NYCPHP Meetup

[Kristina Anderson]

This looks really interesting, but they say that

"In the April 2008 survey we received responses from 165,719,150 sites. 
Most of this month's growth of 3.1 million sites is seen in the US, 
with Google's Blogger service alone adding 1.1 million extra sites."

But the graph below says that total active sites (red line) number 
slightly more than 66,400,000 ...?

Are they including inactive sites in their number of +/- 20 million 
sites using PHP?  If so how would that affect the accuracy of this 
survey? (i.e. if someone goes out and buys a domain, then replies to 
this survey saying "we are going to use PHP" but never actually does 
so...?)

--Kristina


> Would this work for quantifying PHP usage:
> 
> http://www.php.net/usage.php
> 
> Now find that CF usage link and compare the two.
> 
> -Anthony
> 
> Webmaster wrote:
> > Kristina Anderson wrote:
> >> Ed, I agree, it would be great if we could find some methodology 
that 
> >> could prove beyond a shadow of a doubt on an empirical basis that 
PHP 
> >> is a more popular platform than Cold Fusion.  I can't adequately 
> >> defend my contention to your exacting standards at the present 
moment, 
> >> because you're right, I don't have the data.  But I believe that 
the 
> >> data is gatherable and that my theory is valid. 
> > I do too. But I would like it quantified as well.
> >> So anyone have any ideas how to do that, links, information, 
empirical 
> >> studies, etc. etc & etc ... bring 'em on.
> >>
> >> We could do an empirical analysis of job postings on 10 or so 
general 
> >> tech job boards over a time period of a year...?
> >>   
> > That sounds interesting.
> >> PS Ed, your own link to the TIOBE website showed that they listed 
Cold 
> >> Fusion at the bottom of the popularity grid...and PHP was in the 
top 
> >> half.  But you're saying that you have "problems with their 
> >> methodology", OK.  But you can have problems with any methodology 
or  
> >> means of proof, and that in and of itself is an emotional 
> >> response...based on your beliefs and temperament...and btw there's 
> >> nothing wrong with that! :=]
> >>
> >>   
> > I believe this to be a straw man.
> > I never said I had "problems with their methodology". I said "which 
i 
> > think are erroneous", and logically so.
> > I posted a link to the 2 illogical assumptions that support the 
TIOBE 
> > indexes as being fallacious.
> > I will clearly list them here, as it seems you didn't follow that 
link 
> > (poor scholarship):
> > # that the number of search engine hits for the phrase “/foo/ 
> > programming” is proportional to the “popularity” of that language.
> > # that the proportionality /is the same for different languages/.
> > It is therefore logically unsound to deduce that the TIOBE indexes 
are 
> > correct in a truly accurate esteem.
> > All they are graphing reduces to search engine results, and nothing 
more.
> > 
> >> I mean let's face it, people have "proved beyond doubt" all sorts 
of 
> >> things which flat out ain't so, right?
> >>
> >> -- Kristina
> >>   
> > I'm not sure what you are looking to express with that (perhaps 
> > rhetorical?) question.
> > 
> > <X>Out of curiosity<X>
> > <XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX>
> > What would be an example of something "proved beyond doubt" 
that "flat 
> > out ain't so"?
> > (Please refrain from listing some historic event of ignorance, such 
as 
> > meat becoming maggots or the Earth being flat. We are discussing a 
> > comparison of actual market holding betwixt two modern programming 
> > languages. Feel free to respond off list.)
> > <XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX>
> > 
> > In fact, there is not a clearly quantified amount of conclusive 
> > information to accurately deduce that PHP (or any other language) 
holds 
> > this or that particular portion of the 'market'. Therefore, to 
propose 
> > we find a 'reason' for PHP holding the majority of the 'market 
share', 
> > is pure nonsense, as we do not know that PHP holds such a portion. 
We 
> > may as well propose to find a reason for which Coldfusion holds the 
> > largest share of the market, or Python, or Flex, or Java, or 
COBOL...
> > 
> > Perhaps this thread may be a catalyst to develop a better means of 
> > accurately surveying language utilization in a granular fashion.
> > 
> > -Ed
> > _______________________________________________
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> > 
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> > 
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> > 
> 
> -- 
> Anthony Wlodarski
> PHP/MySQL Developer
> www.thrillist.com
> 560 Broadway, Suite 308
> New York, NY 10012
> p 646.274.2435
> f 646.557.0803
> 
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