The State of Developer Ecosystem in 2018

In the beginning of 2018 we surveyed 6,000 developers to identify the State of Developer Ecosystem.

Here's what we learned.

Key takeaways

Java

Most popular primary
programming language

JavaScript

Most used overall
programming language

Go

Most promising
programming language

Programming languages

Used regularly (%)Adopted in the future (%)
JavaScript64(+5)HTML / CSS55(+2)Java51(+4)SQL andits extensions47Python41(+13)Shell scriptinglanguages29PHP26(+3)C#22(+4)C++18(+6)TypeScript17(+8)C16(+4)Go12(+16)Kotlin9(+13)Ruby8(+5)Swift8(+7)Scala5(+4)Objective-C5(+2)Groovy4(+1)R3(+4)Lua3(+1)Rust2(+6)Elixir2(+3)Assembly2(+2)Haskell1(+2)F#1(+1)Clojure /ClojureScript1Other14(+8)

Question with checkboxes. Sum of shares may be more than 100%.
The list of languages only included the options which were not selected in the question “what programming languages do you regularly use?”

38% of all developers don't plan to adopt any new programming languages.

Primary Programming languages

Note: We asked respondents to rank their 3 primary programming languages by the frequency of use. Then we assigned weights to each position (1st - 3, 2nd - 2, 3rd - 1) and estimated the weighted popularity of the languages.

Which of the following tools do you regularly use?
IDE (e.g. Eclipse, IntelliJ IDEA)82%Source code collaboration tool (e.g. GitHub, GitLab, Bitbucket)77%Lightweight Desktop Editor (e.g. Sublime Text, Atom, Visual Studio Code, Vim)69%Issue tracker (e.g. Jira, YouTrack)44%Continuous Integration (CI) or Continuous Delivery (CD) tool (e.g. Jenkins, TeamCity)44%Static analysis tool (e.g. CodeClimate)14%Code review tool (e.g. Crucible, Upsource)13%In-cloud Editor or IDE8%None2%

Question with checkboxes. Sum of shares may be more than 100%.

Respondents are sticking with using IDEs rather than Lightweight Desktop Editors: 82 % regularly use IDEs while only 69% use editors.
Respondents prefer to custom-tailor their working environment to themselves: only 12 % do not customize their IDE / editors.
In-cloud IDEs and editors are still an unpopular choice: only 8% of respondents work with them on a regular basis
Most of the respondents have joined the dark side: 77% of respondents use dark theme for their editor or IDE.
What programming languages have you started learning / continued to learn in the last 12 months, if any?
Python30%JavaScript29%Java21%Go19%TypeScript16%Kotlin16%C#13%C++12%PHP10%Swift7%Rust6%C6%Ruby5%Scala5%R3%Other6%I am not learning any programming languages7%

Question with checkboxes. Sum of shares may be more than 100%.

Where do you host your databases and / or services and / or applications that you or your company develop?
Locally (on your workstation, developer environment or device)55%Private Servers (hosted on your company's cluster or server on-premises)54%Amazon Web Services30%Google Cloud Platform10%Microsoft Azure10%Heroku7%Cloud Foundry1%Rackspace1%Other13%

Question with checkboxes. Sum of shares may be more than 100%.

People are planning to move from self-hosted and on-premises solutions to major cloud providers like Amazon Web Services, Google Cloud Platform, and Microsoft Azure.
In the next 12 months, the share of private and local servers will drop by 6% and by 11%, respectively, while the share of Amazon Web Services, Google Cloud Platform, and Microsoft Azure will grow by 8%, 7%, and 3%, respectively.

Do you do unit testing in your projects?

59%11%30%
Yes, I write unit testsYes, I use unit tests,but I don't write themNo

Do you contribute to open-source projects?

4%2%12%20%22%37%3%
I work full-time onopen-source code andget paid for itI work full time onopen-source code butdo not get paid for itYes, regularly(at least once a month)Yes, from time to time(several times a year)Only contributeda few timesNo, but I would like toNo, and I would not like to

What operating systems are your development environments?

Windows62%Unix / Linux49%macOS44%Other1%

Question with checkboxes. Sum of shares may be more than 100%.

What types of applications do you develop?

For money
As a hobby
Web Back-endWeb Front-endMobile applicationsOther Back-endLibraries / FrameworksDesktopData analysisMachine learningEmbedded / IoTBIOtherI don't develop anything58%39%48%37%23%33%22%24%16%20%14%18%12%14%8%13%6%12%5%3%4%5%12%10%

Question with checkboxes. Sum of shares may be more than 100%.

Which mobile operating systems do you develop for?
Android86%iOS48%Other3%

This question was only answered by respondents who develop mobile applications.

35% of respondents develop for both Android and iOS.
How do you develop for mobile operating systems?
I use native tools72%I use cross-platformtechnologies / frameworks43%

Question with checkboxes. Sum of shares may be more than 100%.
This question was only answered by respondents who develop mobile applications.

15% of developers use both native tools and cross-platform technologies / frameworks.

Fun questions

Do you listen to music when coding?
77%Yes23%No
Which music genres do you prefer? Choose up to 3 of your favorites.
Electronic37%Pop32%Rock29%Classical28%Heavy metal17%Alternative15%Rock n' Roll14%Indie12%Jazz12%Hip Hop11%Rap9%Blues6%Punk Rock5%R&B5%Other11%

Question with checkboxes. Sum of shares may be more than 100%.
This question was only answered by respondents who listen to music while coding.

Developers, System Analysts, Product Managers, Team leads, QA engineers, Data Analysts, Instructors / Teachers / Tutors, and DevOps engineers all tend to prefer Electronic music when coding.
DBAs, UX / UI designers, and Architects mostly prefer Rock.
CIOs / CTOs / CEOs, Technical Support, and Business Analysts prefer classical music.

How many hours a day do you sleep?

I don't sleep!Less than 55-67-8More than 82%4%35%53%6%
How many hours a week do you spend coding?
For your day job (or primary activity), %For your personal or side projects, %
<1471-23193-816409-16151717-32254>32372
Where do you code the most?
At the office64%At home31%At a co-working center2%At a coffee shop / cafe2%Other1%
Developers who work independently on their projects usually do it from home, while those who work in a team do it from the office.
Do you code on weekends?
85%Yes15%No
Do you have and use a cell / smart phone?
Yes, Android69%Yes, Apple iOS41%Yes, a cell phone2%Yes, Blackberry1%Other1%

Question with checkboxes. Sum of shares may be more than 100%.

Do you prefer tea or coffee?

CoffeeTeaNone of the above57%33%10%

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