The Most Loved and Most Disliked Programming Languages Revealed in Stack Overflow Survey (stackoverflow.com)

angel'o'sphere shares a report: The annual Stack Overflow survey is one of the most comprehensive snapshots of how programmers work, with this year's poll being taken by almost 90,000 developers across the globe. This year's survey details which languages developers enjoy using, which are associated with the best paid jobs, which are most commonly used, as well as developers' preferred frameworks, databases, and integrated development environments.

Python's versatility continues to fuel its rise through Stack Overflow's rankings for the "most popular" languages, which lists the languages most widely used by developers. This year's survey finds Python to be the fastest-growing major programming language, with Python edging out Android and enterprise workhorse Java to become the fourth most commonly used language. [...] More importantly for developers, this popularity overlaps with demand for the language, with Julia Silge, data scientist at Stack Overflow, saying that jobs data gathered by Stack Overflow also shows Python to be one of the most in-demand languages sought by employers.

[...] Rust may not have as many users as Python or JavaScript but it has earned a lot of affection from those who use it. For the fourth year running, the language tops Stack Overflow's list of "most-loved" languages, which means the proportion of Rust developers who want to continue working with it is larger than that of any other language.[...] Go stands out as a language that is well paid, while also being sought after and where developers report high levels of job satisfaction. Full report here.

Comments

Self Selected Survey Participants ....

[Troy Roberts]

Always produce significant and valid results .... NOT!

Fuck Python

[illiac_1962]

All this Python popularity reminds me of the rise of BASIC's popularity. It won't be long before people think you can write serious, user facing applications with that steaming pile. I can defintitely get behind using it for infrastructure automation and analytics but fuck trying to build anything large. But alas, the non technical will hear buzz of its popularity and the inexperienced will be allowed to build shit with it. God help us all.

Re:Fuck Python

[drinkypoo]

As I tell my Python-enamored son every day: "Python is just Perl with the curly bits rubbed off". What I don't say is Perl just a universal scripting language and little better than Shell Scripts on any system.

No way. Perl is grossly better than shell scripts, at least where the job is better done with perl. Some very simple jobs are still best done with a shell script. If you have to do anything complicated, though, perl is going to use a lot less resources because you're not having to construct complex pipes to do simple things.

Perl only ever made sense where there was a lot of string handling to do. Alas, people used it for other things as well because they understood perl, but not the languages they should have been using (Mostly C or C++, in Perl's heyday.)

Re:Fuck Python

[dbrueck]

Language choice is fairly subjective, so if you don't like Python, that's cool. But there are a number of solid reasons why it has grown in popularity and it's not because it's something new - the language is almost 30 years old now. I've been using it for about 20 years now and for me it has been terrific for one-off utility scripts written by one person to huge projects with many developers at a couple of different Fortune 50 companies, and everything in between.

Many of the alleged reasons why Python would be unusable for certain scenarios (e.g. large projects) tend to be fallacies or more theoretical problems than actual problems.

The choice of programming language *always* involves tradeoffs. Python isn't the best tool for every job, but in many scenarios the benefits have outweighed the costs in a pretty lopsided manner. To each his own of course.

Re:Fuck Python

[fluffernutter]

When you write pseudo-code do you write all the brackets? The point of python is to be like pseudo-code but actually be functional. If you're writing something where speed doesn't matter that much but you need absolute flexibility in functionality Python will get you there quick. If you're writing a driver, use C for chrissakes.

Re:Fuck Python

[fluffernutter]

If I could pick a language that does what I want and I could learn quickly (ie. any fool can learn it) then why wouldn't I use it? Are you saying I should spend extra months learning a horribly complex language that I only need 10% the capability of?

Re:Android?

[iggymanz]

the benefit was it gives megaphone to those who support cute niche flash-in-the-pan fad languages

My Claw Hammer

[Carcass666]

I love my claw hammer. It works for anything I want to build, and I never need other tools. People who use ball-peen hammers or malletts obviously don't know how to use hammers properly. Anybody who uses screwdrivers or wrenches is obviously an idiot, who doesn't really understand how to build things.

Re:Folks like Python because

[Anonymous Coward]

Python is impossible to refactor. If formatting is an issue, use an auto formatter.

Re:What happened to Perl?

[damn_registrars]

I wondered the same about Perl: An easy check is a job search. It doesn't look good.

I generally advise nobody ever apply to a job that lists a specific programming language as an absolute requirement, it is usually just a pathway to obsolescence. Find a posting instead that describes the types of problems they are looking to solve and then present to them why you are the best person to help solve them. The language choice is not critical, and never should be.

Just because it isn't listed as a job requirement doesn't mean it's not used, either. This shitty website still runs primarily on Perl.

Re:Loving a language?

[Opyros]

The enjoyment of one's tools is an essential ingredient of successful work.

--Donald Knuth, Seminumerical Algorithms

Re:Hate for Java?

[bobbied]

Yup, exactly this...

The compiler doesn't really care if you want to multiply the letter "A" by "5" and then use the result as a pointer to a data structure. Of course, there have been improvements in the compilers over the years, where they will at least complain about type mismatches, and the ever valuable LINT program to help keep you out of the weeds. But in the end, you are free to do as you please, as fast as the machine will chew though the assembly code the compiler wrote for you (or as I've done in the past, the assembly you wrote for the compiler).

The issue most of these surveys don't take into account is which tool is suited for which job. My favorite language depends on the task at hand and the suitable tools in the my tool box. Writing a device driver? C or assembly.. Writing some GUI to run locally? C++/Java... Need to interface with some specific Java library? Then Java.... It all depends.