The worst (level of nastyness * usage) offenders all probably have a reason for being popular despite their flaws:
- Bash: installed everywhere you want to work (yes, who actually wants to work on Windows ;-)
- C/C++: when speed/size matters there was no alternative except Assembly until recently
- Javascript: until recently this was the most sane option for client side code on the web (Active X and Java applets existed yes but managed to be even worse.)
- PHP: Low cost hosting, Function-As-A-Service way before that became popular, shared nothing architecture, instant reload for local development bliss
- Bash: installed everywhere you want to work (yes, who actually wants to work on Windows ;-)
- C/C++: when speed/size matters there was no alternative except Assembly until recently
- Javascript: until recently this was the most sane option for client side code on the web (Active X and Java applets existed yes but managed to be even worse.)
- PHP: Low cost hosting, Function-As-A-Service way before that became popular, shared nothing architecture, instant reload for local development bliss