[orange8]

I'd say that controversy is in direct proportion to its ever growing widespread use.

“There are only two kinds of languages: the ones people complain about and the ones nobody uses.”

― Bjarne Stroustrup, The C++ Programming Language

[primroot]

Which reminds of this story from the Zhuangzi. I hope it is not too irrelevant.

"Zhuangzi was walking on a mountain, when he saw a great tree with huge branches and luxuriant foliage. A wood-cutter was resting by its side, but he would not touch it, and, when asked the reason, said, that it was of no use for anything, Zhuangzi then said to his disciples, 'This tree, because its wood is good for nothing, will succeed in living out its natural term of years.' Having left the mountain, the Master lodged in the house of an old friend, who was glad to see him, and ordered his waiting-lad to kill a goose and boil it. The lad said, 'One of our geese can cackle, and the other cannot - which of them shall I kill?' The host said, 'Kill the one that cannot cackle.'"

https://ctext.org/dictionary.pl?if=en&id=2853

[namelosw]

The quote is almost true, unless he didn't quantify things.

Let's say Java and PHP both have a lot of users, but I guess Java receives less percentage of complaints per 100 people. (Just a random example, if you don't agree you can substitute the two languages to suit your own experience)

So to really understand the controversy, it probably makes more sense to compare $NumberOfComplaints / $NumberOfUsers.

[goto11]

The point is that the rate of complaints grows when a language becomes more popular. As long as only enthusiasts and hobbyists use a language, you get relatively few complaints, because these are people who actively chose to use the language. When a language become more popular, more people will be forced to use it, more mediocre people will use it, and its shortcomings will become more apparent on larger-scale projects.

[bryanrasmussen]

And this is why I have yet to hear anyone complain about Brainf*ck.