Oppugn.us

Being as this is a collaborative rant site, I thought I would throw out a discussion topic I have been pondering for a while. Now, to be honest I don't know if I'd write this idea up as a rant or as something more serious for shedding bikes but I'll put this out there and see what kinds of responses I get.

The idea is simply this statement:

Programming languages are nothing more than a ponzi scheme.

Looking at the history of programming languages over the last 15-20 years we see a succession of languages that become dominant and then get wiped out by a more popular language. That's a given and not necessarily part of the ponzi scheme I'm talking about, but more just how technology works.

What I am talking about is the distribution of benefits and wealth to users and contributors in a programming language community, and how it seems the people at the top flee their "investors" at the first sign of trouble.

If you've been around as long as me, you'll remember when C++ came out and everyone had to learn C. Not because it was better, but because all the companies and employers suddenly abandoned C. Then along came Java, and quite literally 1/2 of the C++ standards committee left C++ for Java that same day. Ruby on Rails made Ruby popular and tons of top Java dogs ran for the Ruby hills. Even Python has elements of this backroom dealing ponzi scheme in it, although we haven't seen the mass exodus that seemed to happen to the others.

In each case, the early adopters became the top people of the pyramid, sucked up all the wealth and benefits, then left their community in the dust when it suited them. In some cases, like with C++, the destruction of the ponzi scheme didn't destroy the language and it actually became better after those people left (but not before really screwing over everyone else).

The programming language ponzi scheme effectively amounts to:

1. A small group of early adopters building a language's popularity.
2. These early adopters convince more people to "invest" their time learning the language, which increases network effects.
3. The weight of the social network increases so that the people at the top of the pyramid gain more from their early investment than people who come later.
4. These early adopters continue this until the next big thing comes along, at which point they abandon the community and destroy all of the investment their followers made taking their "cash" with them.

While this post isn't necessarily a rant, I do want to hear from people who may have experienced this first hand. I'm looking for short anecdotes to fill out my larger essay on the idea.

Were you happily coding in C++ when Java came by and destroyed your career? Did Ruby destroy your Java prospects forcing you to leave? How did it feel to see all those people you looked up to suddenly leave you behind? Was it hard to learn the next language only to find it had the same problem?

Incidentally, this is also a reason why I tell people to learn C. Of all the languages, C seems to be the one that is fairly immune to the ponzi scheme setup. It's usually very popular, always in demand, useful everywhere, and nobody really controls it so they can't destroy it by leaving.

But, I'm curious to know what you think and have experienced. Send your thoughts to post@oppugn.us and I'll take a look and quoting you in the next rant or essay.

Thanks!