Python Usage Statistics

[Anand Pillai]

Hi Folks

(posting after a loooong time...)

I have been contracted by an Indian publisher to author an
introductory text book on Python. As a part of the introductory
chapter, I thought it would be a good idea to present a number, a
round-about figure on the approximate *actual* usage of Python out
there in number of developers and/or installations.

Scrounging the Web for such statistics is proving elusive. The PBF
website seems to be the official place for these, but there also they
just have listings of companies/instituitions using Python, not any
numbers.

Has anybody done an actual market survey anytime recently on
Python usage in the software community? If so, where can I get access
to this information? I would be more interested in the number of
developers, both commercial/non-commercial who are doing development
using Python. Since almost every Linux distro now a days contains
Python by default, a number based on the installations could prove
faulty.

Have a nice day.

-Anand

[Benjamin Niemann]

Eric S. Raymond made a comparison of language usage for projects
published on sourceforge and freshmeat for his book "The Art of Unix
Programming":
http://www.faqs.org/docs/artu/ch14s05.html#lang_usage
Only covers opensource software and not uptodate anymore though.

Anand Pillai wrote:

Hi Folks

(posting after a loooong time...)

I have been contracted by an Indian publisher to author an
introductory text book on Python. As a part of the introductory
chapter, I thought it would be a good idea to present a number, a
round-about figure on the approximate *actual* usage of Python out
there in number of developers and/or installations.

Scrounging the Web for such statistics is proving elusive. The PBF
website seems to be the official place for these, but there also they
just have listings of companies/instituitions using Python, not any
numbers.

Has anybody done an actual market survey anytime recently on
Python usage in the software community? If so, where can I get access
to this information? I would be more interested in the number of
developers, both commercial/non-commercial who are doing development
using Python. Since almost every Linux distro now a days contains
Python by default, a number based on the installations could prove
faulty.

Have a nice day.

-Anand

[Aahz]

In article <bb**************************@posting.google.com >,
Anand Pillai <an*********@letterboxes.org> wrote:

I have been contracted by an Indian publisher to author an
introductory text book on Python. As a part of the introductory
chapter, I thought it would be a good idea to present a number, a
round-about figure on the approximate *actual* usage of Python out
there in number of developers and/or installations.

This is extremely difficult; for example, Paint Shop Pro now uses Python
as its macro language. How PSP users have become Python programmers? No
idea.
--
Aahz (aa**@pythoncraft.com) <*> http://www.pythoncraft.com/

"To me vi is Zen. To use vi is to practice zen. Every command is a
koan. Profound to the user, unintelligible to the uninitiated. You
discover truth everytime you use it." --*****@lion.austin.ibm.com

[beliavsky]

an*********@letterboxes.org (Anand Pillai) wrote in message news:<bb**************************@posting.google. com>...

Hi Folks

(posting after a loooong time...)

I have been contracted by an Indian publisher to author an
introductory text book on Python. As a part of the introductory
chapter, I thought it would be a good idea to present a number, a
round-about figure on the approximate *actual* usage of Python out
there in number of developers and/or installations.

See SkillMarket at http://mshiltonj.com/sm/categories/languages/ .
Polling jobs listed at dice.com , the # of job openings by language on
9/1/2004 were (in descending order)

9216 sql
7722 java
5007 c++
3351 vb
2508 perl
1804 assembly
1723 c#
905 cobol
838 tech writer
268 powerbuilder
266 php
225 cf (cold fusion)
189 python
150 fortran
144 ada
38 ruby

[Jeff Shannon]

be*******@aol.com wrote:

an*********@letterboxes.org (Anand Pillai) wrote in message news:<bb**************************@posting.google. com>...

... I thought it would be a good idea to present a number, a
round-about figure on the approximate *actual* usage of Python out
there in number of developers and/or installations.

See SkillMarket at http://mshiltonj.com/sm/categories/languages/ .
Polling jobs listed at dice.com , the # of job openings by language on
9/1/2004 were (in descending order)

But note that job openings don't necessarily accurately represent
language *usage*, they only represent *unsatisfied demand* for
competency in that language. One could argue, with some justification,
that there's few job openings requesting programmers familiar with
Python because a good programmer can become productive in Python so
quickly -- why take months to hire a Python guy when an existing
employee can *become* a Python guy in a couple weeks? It also doesn't
reflect the usage of Python for small projects, incidental scripting
tasks, etc., where there isn't a need for a full-time employee to be
working on that particular project.

Jeff Shannon
Technician/Programmer
Credit International