Stupid Metrics

Found yet another article on language popularity:

A new TIOBE Software study has found that Java is the most popular programming language among developers
...
This popularity measurement uses a simple metric: the number of relevant search engine queries.


I would guess the reason is that you always need to look up Java stuff in reference manuals or tutorials which is easier to do using a search engine. Programming in Java without online access to the internet is a pain. When I do Java work the web browser is one of the most used tools ...

When doing Smalltalk work I just use the Smalltalk IDE's code browser since everything is there and fully accessible/changable. I can care about solving a problem instead of constantly looking up Java API and framework descriptions, bug reports, ...