ADSP: Algorithms + Data Structures = Programs Episode 265: 🇦🇺 YOW! Live 🇦🇺 Kevlin Henney & Damian Maclennan
Dec 19, 2025
Kevlin Henney, an independent consultant and programming expert, discusses the evolution of programming languages, emphasizing the surprising stability of top languages and how LLMs are reinforcing the popularity of incumbents like Python. He explores the resurgence of features from past decades in modern languages and predicts gradual changes in the landscape. Damian Maclennan, the new technical director of YOW! Conferences, shares insights on the importance of junior developers and the invaluable social interactions at conferences, highlighting YOW's role in community building.
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Mainstream Languages Move Slowly
- Language rankings change slowly and show a stable, skewed core dominated by older languages.
- New languages thrive in a long tail but face steep barriers to mainstream adoption due to incumbent code and job ecosystems.
The Millennial Bump And A Growing Long Tail
- Many mainstream languages are 'millennials' and the landscape is biased toward older languages with strong footholds.
- The long tail is growing because creating new languages is easier now, but that doesn't guarantee mainstream impact.
AI Reinforces Existing Language Biases
- AI and LLMs reinforce existing language biases because they train on existing data and patterns.
- That reinforcement slows change by favouring languages and styles already well represented in training data.