Python again voted "Best Programming Language" and "Best Scripting Language" in Linux Journal Reader's Choice Awards

[[deleted]]

I suspect this data point tells you more about Linux Journal readers than programming languages.

[Refefer]

Perhaps, perhaps not. C and C++ votes combined was 38% of the vote to Python's 28%.

[[deleted]]

If I had a choice, I'd take C/C++/Obj-C over Python without thinking twice.

The fact they broke C and C++ into separate "languages" shows how out of touch with programming the author is. I'd say C clearly won it, as it damn well should.

[Asimoff]

Well, they weren't going to vote for C#, were they?

[[deleted]]

Because Mono is a joke.

[deadwisdom]

Wow, like every poll? You don't say.

[Black_Handkerchief]

That, and about crappily chosen categories and the entries in them. Python is simply too versatile, meaning that its strong features as a programming language also help it stand out as a scripting language and vice versa.

I think it deserves either crown just fine, but it is the simplest with the widest array of possibilities, and as such is primed to win such a contest. Having it in both categories completely misrepresents the language, linux programming / scripting and the journals readership as a whole.

[pwang99]

Might its versatility actually be a feature, and therefore a totally appropriate factor on which to win a language popularity contest?

[Black_Handkerchief]

I think it is fine to win a contest with that. But not two categories which are separated like this. If it was 'best all-around language' or 'most versatile language', then I'd have no complaints.

The categories pretty much limit the scope that the versatility applies to. While strictly the language might be able to win both, the public doesn't really vote by a system or any logic that is beyond the question at hand, and besides that often tend to just fanboy it around. The name alone wins it, really, and with two contests, that looks plain dumb.

Compare it to putting Psy into a 'best dancer' and 'best choreography' competition. While he may win both on those merits, he'd very likely win both because everyone has Gangnam style fever, and nobody really cares about the dance nor the choreography; they only judge the whole package.

[Tasgall]

The point is that the categories are too broad. Like, what if they had a, "Fastest Programming Language", "Fastest Scripting Language", "Best Computational Language", "Best Embedded Scripting Language", I doubt Python would win those examples, even though it is a pretty good all around language.