Microsoft has a team of people who concern themselves with non-professional programmers. This includes students, hobbyists, and anyone who isn't primarily paid to write code, but finds themselves writing it anyway, typically at home and on their own nickel. (Apparently they outnumber professional developers four to one.) John Montgomery, of that team, says that non-professional programmers use HTML and Javascript the most, followed by (believe it or not) C++. While I suppose the presence of CS students who are taking C++ courses must skew the numbers, I still find it surprising. There are a lot of languages that are easier to pick up and noodle with in your free time than C++. I think it shows that people will move towards a tool that does what they need.

Kate