[bnchrch]

I think the naivety lies in underestimating how many backend systems are written in Typescript, and how large of the developer population knows / uses TS.

In either sense, its alot.

(Aside: The backend has plenty of bad languages. For example Python is considered a backend language but is considerably worse than most languages in speed, ergonomics, transitive dependencies, and so on... )

[jpgvm]

It's a lot but Java is still king. The SV bubble seems to forget just how dominant Java is in backend software (well until they get a job at FANG and realise Java never left the building).

[jrajav]

Is there data to support this viewpoint? I've heard it often, but it always seems to lean on anecdata or caveats that the concrete datasets out there have blind spots (which is plausible, but certainly not a given). And those concrete datasets don't usually tend to put Java near the top for professional usage, or any metric for that matter.

[ithkuil]

Raw popularity is not the only parameter.

Toolchain weight, integration cost, ease of building DSLs, error message quality ... All those things matter when choosing a language to be embedded as a DSL into another system.

[jpgvm]

True. Though the last time Stonebraker tried this (VoltDB) they did lean on Java for DB side custom logic.

I wasn't really making a comment on that though but rather on overall popularity of TS vs Java, which is mostly just about the influence of the echo chamber and how that distorts peoples perception of what is out there.

[ithkuil]

The eco chamber is real but it cuts both ways: if you want your product to be successful you need a first wave of adopters and their echo chamber will shape your product through their feedback.

Once your product reaches a wider audience you may notice that the balance is different but that doesn't mean that if you had chosen what makes sense for the wider audience (e.g. java) in the first iteration you'd be necessarily at a better place now. Perhaps you wouldn't never get to the place of worry how to please the masses because you product wouldn't have had any success in the first selection environment