[linguae]

I could think of two possibilities off the top of my head:

1. It’s easier to find developers who are skilled in the more popular languages.

2. Using a language is more than just its syntax and semantics; the ecosystem of tools and libraries for the language matters a lot, especially for commercial development. Interoperability between the language’s infrastructure and the desired platform the system needs to run on or interact with is also key.

I work in machine learning. I’d love to use Common Lisp or a statically-typed functional programming language like OCaml or Haskell, but I work with colleagues who know Python, and we rely heavily on Python’s extensive numerical computing and machine learning libraries. Promoting functional programming languages in this environment is like promoting Plan 9 to those who need Microsoft Office or the Adobe Creative Suite.

[kazinator]

"We can't have any people-learning; we're strictly a machine-learning shop!"