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Usage statistics of server-side programming languages for websites

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Re: Usage statistics of server-side programming languages for websites

#21

Post by qsort »

0x0nyandesu wrote: post #7
easton wrote: post #5

I'm curious how this changes if you remove PHP being used for WordPress (where the people using it probably didn't choose it). Do lots of companies still choose PHP for brand new projects? I know Facebook has a dialect they still use, but you don't hear much about it anymore.

PHP is my bread and butter. Yes there are still shops that use it. It doesn't really deserve the bad rap.

As a Java dev I feel you. PHP, Java are both languages that used to be god-awful, but they have evolved massively in the past decade and most of the criticism is outdated.

Re: Usage statistics of server-side programming languages for websites

#22

Post by WesolyKubeczek »

0x0nyandesu wrote: post #7
easton wrote: post #5

I'm curious how this changes if you remove PHP being used for WordPress (where the people using it probably didn't choose it). Do lots of companies still choose PHP for brand new projects? I know Facebook has a dialect they still use, but you don't hear much about it anymore.

PHP is my bread and butter. Yes there are still shops that use it. It doesn't really deserve the bad rap.

It's bearable since version 7, and unless they make it another Java in version 8 which will make it unbearable again, it's gonna be ok.

Kids who want to seem cool have moved on to Go and NodeJS, so PHP is mainly left with people who got some experience and mostly know what they are doing, save for those who really just twiddle Wordpress until it sort of appears to do what they want it to do.

I suspect that PHP's ultimate fate is to become another Perl — a quite mature platform with very few people tending to it, obscure, with a community of very expensive veteran programmers.

Re: Usage statistics of server-side programming languages for websites

#23

Post by qsort »

formerly_proven wrote: post #16
qsort wrote: post #11

How did Ruby increase that much lately? Also, I'm surprised Python isn't more popular. 1% is (comparatively) tiny for a language that popular.

How would you tell a given page was generated by some Python or Ruby webframework? There aren't any headers these use (like PHP usually does), so you'd have to look for more subtle cues like the name of session cookies or perhaps patterns in the way static files are addressed. The same goes for pretty much everything on that list which isn't PHP or .NET.

Yes, that's a good point. The "[...] of all the websites whose server-side programming language we know" clause changes the interpretation dramatically.

Re: Usage statistics of server-side programming languages for websites

#25

Post by jegea »

I think this shows how much HN is a bubble in itself.

Most discussions here happen around new/exciting/cool/weird technology. And don't get me wrong, I love those discussions! That's why I come here!

But reality outside of this bubble is people building and maintaining web apps as efficiently as possible and PHP hasn't stopped being very efficient. On the contrary, it's getting better with time.

Interestingly enough, Ruby (my personal interest, here) has been steadily gaining share in that chart year over year, despite not being "cool" anymore.

If you ask me, it's good to have a dose a reality from time to time!

Re: Usage statistics of server-side programming languages for websites

#26

Post by julienpalard »

qsort wrote: post #11

How did Ruby increase that much lately? Also, I'm surprised Python isn't more popular. 1% is (comparatively) tiny for a language that popular.

I bet most Python web frameworks (just checked with Django) don't report being Python (or even the said framework) in HTTP headers, so it can't be counted.

Another point of data could be: https://insights.stackoverflow.com/trends?tags=php%2Cpython%...

Re: Usage statistics of server-side programming languages for websites

#27

Post by rich_sasha »

daneel_w wrote: post #19

I'm surprised nobody have linked the infamous "a fractal of bad design" article yet. It's particularly popular with people who have never written a line of PHP in their lives.

It sure resonated with me, the occasional PHP user. Though I get that you can poke holes in anything.

Re: Usage statistics of server-side programming languages for websites

#29

Post by smoldesu »

jegea wrote: post #25

I think this shows how much HN is a bubble in itself. Most discussions here happen around new/exciting/cool/weird technology. And don't get me wrong, I love those discussions! That's why I come here! But reality outside of this bubble is people building and maintaining web apps as efficiently as possible and PHP hasn't stopped being very efficient. On the contrary, it's getting better with time. Interestingly enough,…

It could very well be that PHP is easier to distribute, and gets used in lots of groupware/industry-standard software that's deployed thousands of times across thousands of organizations. I'd imagine that kind of market share piles up after a while.
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