bad. You're looking at popularity lists. What else is on those lists which has similar levels of criticism? Go is a long way short of perfect but it's nowhere close to C++. If Go is the Stallone "Judge Dredd" then maybe C++ is "Batman & Robin".