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Build Insider Survey [April 2015]

Build Insider Survey [April 2015]

In 2015, the most popular developer technologies and tools in Japan: AngularJS vs. React, AWS vs. Azure, and a big leap of Atom

2015年6月25日

This article describes the popularity rankings of development technologies and tools which developers want to use in the future.

Masahiko Isshiki from Digital Advantage corp.
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Our web media -Build Insider- did a questionnaire survey about web and developer technology trend in Japan. This article shows the results.

In the first half of this article, I will explain "JavaScript libraries and Web technology that Web engineers want to use in the future" in ranking. In the second half, more widely, I will report What is really the most popular technology or tool such as "Device", "Smartphone" and "IDE" among developers (* By the way, we conduct questionnaire survey of the almost same question content in every year in April and October. By this fixed-point observation, We will reveal the transition of the technology trend. The results of the April 2014 and October Click here).

To summarize the impression of the survey results, it seems on the whole that the interest to IoT technology (in particular, Raspberry Pi + Windows IoT) is growing. In addition, practical use of Cloud technology is in full swing, and the results that the number of Cloud technology user reversed the number of On-premise technology user has come out (* As an aside, in the keynote of "AWS Summit Tokyo 2015" which was held on June 2, a speaker said "Cloud already became the new normal", and it's just the same meaning as this result).

Furthermore, it is impressive that "Atom" of a developers' text editor is rapidly growing.

So, let's take a look at our survey results now.

JS Technologies Trend

First, let's check which JavaScript technology is popular.

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Popular JavaScript categories

As use intention for real projects, the following categories in JavaScript libraries and tools are popular (top-five).

  • 1UI Libraries (such as jQuery UI, Bootstrap)
  • 2altJS (such as JavaScript alternative . TypeScript)
  • 3JavaScript Frameworks like MV* (such as React and AngularJS)
  • 4DOM manipulation (such as jQuery)
  • 5CSS Preprocessors (such as Sass)

As shown in the following graph, "UI Libraries" is ranked 1st by becoming the majority of more than 55%, and "AltJS" is ranked 2nd by becoming the half (about 49%). The use-intention percentage of "MVC (Model-View-Controller) style framework" which was the clear winner in the same period of last year has changed from about 68% to about 43%, and it means about 25% significant decline. To infer from this result, there seems to be a decline in the popularity of JS frameworks itself.

The popularity ranking of JavaScript libraries and tools categories [Multiple choice]
The popularity ranking of JavaScript libraries and tools categories [Multiple choice]

Ranking 6 or later that labels are shorten: "UI Components (Web Components)", "WoT (Web of Things: IoT that mainly implemented by Web technology)", "Mobile frameworks (such as jQuery Mobile)", "JavaScript Testing tools (such as Jasmine)", "Task runners (such as Grunt and gulp.js)", "JavaScript Package Manager (such as npm and Bower)", "Web Graphics and Data Visualization (such as three.js)", "JavaScript libraries and tools are not needed".
Sample answers of "The others": "Utility libraries (such as lodash)", "Data manipulation (such as Underscore.js and Linq.js)".

JS Frameworks and Libraries

Here, I will introduce the popularity ranking of JavaScript libraries by each category.

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JavaScript Frameworks like MV*

The current most popular JavaScript frameworks are the following four.

As the almost same order as last year, "AngularJS" popularity is still overwhelming. However, seeing as percentage, about 72% (last year) has changed to about 54% (this year). So, the popularity of "AngularJS" has decreased significantly by 18%.

Fast-growing "React" as a relatively new framework has appeared the 2nd-place in this ranking (But it is still 38%. So, there is a distance from the 1st-place). In contrast, "Backbone.js" of the 4th-ranked has reduced by 20% from last year, and it will be likely to drop out from this ranking next year.

The popularity ranking of JavaScript Frameworks like MV* [Multiple choice]
The popularity ranking of JavaScript Frameworks like MV* [Multiple choice]

Sample answers of "The others": "Three.js", "Polymer", "pixi.js", "jQuery is good enough.".

Technologies and Tools for creating apps using JS

Next, I will show the popularity ranking of JavaScript-related tools.

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altJS (JavaScript alternative)

As alternative languages and tools that can more effectively write JavaScript code, the following two are mainly popular.

Regarding AltJS, it has become a victory of TypeScript (79%), this lead will not be reversed for the time being (* this survey item might no longer needed next year).

This time,"altJS is not needed" choice was added. As a result, about 10% of Web engineers answered "unnecessary". The popularity of Haxe declined significantly from 15% last year to 4% now.

The popularity ranking of altJS (JavaScript alternative) [Multiple choice]
The popularity ranking of altJS (JavaScript alternative) [Multiple choice]

Sample answers of "The others": "AtScript", "FunScript", "scala.js", "LiveScript", "PureScript".

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CSS Preprocessors

Since altJS came out, next, let's check CSS Preprocessors. The following two were popular.

"Sass (SCSS)" which was a landslide victory (75%) one year ago is now 49% (that is 26% decrease), but has maintained the 1st-place. Thus, the difference between "Sass" and "LESS" of 2nd-place has shrunk.

As a result of adding the choice of "CSS Preprocessors are not needed" in this question, it was found that Many -over 20%- Web engineers think "it is unnecessary". Since this area is a situation that does not have a conclusion, we would like to check again next year.

The popularity ranking of CSS Preprocessors [Multiple choice]
The popularity ranking of CSS Preprocessors [Multiple choice]

"The others": There was no answer of tool's name.

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JavaScript Testing tools

Finally, let's check out the tools that can be used to test JavaScript code. The following four are popular in this category.

"Jasmine" is still ranked the 1st-place in this ranking. But, this time, "Selenium" of Web browser automatic execution tool was added to choices. This Selenium is the 2nd-place by a narrow margin.

Compared to a year ago, the popularity of "Mocha" has declined significantly from about 41% to about 11%.

The popularity ranking of JavaScript Testing tools [Multiple choice]
The popularity ranking of JavaScript Testing tools [Multiple choice]

Sample answers of "The others": "PhantomJS".

Development technology trends

So, let's check which technology area is popular.

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The popularity of technology-areas

In this survey, technology was divided into the following four main areas.

  • 1Web design / Web design / Web development
  • 2Next-generation-Device development / IoT development (such as Kinect, Oculus Rift, Raspberry Pi and Arduino)
  • 3Smartphone / tablet development
  • 4Windows / Mac desktop development

Compared to the last time, there were distinctive changes in the technology area trend that developers are interested in. The popularity of "smartphone and tablet development" which was 1st-ranked at the last time moved down to the 3rd-place in this ranking. On the other hand, the popularity of "Next-generation-Device development or IoT development" which was 4th-ranked at the last time increased by 10% and more, and moved up to the 2nd-place in this ranking. In addition, "Web development" which was 2nd-ranked at the last time keeps its popularity, and moved up to the 1st-place in the ranking.

The popularity of technology-areas [Multiple choice]
The popularity of technology-areas [Multiple choice]

Development technologies for apps of each technology-area

Web development technology

Since "Popular JavaScript categories" explained above, it is omitted in this section.

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Smartphone development technology

"Native app development using languages such as Swift or Java" has been popular. Now, "multi-platform development using languages such as C# or HTML5+JavaScript" is also becoming more popular. The following ones were very popular (top-six) as a Smartphone development technology.

The most readers of this media are C# developers (as described later). It affected the ranking to some extent. For this reason, Xamarin continues the 1st-place in this ranking.

As a difference from the last time, the popularity of "HTML5 hybrid app development using Cordova or Monaca etc." increased by 7%, and has climbed up one-rank. And "iOS native app development" has reduced by about 20% since the last time when attention was gathered by Swift announcement, and its rank has slipped from 4th-place to 6th-place.

The popularity ranking of Smartphone development technology [Multiple choice]
The popularity ranking of Smartphone development technology [Multiple choice]

Ranking 7 or later that labels are shorten: "React Native (JavaScript)", "Unreal Engine (C++)".
Sample answers of "The others": "Titanium Mobile". This time, "Cocos2d-x (C++)" has been omitted from the choices because that was ranked lower in the previous result.

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Device development technology

As the next-generation Device technology such as Kinect and Apple Watch, the popularity of "Raspberry Pi" has continued to grow.

And also, it is impressive that "Windows IoT" was the 2nd-place in the ranking (Build 2015 held when this questionnaire survey was being conducted. So, that might a little impact to this result).

On the other hand, "Google Glass" which was 2nd-ranked at the last time has moved down greatly in the ranking. Google Glass's sale for the general consumer has been canceled in January 2015. I think it's the reason of this result. This time, the choice label of "Google Glass" was changed to "Glasses-style Device (such as Google Glass)" which applies widely to many Glasses-style devices. And yet it was this result. It is the impression that the popularity of this technology area itself had been cooled.

The popularity ranking of Device development technology [Multiple choice]
The popularity ranking of Device development technology [Multiple choice]

Sample answers of "The others": "Microsoft Band", "Intel RealSense", "Drone", "Myo".

This time, new "Apple Watch" is 5th-ranked. In contrast, "Android Wear" which was ranked 5th-place at the last time has slipped down to 10th-ranked. The previous result of Android Wear was 35% and this time is 30%. Considering that it is a decrease of 5%, the popularity of Wrist Watch-style Devices may have been becoming calmer as the result of the changing user status from expectation to reality because many actual products has been released.

Technologies and Tools for creating apps of each technology-area

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Cloud Platforms

In this media that there are a lot of C# developers as readers, the result of cloud-platforms-usage became that a lot of people are using "Azure". Of course the popularity of "AWS" is also higher than the other cloud platforms by far. It shows that "both compete by a narrow margin".

It should be noted that, compared to the last time, 1st-ranked "Azure" increased by 8% and 2nd-ranked "AWS" increased by 2%. In contrast to those top-two, "Google Cloud Platforms" declined by 2% and "Heroku" declined by 7%. It means that the gap between those top-two Cloud Platforms and the others has been spreading. According to the news "Gartner published its Magic Quadrant analyzing IaaS market [in Japanese]", those top-two overwhelmed the others as same as this result.

The popularity ranking of Cloud Platforms [Multiple choice]
The popularity ranking of Cloud Platforms [Multiple choice]

Sample answers of "The others": "Oracle Cloud Platforms", " Cloud for the home network", "Cloud-use has still been prohibited orz".

In addition, "IBM Softlayer" is fast-growing (11%) as compared to the last time (5%).

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Databases and Storages

The popularity order (top-five) of use-intention about Databases and Storages is the following.

About Database technology, there was a movement that should be noted. The last time, "Azure SQL Database" was 2nd-ranked. But this time, although there is by a narrow margin, "Azure SQL Database" jumped to the 1st-place in this ranking. This result would suggest that "Development technology has shifted to the cloud. Now finally it became the majority". In addition, Cloud Storages such as "Azure Storage" and "Amazon S3" are also noticeable rising. So that means "Cloud including DB became a compulsory subject of engineers".

The popularity ranking of Databases and Storages [Multiple choice]
The popularity ranking of Databases and Storages [Multiple choice]

Sample answers of "The others": "UniVerse (AIDAM)", "GRAPH DB", "Realm".

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IDEs (Integrated Development Environment) and Text Editors for developers

The following ones were very popular (top-five) as an IDE or an Editor. The popularity of Visual Studio is especially high because the readers of this media are mainly C# developers (as described later).

A distinctive trend in this result is that "Atom" has risen to 3rd-place (from 9th-place at the last time) and has overtaken "Sublime Text" of 8th-place (that was 5th-place at the last time). This result of "Atom" is a big leap.

The popularity ranking of IDEs (Integrated Development Environment) and Text Editors for developers [Multiple choice]
The popularity ranking of IDEs (Integrated Development Environment) and Text Editors for developers [Multiple choice]

Sample answers of "The others": "AppCode", "MonoDevelop", "LighgTable".

Respondents attribute

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Age group

The age group is about the same as the last time. Students group of age 23 and younger is about 5%, and Young-adult group of age 24-34 is 47%. That is to say, the majority of the respondents is young engineer. Then, Mid-career group of age 35-44 is 35%, and Veteran group of age 45 or older is 13%.

Age group [Single choice]
Age group [Single choice]

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Jobs

Many people are "Business app developers" and "Web developers". Although this result is also about the same as the last time, each of "Smartphone app developers" and "Social game developers" has dropped one-rank.

Jobs [Multiple choice]
Jobs [Multiple choice]

Sample answers of "The others": "Test Engineer", "housewife", "Marketers", "Smartphone app operators", "Freelance", "Program writer".

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Programming languages

Over 60% of people are using "JavaScript". This result is no wonder because JavaScript is absolutely necessary for web development and design. And "C#" is also over 60% and ranks 1st. It would be a feature of this site.

Compared to the last time, 3rd-ranked "Java" developers decreased by about 10% from the previous, "PHP" developers increased by about 7%, and "C" developers decreased by about 6%. "Swift" developers who were conspicuous (5.7%) at the last time has become 3.8%, and that momentum is becoming a little calmer.

Programming languages [Multiple choice]
Programming languages [Multiple choice]

Sample answers of "The others": "VBA (2 people)", "VBScript", "PowerShell (Module, DSC)", "TypeScript", "AngularJS", "Xtend" etc.

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Computer for work

Many people are using "Windows" overwhelmingly. This result is about the same as the last time.

Computer for work [Multiple choice]
Computer for work [Multiple choice]

Sample answers of "The others": "Raspberry Pi 2".

I hope this will help.

※以下では、本稿の前後を合わせて5回分(第7回~第11回)のみ表示しています。
 連載の全タイトルを参照するには、[この記事の連載 INDEX]を参照してください。

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