Stack Overflow User Survey Results

Re:Stack Overflow User Survey Results by ajross on Friday January 25, 2013 @12:06PM (#5116438)

Note that the "win" is less about language-vs-language and more about environment. Fifteen years ago, you saw Java score a similar rapid "win" over C++, which is gave up more slowly to C# over the following decade.

What this really shows is that (1) most programming is "IT" programming (i.e. focused development for specific businesses), (2) most IT programming is user-focused, and (3) we've seen a rapid shift in the customer's preferred UI environment.

Java was a revelation for people developing client software in the 90's. It was faster and easier, and in many cases could be deployed over the web. Its later wins on the server backend (which came more slowly) were driven by the client side.

And Javascript is taking that mantle, driven by the mobile world. Yes, you could still develop a Windows client app, but it won't work on your employees iPhones and Galaxy S3's. So you deploy a web app instead.

And thus you use Javascript.

[ Parent | on HN ]

Re:Stack Overflow User Survey Results by Zarathust on Friday January 25, 2013 @04:44PM (#5117845)

According to the TIOBE index[1], it only shows that SO is very biased toward javascript, not that it is more or less used. StackOverflow is simply the new goto place for js programmers and seems to become more and more exclusively driven by web development, which might not reflect the whole programming industry.

[1] http://www.tiobe.com/index.php/content/paperinfo/tpci/index....

[ Parent | on HN ]

Re:Stack Overflow User Survey Results by svachalek on Friday January 25, 2013 @05:59PM (#5118233)

True to a degree, but it's not as if TIOBE is unbiased.

[ Parent | on HN ]

Re:Stack Overflow User Survey Results by martinced on Friday January 25, 2013 @12:56PM (#5116685)

I think it's a bit more complicated than that. Business / or "IT" as you call often has DB + server-side + client-side. The server-side has been taken over mostly everywhere by either Java or its younger cousin C# and you go to any big company and you'll find one of these two languages heavily used.

What is changing now is that people / employees have realized that it's convenient to be able to use any browser, from any device (desktop / laptop / tablet / smartphone), from any OS (iOS, Linux / Android, OS X, Windows) on the client-side.

And the one indisputed king inside the browser to code the client-side is JavaScript.

IMHO It's not exactly as if monothreaded JavaScript engines are going to displace server-side Java / C# anytime soon.

Webapps are accessed from clients using JavaScript. But Webapps themselves, at least for many "enterprisey" stuff are very often coded in Java or C# (or at least virtually always in languages targetting either the JVM or .Net).

[ Parent | on HN ]

Re:Stack Overflow User Survey Results by ajross on Friday January 25, 2013 @02:21PM (#5117134)

I don't think we actually disagree. Backend language choices have always shown more diversity, and will continue to do so. But still, the number of lines of code and developer hours dedicated to these applications is dominated by the front end. With very few exceptions, UI apps have always been "heavier" than the data engines behind them.

So even though C# won't be going away any time soon, it still shows well below Javascript in terms of "acceptance".

[ Parent | on HN ]