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Programming Trends on StackOverflow

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Re: Programming Trends on StackOverflow

#12

Post by kp27 »

This is pretty cool, the last frame is telling.

It would be interesting to see the tags compared to each other by their relative bucket. As in IOS/iPhone/Android or web frameworks Django/RoR/Play/etc compared.

Also I'd be interested in knowing how the java popularity is without android (postings without the android tag).

Re: Programming Trends on StackOverflow

#14

Post by oneeyedpigeon »

Interesting data. The founders (Joel Spolsky, Jeff Atwood) are strong proponents of Windows programming, and the initial popularity of .net and c# make a lot of sense in that context. As the site has become more and more popular, the audience now consists of many people who aren't even aware of who those founders are, let alone follow their work. As such, the language spread is much more representative.

As someone who never goes anywhere near Windows programming, I'm quite pleased about the direction this trend has taken.

Re: Programming Trends on StackOverflow

#15

Post by Phlarp »

yulaow wrote: post #11

So, are we seeing a fall of microsoft from the developers' point of view? Are windows phone and asp.net mvc not enough to try to get back the hackers in the platform?

This was my interpretation, the largest downward movers across the board were the Microsoft stack technologies.

Perhaps, given this data is from a Q and A site, these languages have just gotten so amazing in the last three years that developers are collectively asking fewer questions because they're running into fewer critical / main sequence blocking issues. Maybe these languages have moved to only being deployed by established and professional shops, leading to less of the entry level developer "noise" questions on SO

[e]: sibling comment explains these trends, quite convincingly, as site demographics.

I'd love to see this data compared to a similar set from github. Although public repo stats would suffer the same selection bias as SO posts.

Re: Programming Trends on StackOverflow

#16

Post by damian2000 »

frankcaron wrote: post #10

Surprised to see Objective C dropping; I wonder why that is? It sure doesn't feel like iOS is getting more web view apps, and with the increased frequency and quality of apps on the App Store in lieu of iOS porting, you'd think it would go up.

Its not really dropping in terms of total questions asked, (obj-C has been sort of constant for about 12 months) but the other tags are increasing. The chart shows a proportion of the top 25 tags.

Re: Programming Trends on StackOverflow

#17

Post by throwit1979 »

yulaow wrote: post #11

So, are we seeing a fall of microsoft from the developers' point of view? Are windows phone and asp.net mvc not enough to try to get back the hackers in the platform?

No. SO was founded by two windows developers, and build on a windows stack. They had a podcast detailing the process of development prior to public release of the site, followed primarily by windows developers.

The initial audience of the site was, ergo, primarily windows developers. As popularity grew, more developers from the broader community showed up, driving the proportion of windows questions down.

Re: Programming Trends on StackOverflow

#18

Post by frankcaron »

damian2000 wrote: post #16
frankcaron wrote: post #10

Surprised to see Objective C dropping; I wonder why that is? It sure doesn't feel like iOS is getting more web view apps, and with the increased frequency and quality of apps on the App Store in lieu of iOS porting, you'd think it would go up.

Its not really dropping in terms of total questions asked, (obj-C has been sort of constant for about 12 months) but the other tags are increasing. The chart shows a proportion of the top 25 tags.

Ah, fair enough.

Re: Programming Trends on StackOverflow

#19

Post by gamegoblin »

kp27 wrote: post #12

This is pretty cool, the last frame is telling. It would be interesting to see the tags compared to each other by their relative bucket. As in IOS/iPhone/Android or web frameworks Django/RoR/Play/etc compared. Also I'd be interested in knowing how the java popularity is without android (postings without the android tag).

Agreed with buckets. The iPhone tag drops to next to nothing, but iOS rises. I suspect this is due to people programming more for the iPhone/iPad family rather than just the phone. I wish that they were all grouped.
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