| Speculation: - LLVM is an awesome project and quite mainstream now, making it a bit easier to write an optimized compiler. - Rust: C is a language built for single core use. The future is many-core machines. Mozilla realized that the archaic C language was making multi-core processing far more difficult because of missing language constructs, slowing down development and holding back the future of browser performance. The idea is that multicore/multichip aware languages can greatly simplify developing parallel applications. - Go: Also aims to modernize "systems languages". Dependency management, better type systems, garbage collection, parallel computing. multi-core awareness, compile times. http://mashable.com/2009/11/10/go-google-language/ . It's your C/C++ replacement. - Swift: Probably an Apple move to attract more app developers and to increase the quality of apps with better tools. So the answer is both because the computing landscape is changing, and the move towards Python, despite its performance issues, signals developer demand for better tools. Remember that HN/proggit users are generally interested in new ideas and ways of working, and most people working in industry have probably never heard of Haskell. HN is also susceptible to marketing from time-to-time - MongoDB and Rails were two huge trends that did not deserve their popularity, at least at the time. |