This is a pointer to some insightful and entertaining rants about programming languages, by Steve Yegge. If you are wondering if you should learn another language, and which one, or are interested in the bigger picture of the programming language ecosystem, go read these.
A little anti-anti-hype: Ruby is gaining traction quickly, Perl is running out of steam, and Python falls by the wayside. Why? It’s about marketing, and the Ctrl+D shortcut.
Bambi meets Godzilla: A look at how programming languages succeed or fail. What many programmers don’t see: It’s not about language features, but about love and money and marketing and culture.
Tour de Babel: A nice little language roundup. Summary: You have to know C. C++ is the dumbest language ever. Lisp is for demigods. Java sucks less than C++. Perl stinks but lets you get stuff done. Ruby rocks. Python would rock if the community didn’t have attitude problems. (I wonder what Steve would have to say about the other big fishes in the pond, C# and PHP.)
Really, go read these. And do you agree?
(via Tim Bray)