My point was that the fact that C++ (like Perl) has had multiple updates in the past few years, and that Nvidia chose C++ instead of Perl as the primary language for an API are not evidence of Perl's decline. Perl 5 receives more frequent updates than C++, and C++ is being used where it makes sense and where Perl wouldn't have been used even when it was the new hotness. How is that evidence that Perl has fallen off?
I'm not saying that Perl's popularity hasn't greatly declined, I'm just saying that the evidence you're offering for it isn't evidence.
But it's not just quantity of updates. It's perception of the updates and what new things they bring to the table. Surely you're aware that many Perl programmers abandoned the language in between Perl 5 and Perl 6 because they felt it was getting neglected. (There's also a long post from a ~20 year Perl veteran (forgot his name) of one of the famous libraries on HN explaining his reasons for leaving Perl before Perl 6 but I can't find it at the moment.) How do we reconcile why they thought Perl was stagnating even though it was getting frequent updates?
This was the opposite perception of C++11, C++14, C++17 where many programmers were complaining that it was getting too many features and getting too complicated.
>Perl wouldn't have been used even when it was the new hotness.[...], I'm just saying that the evidence you're offering for it isn't evidence.
Ok, I shouldn't have derailed the discussion by giving the impression that NVIDIA SDK could have been Perl. The main idea is that old languages other than Perl are getting in the news for new domains.
Let me be more generic: There is no new rejuvenation stories where <any_domain_where_Perl's_runtime_model_and_scripting_semantics_is_appropriate> was chosen by a new computing domain help keep it relevant and keep it from being "disliked" by programmers. Is that wording more acceptable and suitable evidence of Perl's decline?
I'd also still like to get your opinion of why Perl has declined in mindshare and is one of the most disliked languages in programmer's survey.
Mindshare.
I thought it was clear that my rejuvenation examples were not about point releases or size of cpan but rejuvenating the mindshare of programmers.
Instead of my words getting misinterpreted and we keep going around in circles, let's try to bypass that and turn the question around:
What is your explanation of why Perl has declined in mindshare and is one of the most disliked languages in programmer's survey?