As with all changes in Tiobe, I think most of what we're seeing here is down to changes in the data sources they use, and the choice of disambiguation algorithms. Unless, of course, you're willing to believe there's been a sudden surge of interest in foxpro and NXT.
TIOBE is inherently flawed (as is the count of job postings, the other frequently quoted metric), and that it's going to fluctuate despite any change in underlying developer sentiment. TIOBE: Strongly biased towards languages used in schools and with corporate backing to produce large websites of documentation. Job boards: Strongly biased against languages where developer interest is high, but highly sought-after positions are mostly filled by word-of-mouth. Also biased against languages used in primarily in start-ups that don't use recruiters. If this stuff really matters, then my advice is to decide exactly *which* attributes you are concerned about, then look at the rankings on http://hammerprinciple.com/therighttool/browse (and while you're there, add your own ranking, if you haven't already) 2012/4/10 Cédric Beust ♔ <[email protected]> > On Tue, Apr 10, 2012 at 9:03 AM, Alex Turner <[email protected]> wrote: > >> I'm not sure how much I believe this ranking is reflective. > > > I think it's meaningful if it's correlated with other data, such as job > boards, presence on Stack Overflow, activity of various online > (mailing-lists, reddit, forums) and offline (user groups) communities, > etc... > > The #1/#2 thing should not be taken too seriously, but what is clear is > that the three most widespread languages are most likely the first three > languages you see displayed on TIOBE, regardless of the ordering. > > >> Searching for java questions on the web these days yields high quality >> results very quickly. Many java technologies in use right now have been >> around awhile and many of the knotty problems have more libraries than you >> can shake a stick at. Maybe it's more an indication the Java has slowed in >> forward movement rather then declined in popularity? It's not we've had >> large new language features in awhile. >> > > You seem to equate getting not getting new features with declining, I > don't think this correlation exists. I actually don't think there is any > correlation at all if we just look at two mainstream languages: C# has been > receiving a steady stream of new features since its inception, Java, very > much less so, and yet, both languages are thriving and possess a huge > ecosystem. > > >> Sadly Scala drops in two places below Erlang! > > > Again, I don't think this means much in term of ranking, but it certainly > means that Scala is as marginal as it was last year. As marginal as Erlang > and other languages that are positioned in the 20+ ranking on that scale. > > > >> With play 2.0 now out; I hope that helps pick things up more quickly. >> > > Given the considerable push back that Play 2.0 has been receiving, I'm not > so sure about this. I think Play 2 will suffer a lot from their move to > Scala because they will lose a lot more users (Play1/Java users) than they > will gain new ones (Scala developers). > > -- > Cédric > > -- > You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups > "The Java Posse" group. > To post to this group, send email to [email protected]. > To unsubscribe from this group, send email to > [email protected]. > For more options, visit this group at > http://groups.google.com/group/javaposse?hl=en. > -- You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "The Java Posse" group. To post to this group, send email to [email protected]. To unsubscribe from this group, send email to [email protected]. For more options, visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/javaposse?hl=en.
