Hacker Newsnew | past | comments | ask | show | jobs | submitlogin

I'm a Rubyist but I find "the three top web languages of PHP, Ruby, and Python" odd. I'd suspect C# and Java (and possibly classic ASP?) are still more heavily used in webapps overall than Python or Ruby. A reasonable counterargument could be that C# and Java aren't primarily used for webapps, but then neither is Python(?)


Also a Rubyist here. Not trying to start a war.

Take "the three top web languages of [blank]" as "the three [descriptive adjective] of [list]"

No one can argue that PHP, Ruby & Python are some top of the top languages on the web. Didn't mean for "the" to seem as limiting as you took it.


Isn't English fun! :-)

My interpretation wasn't entirely unfair. The "for" and double "of" result in an ambiguous meaning. "top" is most commonly a superlative, similar to "best" or "most popular", as in "the three best actors". But you used it in a different sense, as in "three top actors" (though this doesn't usually work with "the" before it.)

I do see where you're coming from though and what you intended so this is mostly linguistic wankery for a good Friday night in ;-)


I can appreciate that. Thanks for keeping me on my toes there ;)




Consider applying for YC's Fall 2026 batch! Applications are open till July 27.

Guidelines | FAQ | Lists | API | Security | Legal | Apply to YC | Contact

Search: