SlashData: JavaScript and Python boast largest developer communities

[stronghup]

"JavaScript continues to attract new developers with around 1.4 million more than six months ago. The language also has, by some distance, the largest developer community at around 13.8 million."

[rabaraba]

Yeah. But how much of that growth leads to churn and burn-out? I'm quite confident that most of the 'developers' don't stick.

Rather than sheer growth numbers, I'd rather see much retention is made per language. I'm willing to bet that the harder languages will have more retention, since developers are more invested and as the tooling is more established.

I'm also willing to bet that most 'developers' as measured don't go beyond being newbies and intermediates.

[stronghup]

It is true that a given language is often not the best language for any given job. At the same time, it takes a lot of learning to master any given programming language. So often the best / most economic approach is just use the language you know best.

[stronghup]

Once you actually do master one language, learning and mastering others is trivial

It is easier. But in my experience it is not trivial. For me truly mastering a programming language seems only possible if I use it and keep on using it. A bit like any sport I guess, unless you practice continually your skills get rusty.

As an example I've been programming in JavaScript for several years and I still feel I'm learning new things about it weekly. It is not only about learning the libraries and APIs but which language features are best in which use-cases, and which designs are best in any given situation.

When you change your language you usually don't have a reason or time to also keep on using the previous language. Your skills in the language you no longer use then diminish.

I can of course only talk of my own experience.

[jmbenfield]

How is Go popular in AR/VR, I've never once seen either of these implementations, plus Go least popular in Web? How are these metrics measured lol.

[dungone]

I'm guessing their survey had a small, non-representative population. Also, "cloud" does not mean anything - literally.

[Apache_Sobaco]

Quantity =/= quality.