Python's popularity statistics

[Patrick W]

Carl Banks <imbosol at vt.edu> writes:

> Last time I read comp.lang.c, the breakdown by type of post was
> something like this: 

[...] ;-)

After reading it for about 10 years (from a distance for the last 5),
it seems that a majority of discussions in comp.lang.c are no longer
about programming at all; the newsgroup has become a haven for idiot
pedants and frustrated lawyers who argue endlessly about 'int main'
and 'void main'.  Useless megathreads about 'topicality' go on for
months on end (supposedly in the interests of preserving a high
signal-to-noise ratio!).  The thread titles change, but the same
mind-numbing content is recycled year after year after year.

Occasionally, when an innocent fool asks a programming-related
question in comp.lang.c, one can guarantee that some fuckwit will feel
compelled to step forward and proclaim that the purpose of the
newsgroup is to discuss the C programming language, not (heaven
forbid!) the act of writing programs in it.

Aaron: I'd guess that, for every active poster in comp.lang.c today,
there must be at least 1000 C programmers who have absolutely no
interest in or tolerance for that kind of "discussion", and hang out
in Usenet's greener pastures instead (or not at all).  Likewise for
other newsgroups (but for a much wider range of reasons).

The increasing use of Python in new open source projects *does* say
something meaningful about Python, and it's good news.  But I don't
think it says anything meaningful about the languages that don't
feature prominently among these free software projects.  (Come to
think of it, it just *might* say something about their *future*
though...)