So, Computer Weekly thinks that Perl is a hot skill of 2009 whereas SD Times thinks rather the opposite. Then again, their columnist also thinks Much of Perlââ¬â¢s original popularity was its clear superiority to CGI for gluing together Web functionality, so I'm not sure what to think of what he thinks. Or whether he thinks, given that that's not the only erroneous factual statement in there. At best he needs a better copy editor. At worst, a new brain.
At least, his hypothesis on Python is testable:
Though Python usage dropped slightly this year, I suspect that Python 3.0's release will boost the languageââ¬â¢s popularity. This is a big release. And even though it breaks compatibility with previous versions, the new features it adds are important.
Python 3.0 uptake might be the most interesting thing to watch in 2009. Do people want to use it in preference to 2.6? How soon do the major libraries and frameworks move over. How much material difference between 2.6 and 3.0 is there, and hence how much work for them to support both? Do they support both? How does Python 3.0 resolve its inability to deal properly with non-Unicode environment variables and file names in a Unicode environment? [a problem that Perl 6 will also need to solve] How long until the IO bottlenecks are resolved? Do these issues actually matter to adoption rates? For shepherding the migration from 5 to 6, we can watch and learn from how Python manages its 2 to 3 conversion.
...I just got a big win from your relocatable Perl work, so I don't care what any magazine has to say...thanks!
