Software Development Statistics in 2017

According to annual survey from Stack Overflow every year, in January 2017, Stack Overflow has conti

According to annual survey from Stack Overflow every year, in January 2017, Stack Overflow has continued to researched, collected user activity data and asked developers questions related to interesting roles, programming languages, and programming technologies, as well as experience, education, salary, company types, employment, etc. In this post, it’s focused on developer roles and programming languages and technologies.

 

Developer Roles

About three-quarters of respondents identify as web developers, although many also said they are working to build desktop apps and mobile apps.

 

Most respondents rate themselves as Full-stack Developers more than any other role. On average, the full-stack developer can code comfortably in five to six major languages or frameworks. Executives are more comfortable using multiple languages and frameworks than any other programming job, often resulting from extensive work experience.

Specific Developer Types

Web developers

Compared to the rest of the world, the United States has a higher proportion of people who identify as full stack web developers, whereas Germany has a comparatively lower proportion.

 

Mobile Developers

As for mobile developers, the U.S. and United Kingdom have proportionally more iOS developers and fewer Android developers than the rest of the world.

 

Other Occupation

People other than full-time developers also write code as part of their jobs, and they come to Stack Overflow for help and community. This year, Stack Overflow gave additional occupation options to respondents who are not full-time developers, but who occasionally code as part of their work. These roles include analyst, data scientist, and educator

 

Programming Languages

For the fifth year in a row, JavaScript was the most commonly used programming language. And once again, SQL takes second place, and Java third. However, the use of Python overtook PHP for the first time in five years. 

 

Frameworks, Libraries, and Other Technologies

Node.js and AngularJS continue to be the most commonly used technologies in this category.

 

Databases

This is the first year Stack Overflow specifically asked developers what database technology they're using. MySQL and SQL Server were the most commonly used.

 

Languages Over Time

Change in technology popularity over time was arranged in ascending order of total 2013 to 2017 changes.

In the five years, some programming languages such as Python and Node.js grow in popularity, while the usage of languages like C# and C has been decreasing.

 

Most Loved Languages

For the second year in a row, Rust was the most loved programming language. This means that proportionally, more developers wanted to continue working with it than any other language. Swift, last year's second most popular language, ranked as fourth.

 

Most Dreaded Languages

For the second year in a row, Visual Basic (for 2017, Visual Basic 6, specifically) ranked as the most dreaded language. Most dreaded means that a high percentage of developers who are currently using the technology express no interest in continuing to do so.

 

Most Wanted Languages

Python shot to the most wanted language this year (as in, the language developers want to use this year more than any other), after ranking fourth last year.

You can read more statistics Stack Overflow 2017 for further information.

By Thuy Le

Comments (1) -

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