Re: C/C++ are dying too!

[elmex]

Somehow I wonder... almost all Languages which have been established as stable and useful Languages (C, C++, Perl) are considered "ZOMG THEY ARE DEAD!!!!!1111". I wonder whether thats just because there is more of a hype around languages like Haskell, Ocaml, Ruby, Java or Python.

IMO a language is not dead while there are still programmers that use it. Smalltalk, for example, still has a small but active community, and as long as there is such a community, the language won't just "die".

All this "this language dies" and "that language dies" sounds like big marketing foo and zealots fearing that their "favorite" tool is going not to be "cool" anymore. Languages, like natural languages, are changing IMO, and if one language is not up to the job, there will be another one. Currently there is no alternative to Perl (5), and there won't be one for the next 5-7 years. And it will be still around in 20 years.

[hardburn]

I don't personally consider COBOL to be a living language, even though there are plenty of people still using it. My definition is that if the main argument in its favor is keeping legacy applications going, it's a dead language.

[ww]

Pretty much agree, but IMO, s/dead/moribund/