“Favourite” Programming Languages on Hacker News - Key take-aways
Rust is the most talked-about language
2 327 stories – the highest volume
57 212 total points – the highest aggregate karma
Go comes a very close second in volume (2 259 stories) and total score (45 511).
Python and JavaScript still dominate discussion but are edged out by Rust & Go this year.
Smaller but passionate followings
Lua & Erlang generate the highest average score per story, indicating highly-engaged niche audiences.
Swift and Elixir also punch above their weight on a per-story basis.
Classic staples (C++, Java, Ruby, PHP) remain active but draw less relative excitement.
Quick ranking by story count
Rust – 2 327
Go – 2 259
Python – 2 029
JavaScript – 1 927
Highest average karma per story
Lua – 51.8
Erlang – 36.5
Swift – 29.3
Elixir – 25.9
Rust – 24.6
Interpretation: Rust and Go are currently the “favourite” languages on Hacker News by sheer attention and total karma, while Lua and Erlang have smaller but very enthusiastic communities
- Next time any Rust supporter telling you Rust is not popular on HN or Ada gets mentioned a lot of Zig gets similar attention as Rust. You may point them to this post.
Rust is the most talked-about language
2 327 stories – the highest volume
57 212 total points – the highest aggregate karma
Go comes a very close second in volume (2 259 stories) and total score (45 511).
Python and JavaScript still dominate discussion but are edged out by Rust & Go this year.
Smaller but passionate followings
Lua & Erlang generate the highest average score per story, indicating highly-engaged niche audiences.
Swift and Elixir also punch above their weight on a per-story basis.
Classic staples (C++, Java, Ruby, PHP) remain active but draw less relative excitement.
Quick ranking by story count
Rust – 2 327
Go – 2 259
Python – 2 029
JavaScript – 1 927
Highest average karma per story
Lua – 51.8
Erlang – 36.5
Swift – 29.3
Elixir – 25.9
Rust – 24.6
Interpretation: Rust and Go are currently the “favourite” languages on Hacker News by sheer attention and total karma, while Lua and Erlang have smaller but very enthusiastic communities
- Next time any Rust supporter telling you Rust is not popular on HN or Ada gets mentioned a lot of Zig gets similar attention as Rust. You may point them to this post.