a deceptive list

[acroyear]

The top programming languages.

What's deceptive?  Javascript, down below C#, Ruby, and Python.

Why?

Most web server-side application libraries these days, especially in Web 2.0 / Ajax world, are javascript-generators.  Most programmers using these libraries actally aren't aware of just how much Javascript they're producing.

In fact, the libraries I write are jsp taglibs written in Java (with XML), that someone uses in JSP syntax, which generates Java when run, which generates javascript and html, and the javascript is generating html with embedded additional javascript.  Yes, 5 layers deep.  That's what Web 2.0 is doing to us madmen who actually write libraries.

Crazy, 'eh?

Comments

[javasaurus.livejournal.com]

Huh, I guess no body uses assembly languages anymore. And why isn't Brainf*** on the list?

[thelongshot.livejournal.com]

Sorry, but I don't count code generation. To be a top programming language, people have to actually write code in it. Most of the time, it is used in support of another language. There aren't too many people who use Javascript as a primary language (maybe some ASP developers.)

I think the position on the list is appropriate for its role.

[acroyear70.livejournal.com]

Well, it then comes down to that question - is the "popularity" of a language set by the # of people who program in it (directly) or the number of products its used in.

I was measuring by the latter and in fact its that difference itself (I used javascript as an example) is what actually makes the list itself deceptive. Like any benchmark it implies a standard of measurement that's not necessarily a standard.

[javasaurus.livejournal.com]

Hehe, they are ranking the languages according to how many hits they get on various search engines, which I guess might be correlated to the number of active users of the language?