> Python is most dominant language on the planet JavaScript would like a word!
English laughs at their supposed dominance.
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Ask HN: Why Did Python Win?
71–80 of 162 posts
Re: Ask HN: Why Did Python Win?
#72I think the reason python won was that it was easy to learn and read and was batteries included. vs perl: People need to solve their problems, not fight with syntax Theres a lot of network effects as well. The more people were using it, the more people will use it.
Perl had the batteries and it had CPAN. Python borrowed the best bits of Perl and enjoyed a reputation which overlooked its many flaws. If it had been scrutinized as much as Perl, we'd have realized it was just as bad but in different ways.
This makes no sense.. Python _was_ heavily scrutinized when it was introduced - the whole "Perl vs Python" comparison was pretty popular for a while, with either of those being declared winner, depending on the author.
If there is really a killer argument for Perl over Python that was overlooked in all those years, why don't you say that argument, or even better, write a blog post explaining why Perl is better than Python? Then we could discuss that instead of nebulous "different ways"/
Re: Ask HN: Why Did Python Win?
#73Re: Ask HN: Why Did Python Win?
#74> If you survey the language landscape now, a language can be much better than Python but never get the chance Python did just because it happened to look a bit better than Perl. Which is absurd to me. You’re struggling to understand Python’s success because in your head the primary reason Python succeeded was because it happened to be prettier than Perl, and you can’t wrap your head around why that’s enough. But it’…
My gut feeling is that it succeeded due to escaping scrutiny. I had heard enough critiques of the language from CL folks but the rest of the world was just happy to get a nicer Perl that could be used to glue together C code into useful apps and scripts.
Yep folks just need some glue languages that doesn’t require a lot of time to learn. Python fits the bill perfectly.
Re: Ask HN: Why Did Python Win?
#75> Python is most dominant language on the planet
By GitHub contributor counts, August 2025 marks the first time TypeScript emerged as the most used language on GitHub, surpassing Python by ~42k contributors
https://github.blog/news-insights/octoverse/octoverse-a-new-...
Re: Ask HN: Why Did Python Win?
#76Earlier quoted context omitted.
Perl had the batteries and it had CPAN. Python borrowed the best bits of Perl and enjoyed a reputation which overlooked its many flaws. If it had been scrutinized as much as Perl, we'd have realized it was just as bad but in different ways.
This makes no sense.. Python _was_ heavily scrutinized when it was introduced - the whole "Perl vs Python" comparison was pretty popular for a while, with either of those being declared winner, depending on the author. If there is really a killer argument for Perl over Python that was overlooked in all those years, why don't you say that argument, or even better, write a blog post explaining why Perl is better than P…
Perl had charm, it was respected by hackers for the joy it brought people who 'got' it. It still remains a beautiful language that I regret not learning due to having a superior taste. Python had none of it. I still don't understand how it won, stealing the halo of a language while having nothing of the sort. The only argument you can make is boring is better imho.
Re: Ask HN: Why Did Python Win?
#77> If you survey the language landscape now, a language can be much better than Python but never get the chance Python did just because it happened to look a bit better than Perl. Which is absurd to me. You’re struggling to understand Python’s success because in your head the primary reason Python succeeded was because it happened to be prettier than Perl, and you can’t wrap your head around why that’s enough. But it’…
My gut feeling is that it succeeded due to escaping scrutiny. I had heard enough critiques of the language from CL folks but the rest of the world was just happy to get a nicer Perl that could be used to glue together C code into useful apps and scripts.
With respect, lispers are probably not the best people to ask how to make a widely adopted language.
Regardless, you’re regurgitating exactly what I said. Your gut is that Python was just a slightly better replacement for Perl. This is at best one dimension. If you can’t broaden your perspective, then this thread full of examples and arguments for why Python became popular will be lost on you.
If you’re so confident in your assessment, why did you bother to ask?
Re: Ask HN: Why Did Python Win?
#78Earlier quoted context omitted.
This makes no sense.. Python _was_ heavily scrutinized when it was introduced - the whole "Perl vs Python" comparison was pretty popular for a while, with either of those being declared winner, depending on the author. If there is really a killer argument for Perl over Python that was overlooked in all those years, why don't you say that argument, or even better, write a blog post explaining why Perl is better than P…
Perl had charm, it was respected by hackers for the joy it brought people who 'got' it. It still remains a beautiful language that I regret not learning due to having a superior taste. Python had none of it. I still don't understand how it won, stealing the halo of a language while having nothing of the sort. The only argument you can make is boring is better imho.
Did you seriously start this thread just to ask people to confirm your bias?
In that case, yes. Perl is beautiful. Python sucks and only succeeded because idiot developers couldn’t see the beauty of Perl. Python is poorly suited at every job except stealing potential Perl devs.
Feel better?
Re: Ask HN: Why Did Python Win?
#791. Python was designed by testing syntax with novice users to see what they could adopt easily.[1] > 90% of current Python users weren’t born when it was created. They all had to learn, and Python is the easiest language to learn because Guido and his teammates, unlike $LANGUAGE_DESIGN_GOD, approach the problem as experimental scientists rather than auteurs. 2. Python is conceptually compact, dominated by hash tables…
I forgot two, er, three:
9. Python got lucky that its inevitable screwups (Python3) didn’t quite kill it.
10. Swift and Kotlin both define programming as serving the compiler (specifically LLVM) rather than serving the coder’s problem. (I haven’t discussed Rust so far since it isn’t attempting to compete with 98% of Python use cases, but if you squint you can see it as going one step further than Swift and Kotlin and in effect forcing the coder to be a sort of human compiler who thinks in types and memory management. This is not a criticism of Rust, BTW.)
0. And behind all of this is Moore’s Law and the demographic explosion of programmers. Python was an implicit, perhaps unconscious bet that if you served people thoughtfully, the tradeoffs with serving the needs of contemporary silicon wouldn’t matter as much.
Re: Ask HN: Why Did Python Win?
#80Earlier quoted context omitted.
This makes no sense.. Python _was_ heavily scrutinized when it was introduced - the whole "Perl vs Python" comparison was pretty popular for a while, with either of those being declared winner, depending on the author. If there is really a killer argument for Perl over Python that was overlooked in all those years, why don't you say that argument, or even better, write a blog post explaining why Perl is better than P…
Perl had charm, it was respected by hackers for the joy it brought people who 'got' it. It still remains a beautiful language that I regret not learning due to having a superior taste. Python had none of it. I still don't understand how it won, stealing the halo of a language while having nothing of the sort. The only argument you can make is boring is better imho.
> it was respected by hackers for the joy it brought people who 'got' it
Isn't that the crux of the issue? Perl was great if you're a hacker who 'got' it. For the remaining 95% of the population, Python worked.
Lisp/Scheme are also beautiful to those who 'get' it.
> I still don't understand how it won, stealing the halo of a language while having nothing of the sort.
Plenty of people have already told you. 95% of programmers do programming to get the job done. The linguistics grad student I knew 20 years ago did his work in Python because it was easy (he had no programming background). He would have simply changed his thesis topic if Python didn't exist. He would not have learned Perl.
Perl was for hackers. Python was for everyone.