The Python Paradox
The Python Paradox is a small article by Paul Graham. For those of you who don’t know much about him, it’s probably easiest to say that he is one of the most influential figures in today’s programming sub-culture for his outspoken and often-read articles and books on programming. Of interest in this particular article was his main theory:
Hence what, for lack of a better name, I’ll call the Python paradox: if a company chooses to write its software in a comparatively esoteric language, they’ll be able to hire better programmers, because they’ll attract only those who cared enough to learn it. And for programmers the paradox is even more pronounced: the language to learn, if you want to get a good job, is a language that people don’t learn merely to get a job.