Re: TIOBE Programming Community Index for November 2007

[Stephen Leake <stephen_leake@stephe-leake.org>]

Martin Krischik <krischik@users.sourceforge.net> writes:

> Stephen Leake schrieb:
>
>> Martin Krischik <krischik@users.sourceforge.net> writes:
>> 
>>> You, I don't like the index, but it is there, widely used 
>> 
>> What data do you have to back up the assertion that it is "widely
>> used"?
>
> Google for "TIOBE Programming Community Index" ;-).

Ok, so several (many? lots?) of other web sites reference it.

To me, "used", in this context, means "employed as a criteria for
choosing a language".

How many people pick a language for a project based on this web site?

>> As a counter point, this is the first I've heard of it.
>
> You can't be long here at comp.lang.ada - I have an article on it every
> 3 to 6 month.

Well, I've been here longer than that. I guess my newsgroup memory
filter has been ignoring these posts.

>>> http://www.tiobe.com/tpci.htm
>> 
>> It says:
>> 
>>     Observe that the TIOBE index is not about the best programming
>>     language or the language in which most lines of code have been
>>     written.
>> 
>> So why should we care?
>
> Because it also says:
>
>    The index can be used to check whether your programming skills are
>    still up to date or to make a strategic decision about what
>    programming language should be adopted when starting to build
>    a new software system.

Well, it may _say_ that, but I don't _believe_ it!

The number of websites that satisfy its search criteria does _not_
correlate with my ability to get a job programming in Ada.

> And have a look at the Ada bashing on the definition page:
> http://www.tiobe.com/tiobe_index/tpci_definition.htm
>
>    This is what you also see in daily practice: Ada is hardly used for
>    new mission-critical systems any more.
>
> Emphasis on "new". This is the problem: Right or wrong - they tell the
> world which language to use in future. And this is why we should care.

I beg to differ; this is why we should educate managers about _real_
reasons to pick languages.

-- 
-- Stephe