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Do you really think a majority of the web will be powered by Ruby in 20 years from now ?

vinceguidry 13y ago
The majority of the web isn't powered by Ruby now. We have a hodgepodge of PHP, C#, Java, Perl, static, Node, Rails and other Ruby frameworks, Python, any I missed? People have been proclaiming the death of Java for how long now? And it's still going strong. I'd argue that Ruby will last even longer than Java because it's a nicer language and has more room to grow. Ruby you can port to other runtimes, Java, why bother? It won't outlive the JVM. The only thing I think that could replace Ruby is Lisp. Maybe in 10 more years Racket will where Ruby is today. I doubt it. By that time, Ruby will be where Java is.
- oblio 13y ago
  > It won't outlive the JVM. Well, the JVM will probably outlive the human race, so that's actually a comforting thought for Java developers :)
  - DougMerritt 13y ago
    That sounds so ominous! What are you predicting the JVM will do to the human race?? And why will it comfort Java-ites? I'm picturing something involving lairs carved out of dormant volcanoes and pools with sharks (possibly with lasers).
krstck 13y ago
Does it need to be a "majority"? There are applications being written now, in Ruby, that are intended to still be maintained 20 years from now. Will the "new hot language" be something other than Ruby in 20 years? Well, yeah, by definition.
tragic 13y ago
No. It isn't now, it hasn't ever been, and I would be surprised if anyone expected it to be so. The more important question is: will it still be possible to earn a respectable crust doing web development in Ruby in twenty years time? Any person who claims to know the answer to that one is a liar.
grey-area 13y ago
Is it really that hard to switch platforms/languages? Learning a new language should not be so difficult, particularly once you've become familiar with a few. There are so many factors influencing language and API popularity that it's silly to try to bet it all on one language/platform or vendor at any time in your life. Why not just enjoy the ones you use, and when they are no longer of use (for whatever political, technical or personal reasons), switch to something else?
- vinceguidry 13y ago
  In all fairness, if you don't anticipate a switch many years before you have to make it, you could get caught flat-footed. I personally have taken jobs where I didn't have any primary experience in the platform, but it was for, essentially, pocket change. I would hate to get dependent on a six-figure income predicated on knowing, say, enterprise Java, then suddenly find that nobody's hiring enterprise Java guys anymore and having to take a huge pay cut. Sure I could find a job. That doesn't mean it won't suck.
nly 13y ago
By then we'll probably have decided it's a good idea to develop a JSON serialisation for HTML, and we'll all be writing client side web code 3 layers of code generators eventually targetting JavaScript, backed by a .js library that implements an Android VM

The majority of the web isn't powered by Ruby now. We have a hodgepodge of PHP, C#, Java, Perl, static, Node, Rails and other Ruby frameworks, Python, any I missed? People have been proclaiming the death of Java for how long now? And it's still going strong. I'd argue that Ruby will last even longer than Java because it's a nicer language and has more room to grow. Ruby you can port to other runtimes, Java, why bother? It won't outlive the JVM. The only thing I think that could replace Ruby is Lisp. Maybe in 10 more years Racket will where Ruby is today. I doubt it. By that time, Ruby will be where Java is.

oblio 13y ago
> It won't outlive the JVM. Well, the JVM will probably outlive the human race, so that's actually a comforting thought for Java developers :)
- DougMerritt 13y ago
  That sounds so ominous! What are you predicting the JVM will do to the human race?? And why will it comfort Java-ites? I'm picturing something involving lairs carved out of dormant volcanoes and pools with sharks (possibly with lasers).

krstck 13y ago

Does it need to be a "majority"? There are applications being written now, in Ruby, that are intended to still be maintained 20 years from now. Will the "new hot language" be something other than Ruby in 20 years? Well, yeah, by definition.

tragic 13y ago

No. It isn't now, it hasn't ever been, and I would be surprised if anyone expected it to be so. The more important question is: will it still be possible to earn a respectable crust doing web development in Ruby in twenty years time? Any person who claims to know the answer to that one is a liar.

grey-area 13y ago

Is it really that hard to switch platforms/languages? Learning a new language should not be so difficult, particularly once you've become familiar with a few. There are so many factors influencing language and API popularity that it's silly to try to bet it all on one language/platform or vendor at any time in your life. Why not just enjoy the ones you use, and when they are no longer of use (for whatever political, technical or personal reasons), switch to something else?

vinceguidry 13y ago
In all fairness, if you don't anticipate a switch many years before you have to make it, you could get caught flat-footed. I personally have taken jobs where I didn't have any primary experience in the platform, but it was for, essentially, pocket change. I would hate to get dependent on a six-figure income predicated on knowing, say, enterprise Java, then suddenly find that nobody's hiring enterprise Java guys anymore and having to take a huge pay cut. Sure I could find a job. That doesn't mean it won't suck.

nly 13y ago

By then we'll probably have decided it's a good idea to develop a JSON serialisation for HTML, and we'll all be writing client side web code 3 layers of code generators eventually targetting JavaScript, backed by a .js library that implements an Android VM