In spite of many paradigms using which programming languages are classified, there is one that stands out, painfully! In my various dealings with students, freshers and even developers, there seems to be a bias towards a particular set of languages. The other set of languages are ignored, howmuchever they deserve merit and attention, they are largely unnoticed.
There are some languages that appear the most in the job listings, usually accompanied with good salary figures, the ones that can create hype and make the programmer feel like a popular and in-demand star. They together form the Hollywood of programming languages. Let me make a naive attempt at listing them:
- C#
- VB
- Java
- Ruby (quite recently)
Students jump at learning these, freshers show them off in their resumes and developers take pride in showing their certificates in these, usually accompanied by a light of expectation in their eyes.
The other set usually sits in a dark corner, either in the colleges or small startups. They neither garner the limelight nor do they offer glamor.
- C/C++
- PHP
- Python
- LISP
- Haskell
- Erlang
- PERL
- Scheme
They are rejected, for reasons including bad sounding names to unavailability of tools to not getting used at all or existing purely for academic reasons. They are not entertained even to understand their merit and applicability.
This bias hurts, in long term if not immediately. Not because the popular programming languages are not good but because you simply omit a lot of stuff when you do not look at other languages. The beauty of functional languages cannot be enjoyed without learning languages like Haskell. The approach for concurrency in Erlang teach many a things. The way PHP has evolved over time tells not only about design of programming languages but also object models and frameworks. All this is at the risk if you do not visit the Broadway!
I have tried hard to find out the real reason behind the rejection by programmers. The conclusion that I have come to hovers around the fact that they find themselves more portable with the popular languages. But this is a pure misconception. A lot of new applications are being written in languages like Python, both desktop and web. Not only that it is flourishing today with good, usable and RAD tools and frameworks. Erlang and Haskell are slowly gaining traction because of the recent multi-core processor entrants and increased interest in functional programming.
PHP, in spite of being popular on the Web, is not easily adopted by early programmers because they feel it is too silly to be learned. The general judgement of PHP seems to be that of a loner language, without any business behind it, and made for non-programmers. I have no idea why so! PHP today powers some critical and high-traffic web sites and applications. Heard of Yahoo!?
Not that the popular languages are not good. But they might not be enough. Selecting a programming language might be influenced by many factors, not just the popularity. And choice of a language usually leads to choice of the platform too.
Note that these lists are out of my limited experience, you might come up with a different list depending on your interactions. However, this differentiation does exist, at various levels.
I do not advise that everyone should learn all the programming languages. I like learning languages and I continue learning new ones. But I believe that every programmer should know at least two - one from the Hollywood and the other from the Broadway. The combination will teach a lot of things and probably will be the best to make you a hit!
May 8th, 2007 at 6:58 pm
We have a subject - Principles of programming languages in which I was eager to learn a functional language (LISP) but due to time constraints and lack of importance with an exam point of view resulted in LISP being neglected. I guess these kind of exotic languages rarely find a place in academics because of the job oriented approach of the lecturers and the syllabus however those really interested in learning such languages will find their own sweet time to do so. It’s just a matter of interest I guess.
(P.S - I haven’t found the time to learn LISP though :D)
May 9th, 2007 at 10:17 am
I would consider PHP as one of the money making languages - just too many opportunities in that language.
May 21st, 2007 at 7:53 pm
Binny, I agree that it is money making language. But still not from Hollywood, because it lacked the glamorous buzzwords earlier.
May 30th, 2007 at 10:09 am
Hmmm….C/C++, PHP and Python ? Considering the massive use of these languages and jobs available, “dark corners of small startups and colleges” sounds widely inaccurate. And VB ??? A deprecated proprietary language ? You might as well include COBOL in your Hollywood list. I know people who have learned VB out of necessity, but nobody who would be proud to broadcast the fact.
Remember, Hollywood has an A-list and B-list…
May 30th, 2007 at 3:23 pm
Dan, by VB I meant VB.Net, my bad. As I mentioned in the article these are purely out of my experiences, I am sure others might have different ones. Also, by Hollywood and Broadway I did not mean to signify the popularity, but the glamour which pulls freshers towards them.
May 30th, 2007 at 8:18 pm
[...] Not to say that Python is the best in the world. It has its share of problems and rants in the huge mailing lists. Also not to say that this post says anything bad about other programming languages. It is also quite possible some of the features listed above might be nuances for you. I think our judgement is a factor of our experience, habits and preferences. But it sure does highlight Python and that it might be entering the Hollywood from the Broadway. [...]
July 16th, 2007 at 7:25 pm
[...] recently. As always, I found that it was really difficult to find candidates interested in the Broadway languages. And one of the points on which majority of them seemed to be stuck to was to work only in the [...]
November 4th, 2007 at 11:00 am
[...] new here? Not necessarily, the software industry keeps feeding the Hollywood languages. Are they always technically better and suitable? No, they are always popular. Matt Assay says this [...]