[Haskell-cafe] Re: Libraries for Commercial Users

[Jason Dusek]

2009/10/25 Magnus Therning <magnus at therning.org>:
> On 24/10/09 23:08, Iain Barnett wrote:
> > If you're in business, you're trying to keep your costs
> > lower than your income. That means that a language with a
> > stable code base, good/many libraries, and a large pool of
> > developers is a good choice.
>
> I'm not sure it necessarily means that. [...] Having a smaller
> pool of developers to choose from is not necessarily bad, as
> long as it is offset by a higher ratio of first-rate
> developers.

  I think you also have to consider how committed you are to
  retaining developers. Plenty of people aren't; for them Java
  and PHP are feasible where Haskell (and RoR) aren't.

> Also, as I'm sure you've found out re libraries, more isn't
> necessarily better.

  Indeed -- if libraries were sufficient, CPAN would have been
  enough to keep Python and Ruby from ever growing into the
  force they now are.

--
Jason Dusek