Rexx language family popularity

[billfen]

I happened to run across the Tiobe Index of programming languages which
attempts to measure programming language "popularity" by using search
engine data. It does not reflect the number of lines of code or other
perhaps more meaningful metrics.

The site is here:

http://www.tiobe.com/index.php/content/paperinfo/tpci/index.html

It is both interesting and discouraging to see that none of the Rexx
languages (Rexx, OORexx, NetRexx) are in their list of the top 100.  

Similarly, after checking Wikipedia:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Measuring_programming_language_popularity#cite_
note-8

and a few other places, it appears that, indeed, the Rexx family languages
are really unpopular.

Why?

Is there something wrong or missing with the language design or
implementations?  Are there missing features?

Is there a problem with the degree to which IBM supports the languages?
Are they too closely associated with IBM?  

Is there something that RexxLA should be doing to increase the popularity
and usage of the languages?  



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[Fernando Cassia-2]

On Tue, Jan 20, 2015 at 9:32 PM, [hidden email] <[hidden email]> wrote:

Why?

Is there something wrong or missing with the language design or
implementations?  Are there missing features?

Is there a problem with the degree to which IBM suppo

My two cents worth, for Rexx as a whole:

-Its old, and the landscape of languages is moved by "hype cycles". Every once a while, a new language comes along that is touted as the "cure all" for the IT landscape. It happened to PHP, Ruby, Python, etc If you read nowadays you will find RedHat´s Ceylon, Google´s GO, etc  Of course, all of those predictions end up being wrong... and the new languages end up as niches, or layers upon layers of tectonic plates, so to speak.

see for instance this article 10 years ago claiming Java was dead and that Python was going to kill it -it didn´t, mainly because Java is not only a language but also a VM and a level playing field software ecosystem-
http://www.businessweek.com/stories/2005-12-12/java-its-so-nineties

-Rexx was originally from IBM, which is not exactly perceived as an innovator in "hipster" circles

-It was not open source and tied to platforms that ceased to be "cool" (the mainframe, OS/2, the Amiga as in ARexx).Hence the perception of "an old language for old platforms".

-It´s "just a language" not software ecosystem of components and solutions, like Java

-It originally didn´t embrace open source. It would have made sense if IBM had open sourced ALL Rexx family of languages around the late 1990s so it had become a standard component of Linux distros. But it didn´t. NetRexx open sourcing was very late, and by then people who cared about FOSS languages had moved to other languages (see point 1)

-There is not a single open source killer app (be it a CMS, CRM, you name it) that is designed with Rexx.

-Likewise for components.

-There hasn´t been "connectors" that bring Rexx or NetRexx into play as glue for popular FOSS components (ie Rexx and KDE, Rexx and Gnome, etc)

Not everything is bleak, however, the recent resurgence of JVM languages puts NetRexx (not the other Rexx languages) much closer to "having a chance" than before.

http://www.drdobbs.com/jvm/a-long-look-at-jvm-languages/240007765

Take a look, for example, at newcomer JVM languages like Golo** (not to be confused with Google´s Go). However, I think its ancient origins and IBM background still compire against winning the hearts and minds of the hipster hackers who grow reading slashdot and hackernews.

http://golo-lang.org/

I had a crazy idea at some point: take netrexx, replace its name, create a new web site, and give it a cool, hipster name, then fill this bogus site with references of cool programmers at cool internet firms allegedly praising it, see how far the hype would get.... before someone realizes that HEY, it´s actually netrexx. ;-)

Just thinking aloud... :o)

FC

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