The Shape of Code

I recently read an article saying that Christianity had 33,830 denominations, with 150 having more than 1 million followers. Checking the references, World Christian Encyclopedia was cited as the source; David Barrett had spent 12 years traveling the world, talking to people to collect the data. An evidence-based man, after my own heart.

Checking the second-hand book sites, I found a copy of the 1982 edition available for a few pounds, and placed an order (this edition lists 20,800 denominations; how many more are there to be ‘discovered’).

The book that arrived was a bit larger than I had anticipated. This photograph shows just how large this book is, compared to other dead-tree data sources in my collection (on top, in red, is your regular 400 page book):

My interest in a data-driven discussion of the spread and diversity of religions, was driven by wanting ideas for measuring the spread and diversity of programming languages. Bill Kinnersley’s language list contains information on 2,500 programming languages, and there are probably an order of magnitude more languages waiting to be written about.

The data is available to researchers, but is not public 🙁

The World Christian Encyclopedia is way too detailed for my needs. I usually leave unwanted books on the book table of my local train station’s Coffee shop. I have left some unusual books there in the past, but this one feels like it needs a careful owner; I will see whether the local charity shop will take it in.