53 ms·

Why most popular GitHub repos are all web related?

25 points by onderkalaci 11y ago

teddyh 11y ago
That’s obvious to me. GitHub is a web application, catering to web users. Web users, that is, who also are git users – i.e. most likely programmers. Obviously they are going to write (and be involved in) web related projects on GitHub.
- onderkalaci 11y ago
  I don't agree with it. There are many other projects that many web developers use. For instance: editors, databases, linux utility tools and so.
  - lmm 11y ago
    Sure, but 100% of web developers need web stuff, whereas not all of them use a database, not all of them use linux, and so on.
- talles 11y ago
  "Web users, that is, who also are git users – i.e. most likely programmers." Who on earth would be a programmer and git user and not be a "web user"?
  - teddyh 11y ago
    By “web user” I meant people who are comfortable using web sites as applications. I should probably have made that clearer.
    - matbee 11y ago
      "comfortable using web sites as applications" I'm not sure that's even remotely clear. A web application is an application whether or not you're comfortable with it.
- HeyLaughingBoy 11y ago
  The subset of "web users" who use git/source code control is almost 100% programmers, true. But the subset of programmers that are programming web apps most certainly isn't. I know a lot of programmers; I don't know a single web programmer.
  - teddyh 11y ago
    You seem to conflate “GitHub users” with “[people] who use git/source code control”. That is almost the opposite of a point that I wanted to make. It is obvious that GitHub would have many popular web projects, but if one could sum up git projects instead, this would probably not be the case.
  - pogden 11y ago
    I'm curious, what communities and places do you know most of these developers from? And what sort of platforms do they work with?
    - dagw 11y ago
      Most programmers I know professionally and personally are working within variations on the theme of civil engineering, logistics, finance or telecom. Sure some of them occasionally write tools that are accessed via a web browser, but non of them would probably classify themselves as "web developers".
      - pogden 11y ago
        I see. This is similar to my experience. Most software is made for people to use at work, usually semi-custom. Most software also doesn't depend on low latency or high graphics throughout, so most applications, especially new ones, are web applications. Most of the developers I know that do similar work would call themselves "web developers" though that may be required to context. Someone might identify themselves as a web developer to me, a developer in an unrelated domain, but not to a non-developer in the domain.
        11y ago
skimmas 11y ago
september 2013
talles 11y ago
I don't see Node.js and Homebrew as "web related".
- dmamills 11y ago
  most popular
- teddyh 11y ago
  How, exactly, is Node.js not web related? It is Javascript, a language which owes its entire creation and continous existence to its monopoly position in web browsers. True, Node.js is not run in web browser, but instead in… web servers. Tell me again how Node.js is not web related? (Homebrew is, quite as you say, not web related.)
  - QuercusMax 11y ago
    It happens to be popular for server-side web development, but there's nothing inherent in it that forces you to use it for web. Nothing web-related in this project, for example: https://github.com/neandrake/spirc https://github.com/neandrake/spirc
    - nly 11y ago
      > requiring little or no dependencies ... except a several million line JIT
    - teddyh 11y ago
      That (spirc) is a library. Are there actual applications of any significance written in Javascript which run in a web server (or browser) and do not use the web? Even if there are, I still feel that Javascript is too completely dependent on its position in web browsers for Node.js to be entirely disassociated with the web. If a new language would replace Javascript in the browser, Node.js would be instantly abandoned. But I could see your point.
      - talles 11y ago
pepijndevos 11y ago
It seems that most of the industry, or at least the parts that I frequent, are primarily building websites. I'm trying to figure out where all the other programming is happening, but I have not had much luck.
- lfowles 11y ago
  I suspect it's more that if you build websites you are more familiar with github.
- ionised 11y ago
  Industrial control systems and engineering simulation suites are my personal programming experience, so my work is all entirely back-end or desktop based development. I know very little about web programming or website development to be honest although we are starting to offer some of our applications through web services so my knowledge in that area is due to begin increasing very soon as a necessity.
- M8 11y ago
  Web is independent, thus making tools for it is both no one's and everyone's concern. Mobile/desktop platform providers on the other hand are typically worried about developer experience and thus e.g. you get XAML/QT instead of patching HTML with Bootstrap.
Sir_Cmpwn 11y ago
Repos that are not addressing the web can get popular (at least by my terms), just not _as_ popular. I have: https://github.com/SirCmpwn/TrueCraft https://github.com/SirCmpwn/TrueCraft - 724 stars https://github.com/KnightOS/KnightOS https://github.com/KnightOS/KnightOS - 513 stars https://github.com/SirCmpwn/RedditSharp https://github.com/SirCmpwn/RedditSharp - 195 stars Some of these have web parts (i.e. a website) but none of them are focused on the web.
- onderkalaci 11y ago
  These stars counts are very low compared to the ones in the link.
  - Sir_Cmpwn 11y ago
    >at least by my terms
  - maccard 11y ago
    There are plenty of projects out there with thousands of stars - https://github.com/robbyrussell/oh-my-zsh https://github.com/robbyrussell/oh-my-zsh hsa 25k, the linux kernel has 25k stars
- cwyers 11y ago
  I feel like RedditSharp is pretty focused on the web.
  - Sir_Cmpwn 11y ago
    Good point. I guess the distinction I had in mind is that it doesn't run in the browser and doesn't serve HTML, but you're right that it is pretty web focused.
earless1 11y ago
With web projects there exists the potential to reach many more users than desktop and native projects. I would assume that the percentage of the population with access to a web browser is much much larger than any other segment.
freshyill 11y ago
Why? Because the web is by far the largest platform. These are mostly versatile projects that suit a wide variety of needs for many different types of users. This is not a difficult question.
- aaggarwal 11y ago
  I would also like to point out that for a lot of "web projects", the entry and deployment barrier is relatively low, one can mostly try those out on a browser. I think this is another important reason for more popularity of web based projects.
tcfunk 11y ago
Ugh, why must sites insist on putting all these list items on separate pages.
- tommyd 11y ago
  Ad impressions
  - ihuman 11y ago
    And also a higher total page view count.
chollier 11y ago
" Hoffman also notes hosting Node.js on GitHub gives people the power to fork it -- there have been many forks but not one that has emerged as a separate project." Hmm what?
felipebueno 11y ago
Can't see any of the slides. Maybe some issue related to uBlock but I won't turn it off. Can I see it all in one page?
heyalexej 11y ago
It's an old article from Sep 19, 2013. 26 popups you have to dodge to get to the slider that you have to click through with another 17 ads. This is the reward: 1. Bootstrap 2. Node.js 3. JQuery 4. HTML5 Boilerplate 5. Ruby on Rails 6. D3 7. Impress.js 8. Font Awesome 9. Backbone.js 10. Homebrew

25 points by onderkalaci 11y ago

That’s obvious to me. GitHub is a web application, catering to web users. Web users, that is, who also are git users – i.e. most likely programmers. Obviously they are going to write (and be involved in) web related projects on GitHub.

onderkalaci 11y ago
I don't agree with it. There are many other projects that many web developers use. For instance: editors, databases, linux utility tools and so.
- lmm 11y ago
  Sure, but 100% of web developers need web stuff, whereas not all of them use a database, not all of them use linux, and so on.
talles 11y ago
"Web users, that is, who also are git users – i.e. most likely programmers." Who on earth would be a programmer and git user and not be a "web user"?
- teddyh 11y ago
  By “web user” I meant people who are comfortable using web sites as applications. I should probably have made that clearer.
  - matbee 11y ago
    "comfortable using web sites as applications" I'm not sure that's even remotely clear. A web application is an application whether or not you're comfortable with it.
HeyLaughingBoy 11y ago
The subset of "web users" who use git/source code control is almost 100% programmers, true. But the subset of programmers that are programming web apps most certainly isn't. I know a lot of programmers; I don't know a single web programmer.
- teddyh 11y ago
  You seem to conflate “GitHub users” with “[people] who use git/source code control”. That is almost the opposite of a point that I wanted to make. It is obvious that GitHub would have many popular web projects, but if one could sum up git projects instead, this would probably not be the case.
- pogden 11y ago
  I'm curious, what communities and places do you know most of these developers from? And what sort of platforms do they work with?
  - dagw 11y ago
    Most programmers I know professionally and personally are working within variations on the theme of civil engineering, logistics, finance or telecom. Sure some of them occasionally write tools that are accessed via a web browser, but non of them would probably classify themselves as "web developers".
    - pogden 11y ago
      I see. This is similar to my experience. Most software is made for people to use at work, usually semi-custom. Most software also doesn't depend on low latency or high graphics throughout, so most applications, especially new ones, are web applications. Most of the developers I know that do similar work would call themselves "web developers" though that may be required to context. Someone might identify themselves as a web developer to me, a developer in an unrelated domain, but not to a non-developer in the domain.
      - 11y ago

skimmas 11y ago

september 2013

talles 11y ago

I don't see Node.js and Homebrew as "web related".

dmamills 11y ago
most popular
teddyh 11y ago
How, exactly, is Node.js not web related? It is Javascript, a language which owes its entire creation and continous existence to its monopoly position in web browsers. True, Node.js is not run in web browser, but instead in… web servers. Tell me again how Node.js is not web related? (Homebrew is, quite as you say, not web related.)
- QuercusMax 11y ago
  It happens to be popular for server-side web development, but there's nothing inherent in it that forces you to use it for web. Nothing web-related in this project, for example: https://github.com/neandrake/spirc https://github.com/neandrake/spirc
  - nly 11y ago
    > requiring little or no dependencies ... except a several million line JIT
  - teddyh 11y ago
    That (spirc) is a library. Are there actual applications of any significance written in Javascript which run in a web server (or browser) and do not use the web? Even if there are, I still feel that Javascript is too completely dependent on its position in web browsers for Node.js to be entirely disassociated with the web. If a new language would replace Javascript in the browser, Node.js would be instantly abandoned. But I could see your point.
    - talles 11y ago

pepijndevos 11y ago

It seems that most of the industry, or at least the parts that I frequent, are primarily building websites. I'm trying to figure out where all the other programming is happening, but I have not had much luck.

lfowles 11y ago
I suspect it's more that if you build websites you are more familiar with github.
ionised 11y ago
Industrial control systems and engineering simulation suites are my personal programming experience, so my work is all entirely back-end or desktop based development. I know very little about web programming or website development to be honest although we are starting to offer some of our applications through web services so my knowledge in that area is due to begin increasing very soon as a necessity.
M8 11y ago
Web is independent, thus making tools for it is both no one's and everyone's concern. Mobile/desktop platform providers on the other hand are typically worried about developer experience and thus e.g. you get XAML/QT instead of patching HTML with Bootstrap.

Sir_Cmpwn 11y ago

Repos that are not addressing the web can get popular (at least by my terms), just not _as_ popular. I have: https://github.com/SirCmpwn/TrueCraft https://github.com/SirCmpwn/TrueCraft - 724 stars https://github.com/KnightOS/KnightOS https://github.com/KnightOS/KnightOS - 513 stars https://github.com/SirCmpwn/RedditSharp https://github.com/SirCmpwn/RedditSharp - 195 stars Some of these have web parts (i.e. a website) but none of them are focused on the web.

onderkalaci 11y ago
These stars counts are very low compared to the ones in the link.
- Sir_Cmpwn 11y ago
  >at least by my terms
- maccard 11y ago
  There are plenty of projects out there with thousands of stars - https://github.com/robbyrussell/oh-my-zsh https://github.com/robbyrussell/oh-my-zsh hsa 25k, the linux kernel has 25k stars
cwyers 11y ago
I feel like RedditSharp is pretty focused on the web.
- Sir_Cmpwn 11y ago
  Good point. I guess the distinction I had in mind is that it doesn't run in the browser and doesn't serve HTML, but you're right that it is pretty web focused.

earless1 11y ago

With web projects there exists the potential to reach many more users than desktop and native projects. I would assume that the percentage of the population with access to a web browser is much much larger than any other segment.

freshyill 11y ago

Why? Because the web is by far the largest platform. These are mostly versatile projects that suit a wide variety of needs for many different types of users. This is not a difficult question.

aaggarwal 11y ago
I would also like to point out that for a lot of "web projects", the entry and deployment barrier is relatively low, one can mostly try those out on a browser. I think this is another important reason for more popularity of web based projects.

tcfunk 11y ago

Ugh, why must sites insist on putting all these list items on separate pages.

tommyd 11y ago
Ad impressions
- ihuman 11y ago
  And also a higher total page view count.

chollier 11y ago

" Hoffman also notes hosting Node.js on GitHub gives people the power to fork it -- there have been many forks but not one that has emerged as a separate project." Hmm what?

felipebueno 11y ago

Can't see any of the slides. Maybe some issue related to uBlock but I won't turn it off. Can I see it all in one page?

heyalexej 11y ago

It's an old article from Sep 19, 2013. 26 popups you have to dodge to get to the slider that you have to click through with another 17 ads. This is the reward: 1. Bootstrap 2. Node.js 3. JQuery 4. HTML5 Boilerplate 5. Ruby on Rails 6. D3 7. Impress.js 8. Font Awesome 9. Backbone.js 10. Homebrew