For the second year in a row we ran a developer survey to better understand open source runtime pains. The survey was geared towards anyone programming with open source languages.
We first ran the survey in 2018 and marked it as a baseline, in 2019 we added even more questions to better understand the pain points developers working with languages like Python, Go, Perl, Java, etc. are facing.
Prize Winner Announcement
As part of the survey, eligible respondents could enter to win a chance at one of three prizes. Three prizes were drawn randomly and we’re excited to announce the winners with their respective prizes. Congratulations, gentlemen! Your prizes are on their way.
- Lego Star Wars TIE Fighter: Matt Keranen
- Nintendo Switch Console: Bruce Carter
- Detective Pikachu Amiibo: Robert Miller
Addressing Open Source Runtime Pains
The survey compared results from 2018’s baseline report and helps us understand the challenges faced by developers, and coders holding various roles within an organization. We’re proud to say that this survey is the first to focus on open source runtime pains.
The survey results are openly available – no email required! – just click here. It’s part of the work we’re doing in defining Open Source Language Automation. We want to enable an ecosystem that removes bottlenecks, retrofitting, manual work associated with building, certifying and resolving open source languages.
The goal is for developers to “run a single command and get coding”.
The data obtained from the survey is an invaluable tool to measure and track progress towards solving open source runtime pains.
20% Decrease Coding Time
When analysing 2019 data we compared against 2018’s findings. Below are the high-level takeaways from the survey.
Developers are still wasting time on retrofitting languages to comply with enterprise criteria
- More than 61% of respondents spend four hours or less per day programming – a nearly 20% decrease in time spent programming from 2018
- 65% of respondents said they don’t contribute to or maintain open source projects; nearly half of them – 49% – blamed a lack of time
- 52% ranked adding or incorporating a new language as difficult to very difficult
Enterprise IT departments lack visibility into new security threats and struggle to track code in production for required updates, patches and new vulnerabilities
- 41% experienced some or a lot of problems ensuring security is up-to-date with the latest or most secure version of every package
- 40% experienced some or a lot of problems building new, stable releases that behave the same as old releases
- Bottlenecks and approval processes were ranked as the third and fourth biggest problems for developers
Popularity and satisfaction aren’t always connected when it comes to open source languages
- Developers use SQL the most often day to day, but Python has the highest satisfaction levels
- 80% of respondents use SQL the most, followed by Javascript at 77% and Python at 72%
- 77% were satisfied or very satisfied with using Python, followed by C# ranked at a satisfaction level of 68%
A New Market for Open Source Runtime Solutions
Last year we announced that we’re defining a new market for open source runtime solutions: Open Source Language Automation.
The reason for doing so is to solve the challenges enterprises face in the configuration, control, integrity and trust of open source languages. And a pivotal component of solving open source runtime pains is assessing the breadth and depth of issues developers, and all coders face on a daily basis. Issues we’ve come to accept as commonstance.
I Want the Report!!
Curious about the survey findings? Download your copy here – no email required!
Want to check out the ActiveState Platform to see what we’re working on to solve open source runtime pains?
The ActiveState Platform features are in Beta so you’ll be able to try out new stuff fresh from the lab. We’re dropping changes daily so check it out.
