Clojure, Common Lisp, Elixir, Erlang, and others are also not Top 50 languages but they have a good number of users.
Let's remember that just a few years ago, Rust hardly had any users. Yet, it managed to gain a following.
In fact, the most widely used language today, Python, had a relatively small community 20 years ago. But around 2010, its adoption began to explode, thanks to the rising interest in data science and machine learning.
The lesson here is: give a good language a chance and it will grow. There was a good reason to adopt Python. There was a good reason to adopt Rust. And there is a good reason to adopt Smalltalk. Three good reasons, in fact:
- Low cognitive load. The language is so small and simple that a software engineer barely needs to think about how to use the language. Behemoths like C++, Java, JavaScript, Scala, and Rust require some concentration.
- Supreme productivity. Who doesn’t want to complete a software project in the shortest period of time?
- Excellent scalability. Software can easily scale in size, thanks to its extensibility and object-oriented character. Alan Kay likened Smalltalk to a “software internet” or a system of biological cells.
Many people believe in small and simple languages. Major proponents include Alan Kay (Smalltalk), the late Per Brinch Hansen (Edison), Niklaus Wirth (Oberon), and Rob Pike (Go). There are vital advantages to such languages.
Productivity means cost savings (labour) and short “time to market.” That’s why Smalltalk has been used as a secret competitive weapon by enterprises around the globe.
