The Next Big Language

[Jonathan M Davis]

On Monday, October 18, 2010 10:57:54 Walter Bright wrote:
> Jonathan M Davis wrote:
> > Sure, it would be great if dmd were completely open source, but I don't
> > see why the fact that it isn't would be all that big a deal. Other
> > languages - such as Java and C# - aren't open source (or at least
> > weren't when they debuted). People used them in spite of the fact that
> > they were proprietary. And yes, having a big company backing them has
> > got to help, but how many people do you honestly think used Java because
> > Sun made it?
> 
> I was around when Java burst onto the scene. Sun had enormous respect, and
> their creation of Java got them the buzz very similar to the buzz Go gets
> today from being from Google & Pike.
> 
> > Sure, the fact that it was Sun helped, but they
> > chose it because of the feature set, not the company that backed it. I
> > don't think that I've ever met anyone who chose a language based on who
> > created it.
> 
> Go?

Well, no one I've ever discussed languages with has stated that they chose to 
use a programming language based on who created it. They may look into it based 
on who created it (for instance, if Microsoft or Google had created D, then I'm 
sure that a lot more of my co-workers would have looked into it by now), but 
I've never talked with anyone who has actually decided to use a particular 
language because of who created it. A major backer or well-known creator of a 
language gets people to look at it, but they choose to use it or not based on 
its own merits (at least from what I've seen).

- Jonathan M Davis