Survey Says C Dominated New '08 Open-Source Projects

svonkie writes "C overwhelmingly proved to be the most popular programming language for thousands of new open-source projects in 2008, reports The Register (UK). According to license tracker Black Duck Software, which monitors 180,000 projects on nearly 4,000 sites, almost half — 47 per cent — of new projects last year used C. 17,000 new open-source projects were created in total. Next in popularity after C came Java, with 28 per cent. In scripting, JavaScript came out on top with 20 per cent, followed by Perl with 18 per cent. PHP attracted just 11 per cent, and Ruby six per cent. The numbers are a surprise, as open-source PHP has proved popular as a web-site development language, while Ruby's been a hot topic for many."

Hrmmm.

[inode_buddha]

I can C clearly now...

Re:c-derived languages?

[iluvcapra]

Open-source iPhone development?

Re:Hrmmm.

[ciaohound]

... the brain is gone.

H1B Anthem

[Penguinshit]

Jose can you C? Then you've got a job at HP!

Re:c-derived languages?

[drpimp]

Now that's just being subjective!

Re:Ow...

[Anonymous Coward]

You use python ?!

I died a little inside...

Now I have two reasons to use Python.

Re:c-derived languages?

[Goldberg's Pants]

Screw all the C variants. Where did Fortran place?

Re:Hrmmm.

[inode_buddha]

Oh, say can you C...

Re:God wrote in Lisp

[againjj]

God wrote in Lisp

Ostensibly, yes. But God hacked most of the Universe together with Perl. [xkcd.com]

C dominates new open source projects...

[Lars512]

...as measured by lines of code

(ducks)

Re:c-derived languages?

[Curien]

Actually, C != C++ is undefined behavior.

Re:Hrmmm.

[palegray.net]

Here's a perl of wisdom: when it comes to programming, you've got to stay sharp to avoid getting snared by the odd python. drink plenty of java to keep your senses tuned, and carry a large net to snare those nasty reptiles just in time.

Re:c-derived languages?

[jank1887]

COBOL? Anyone? hello?

Re:no C++

[Anonymous Coward]

I'm surprised python didn't make the list.

Agreed. Someone must be slapped with a halibut for this!

Re:c-derived languages?

[chill]

Where it belonged, behind Lisp!

Re:c-derived languages?

[keeboo]

Replying my own - I would prefer to put it this way

Is it cross-platform?

Technically - Yes
Practically - Yes
Out-of-the-box - Not always.

Huh?

Well, while you're at it, why not making a more complete list:

Technically - Yes
Practically - Yes
Out-of-the-box - Not always
In principle - Yes
Philosophically - Yes and No.
Karmically - No
Politically - Yes
Hypothetically - In theory, yes

Re:Just because PHP is popular

[Anthony_Cargile]

My last brainfuck [wikipedia.org] website failed because the bf compiler got confused between language operators and XHTML tags, and my client refused to pay the $10,000 brainfuck developer fee anyways. Now I just write them in x86 assembly and my development time is much-improved - I finished a 10 page site in under half a decade!

14,000+ new projects?

[Pseudonym]

What's the bet that most of the 7,000 new open source projects were GNOME bindings for "Hello World"?

Re:c-derived languages?

[darkvizier]

why the hell would you need that in sane code.

The variable C is a pointer to an array of objects with an overloaded != operator.
[you insensitive clod!]

Re:c-derived languages?

[orzetto]

Mi parolas esperanton, diabla malsentemulo!

Re:c-derived languages?

[Fujisawa Sensei]

C pound is a total waste of time and effort.[...]I know they want it pronounced c sharp

I'm a music [wikipedia.org] major, you insensitive clod!

Would calling it D-Flat make you feel any better?

Write in C

[pauljlucas]

(Sing as if you were singing "Let it Be".)

When I find my code in tons of trouble,
Friends and colleagues come to me,
Speaking words of wisdom:
Write in C.

As the deadline fast approaches,
And bugs are all that I can see,
Somewhere, someone whispers:
Write in C.

Write in C, write in C,
Write in C, oh, write in C.
LOGO's dead and buried,
Write in C.

I used to write a lot of FORTRAN,
For science it worked flawlessly.
Try using it for graphics!
Write in C.

If you've just spent nearly 30 hours,
Debugging some assembly,
Soon you will be glad to
Write in C.

Write in C, Write in C,
Write in C, yeah, Write in C.
BASIC's not the answer.
Write in C.

Write in C, Write in C
Write in C, oh, Write in C.
Pascal won't quite cut it.
Write in C.

Re:c-derived languages?

[maxwell demon]

From the draft of the next C++ standard, n2798, 1.9 [intro.execution]/16:

If a side effect on a scalar object is unsequenced relative to either another side effect on the same scalar object or a value computation using the value of the same scalar object, the behavior is undefined.

Since the built-in == operator doesn't have a sequence point between its argument, the side effect of c++ is unsequenced relative to the value computation of c on the left hand side of the ==, and thus the behaviour is undefined.

Also you find in the latest public draft of the 1998 C++ standard, CD2, 5 [expr]/4:

Between the previous and
next sequence point a scalar object shall have its stored value modified at most once by the evaluation of an
expression. Furthermore, the prior value shall be accessed only to determine the value to be stored.

Note that in c == c++, on the LHS the prior value of c is accessed not in order to determine the new value, but only to compare it with the result of the right hand side. Therefore it was undefined in C++ even back then. I don't have access to any version (draft or otherwise) of the C standard, but I think it's undefined in C, too (although the exact wording probably is different again).

Skewed?

[Anonymous Coward]

I guess when they surveyed half of the Perl projects, they assumed it was meaningless gibberish and left them out of the survey

*runs from angry mob*

Re:c-derived languages?

[cpghost]

COBOL? Anyone? hello?

Slashdot hates COBOL:

Filter error: Don't use so many caps. It's like YELLING.