Rodrigo Amorim Bahiense, Tue 2011-11-22 @ 13:43:58-0200:
Code language should not be chosen based on popularity. C is used in most unix-like software because of its quality and not as a consequence of the available developer pool for it.
Maybe not, but the person I was replying to was making the specific argument that higher-level languages like Haskell would be more suitable for a tool like pacman because a larger number of people would be able to contribute. I was simply pointing out the fact that that is certainly not the case for Haskell in particular. I don't think popularity is irrelevant, either, assuming you are interested in increasing the volume of contributions to your project. If you pick a relatively obscure language to work in, you are just creating another barrier that makes it harder for new people to become acquainted with the codebase.