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Smalltalk and the Tiobe Rankings

August 28, 2010 7:41:25.000

I noticed that Smalltalk fell out of the top 50 in the Tiobe rankings; I think it's not just the niche status of Smalltalk at work here, but also the nature of Smalltalk code. What do I mean by that?

Well, consider what happens when you search for the more mainstream (file based) languages - you get code listings. When you search for Smalltalk, on the other hand, you'll get links to things like the "One Click Image" for Seaside. The image based nature of Smalltalk, and the fact that Smalltalk developers don't work in flat text files, impacts your ability to find Smalltalk code references.

Before the rise of search engines this was not terribly relevant, but now - it makes the community look much, much smaller than it really is. I don't have an answer to this problem - the Smalltalk image is unlikely to disappear (and personally, I'm a fan of it). It's just something we have to factor into these kinds of discussions.

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posted by James Robertson

Comments

Re: Smalltalk and Tibe Ranking

[Hans-Martin] August 28, 2010 8:16:25.310

Perhaps the available public repositories of Smalltalk code should be presented more search-engine-friendly? If a code package looks like a file to a search engine (and has been tagged with the appropriate search terms), it should become a bit more visible.

Re: Smalltalk and Tiobe Ranking

[anonymous] August 28, 2010 8:56:26.980

I think we may also be losing "Smalltalk" in favor of "Squeak" and "Pharo".

Re: Smalltalk and Tiobe Ranking

[James Robertson] August 28, 2010 8:59:49.410

I don't disagree, but how would you do such a thing for either Store (Cincom Smalltalk) or Envy (VA Smalltalk)?

Re: Smalltalk and the Tiobe Rankings

[bpopov] August 28, 2010 9:55:33.197

You would build a web interface for your source code management system, that's how all others are exposed on the web...

Re: Smalltalk and the Tiobe Rankings

[anonymous] August 28, 2010 17:23:43.166

Don't get rid of the image!

Make a website that just has smalltalk code instead.

Or make an image that has a web interface.

Re: Smalltalk and the Tiobe Rankings

[Thierry] August 30, 2010 12:24:48.010

How is that different than 'deep linking'? Swap 'portal' and 'image'...

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