• Darkfeign (6/6) Mar 17 2016 http://stackoverflow.com/research/developer-survey-2016
• Adam D. Ruppe (10/10) Mar 17 2016 I doubt this is a wholly representative sample because I'm
• Darkfeign (5/16) Mar 17 2016 It definitely isn't, as JavaScript is taking all the titles
• Jonathan M Davis (15/21) Mar 17 2016 I don't recall even being asked to fill out such a survey, though
• Darkfeign (9/15) Mar 18 2016 Certainly valid. From the reddit post of the survey people
• Jonathan M Davis (11/29) Mar 18 2016 Which just underscores my point. The SO survey is _not_ providing

Darkfeign <darkfeign gmail.com> writes:

http://stackoverflow.com/research/developer-survey-2016

Developer survey results are in from Stack Overflow. Particularly 
interested to see is Rust topping the 'Most Loved' category, with 

thoughts on the results and what you found most surprising, if 
anything.

Adam D. Ruppe <destructionator gmail.com> writes:

I doubt this is a wholly representative sample because I'm 
guessing a lot of people don't bother answering Stack Overflow 
surveys. I know I didn't, and I go to the site almost daily.

But lol, if the average student has 3.4 years experience, perhaps 
I should revise my numbers. On job applications and such, I only 
count experience where I was paid enough money to pay bills off 
it - I start in 2009 when writing that up, whereas I've actually 
been coding in some degree or another since about 2001 (and D 
since about 2006, though I also typically use late 2008 as the 
point where I got serious with it).

Darkfeign <darkfeign gmail.com> writes:

On Thursday, 17 March 2016 at 14:54:52 UTC, Adam D. Ruppe wrote:
 I doubt this is a wholly representative sample because I'm 
 guessing a lot of people don't bother answering Stack Overflow 
 surveys. I know I didn't, and I go to the site almost daily.

 But lol, if the average student has 3.4 years experience, 
 perhaps I should revise my numbers. On job applications and 
 such, I only count experience where I was paid enough money to 
 pay bills off it - I start in 2009 when writing that up, 
 whereas I've actually been coding in some degree or another 
 since about 2001 (and D since about 2006, though I also 
 typically use late 2008 as the point where I got serious with 
 it).

It definitely isn't, as JavaScript is taking all the titles 
there, as well as Mac OSX being the most popular primary 
operating system according to those who completed the survey, 
which is kind of scary to think about.

Jonathan M Davis <jmdavisProg gmx.com> writes:

On Thursday, 17 March 2016 at 14:16:49 UTC, Darkfeign wrote:
 http://stackoverflow.com/research/developer-survey-2016

 Developer survey results are in from Stack Overflow. 
 Particularly interested to see is Rust topping the 'Most Loved' 

 peoples' thoughts on the results and what you found most 
 surprising, if anything.

I don't recall even being asked to fill out such a survey, though 
I likely would have ignored it just like Adam did. Regardless, 
the results that I've typically seen from such surveys at SO 
always seem biased in ways that make the information seem almost 
meaningless to me - e.g. the ages are typically on the low end, 
indicating that SO really is not representative of programmers as 
a whole - just programmers who ask questions online - which 
really shouldn't be surprising, but it makes me seriously 
question whether it indicates much of anything about programmers 
as a whole.

The bottom line is that the information that they have seems to 
be biased enough that I don't see much point in paying attention 
to it.

- Jonathan M Davis

Darkfeign <darkfeign gmail.com> writes:

On Thursday, 17 March 2016 at 18:33:08 UTC, Jonathan M Davis 
wrote:
 On Thursday, 17 March 2016 at 14:16:49 UTC, Darkfeign wrote:
 http://stackoverflow.com/research/developer-survey-2016

 The bottom line is that the information that they have seems to 
 be biased enough that I don't see much point in paying 
 attention to it.

 - Jonathan M Davis

Certainly valid. From the reddit post of the survey people 
mentioned that it would be quite common to see languages like 
JavaScript at the top of Stack Overflow surveys and their user 
data, because JavaScript as a language changes far often than 
most, along with an incredible turnover in new libraries emerging 
before fizzling out just a year or so later. While languages like 
C/C++ and Java only see major updates over a period of years.

Jonathan M Davis <jmdavisProg gmx.com> writes:

On Friday, 18 March 2016 at 14:28:03 UTC, Darkfeign wrote:
 On Thursday, 17 March 2016 at 18:33:08 UTC, Jonathan M Davis 
 wrote:
 On Thursday, 17 March 2016 at 14:16:49 UTC, Darkfeign wrote:
 http://stackoverflow.com/research/developer-survey-2016

 The bottom line is that the information that they have seems 
 to be biased enough that I don't see much point in paying 
 attention to it.

 - Jonathan M Davis

 Certainly valid. From the reddit post of the survey people 
 mentioned that it would be quite common to see languages like 
 JavaScript at the top of Stack Overflow surveys and their user 
 data, because JavaScript as a language changes far often than 
 most, along with an incredible turnover in new libraries 
 emerging before fizzling out just a year or so later. While 
 languages like C/C++ and Java only see major updates over a 
 period of years.

Which just underscores my point. The SO survey is _not_ providing 
information that actively reflects programmers as a whole. It's 
just reflecting a certain subset of programmers who ask or answer 
question on SO. And that's potentially valuable data about what's 
going on with SO, but it means that the information isn't worth 
much when it comes to determining anything about programmers in 
general. The fact that it's so biased makes it quite clear that 
the information is not generally applicable, much as it might be 
interesting with regards to SO.

- Jonathan M Davis