programming-, scripting- and markup-languages

The survey clearly shows that the languages, frameworks or platforms used are of central importance to the developers. They are one of the reasons for zeal, satisfaction and job choice (see Part 12). As a result, businesses can capitalize on this factor in strategic planning. Because no matter how good a business idea is - it will only come off the ground if developers want to work with the underlying technology.

>Relevant data online as Excel

Incidentally, the following platforms are available for international comparison:

>Githut

>Stack Overflow

>Tiobe

Software developers clearly state that it is important to them which language, framework or platform they can or must use. Therefore, it is absolutely important to consider this for new projects and to question it for existing solutions. A well-marketed technology that no software developer wants to touch won't get you far.

If there were some additions to the shortlist of languages in 2019, the list seems to be complete with relevant languages in 2020. No additional language mentioned made it past the 5 mentions mark. Just below that are Julia (4), Lisp (4), Awk (4), Tcl (4), and GraphQL (3). Even if we GraphQL currently looks like a promising technology, the distribution is probably not yet enough to make it into the 2021 shortlist.

Languages developers use

We start with languages that are used effectively. In 2020, we report 115 languages in the swiss developer survey (our specifications plus additions from the participants). Every language listed here was chosen by at least 5 study participants. That's 10 languages less than in 2019 - but still an impressive diversity.

As in the previous year, we emphasize a differentiated view and distinguish between "main" and "supplementary" languages. Practically all developers need the latter in their daily work (HTML, CSS, SQL or Shellscript), but they would never call them primary languages - quite in contrast to Java, C#, JavaScript or Python etc. languages.

This claim is well supported by the fact that supplementary languages have many more mentions, while the primary languages are mentioned less often, indicating specialization. Therefore, we first show the supplementary languages in a separate list:

2020		2019
HTML	598	HTML	562
SQL	596	SQL	528
Shellscript**	567	CSS	520
CSS	522	JavaScript*	502
JavaScript*	493	Bash/Shell	416

The fact that Shellscript** gained so much ground here is probably due, among other things, to a clearer formulation compared to the previous year. In 2019, it was not immediately obvious to some developers that any form of shell script was meant.

JavaScript* is also an exception here, which may be considered both a "main" and "supplementary" language. This is because every web-related software project, which is almost all of them today, comes into contact with JavaScript. At the same time, there are more and more developers who use JavaScript in all areas, especially in the backend. Furthermore, more than twice as many developers use JavaScript than C#, PHP or Python. We do not include Typescript (superset of JavaScript) here, since 253 developers who use TypeScript also mention that they use JavaScript. So there is a clear distinction.

For the main languages, we arrive at the following ranking:

2020		2019
JavaScript	493	JavaScript	502
Java	455	Java	397
TypeScript	298	TypeScript	241
Python	206	Python	209
C#	177	C#	197
PHP	130	PHP	137
C++	92	C++	91
Groovy	88	C	85
C	82	Groovy	85
Kotlin	58	Kotlin	60
Go	49	Go	45
VBA	46	VBA	42
Swift	43	Swift	41
Ruby	38	Ruby	40
Objective-C	33	Perl	36
Scala	29	VB.NET	32
R	25	Objective-C	29
VB.NET	20	Matlab	28
Perl	19	Scala	24
Matlab	18	Assembly	22
Assembly	16	R	20
Abap	13	Abap	12
Delphi	12	Cobol	9
WebAssembly	9	WebAssembly	9
Dart	8	Elixir	8
F#	7	F#*	7
Elixir	6	Haskell*	7
Rust	6	Delphi*	6
Cobol	5	Elm*	6
Elm	5	Dart	5
Smalltalk	5	Clojure	5
Fortran	5	Rust	5

If we compare the top 10 with the previous year, we see hardly any significant change. After that, there are some fluctuations, but due to the small number of mentions, these can also be attributed to shifts in participants.

We see a few exciting points here:

• With the exception of Java, JavaScript is used almost twice as often as other languages.
• Java continues to be a strong force in Switzerland as well as internationally. The next few years will show how and where this will shift.
• While Python is already ahead of Java internationally, this has not happened here so far. In percentage terms, Python has actually dropped 1 percent from 2019 to 2020.
• Although only created in 2012, TypeScript already ranks high and could even gain 4 percentage points compared to 2019.
• Haskell, a language which was shortlisted in 2019 due to numerous requests, did not even make it past 5 mentions this year.
• Although controversial in public discourse, PHP continues to lead the way with a slight downward trend of 2 percent.
• In addition to TypeScript, as a "replacement language" for JavaScript, other similar languages are moving up, such as Kotlin as a Java replacement for Android development, or Go, developed as a C++ or C alternative, on which Docker and Kubernetes are based. 
• Although Rust is fondly touted as an alternative to C++, we have yet to see a strong adaptation. This despite the fact that Rust ranks among the top 5 languages that developers would like to use (see below). 
• Also represented are some languages that are often perceived as "phased out" such as VBA, Perl, Cobol or Delphi.
• It is also clear that there are a number of languages that are important for the Swiss region, but which hardly play a role internationally. For example Haskell, Delphi, Groovy, Matlab, Abap or Cobol.

Languages from 2019 marked with * were not pre-listed in our list, but were additionally provided by participants in the free text field. There was no need for additions here this year. Our assumption from 2019 that these languages would be chosen more often if they were pre-selected did not materialize. Developers are thus disciplined in adding missing choices. 

 

Languages developers would like to use

The picture is different for the languages that developers would like to use. It looks as if this list does not yet seem to have any influence on the languages actually used. That is, companies do not seem to be adapting these "desired" languages, or only very slowly.

Perhaps this is an opportunity for companies to attract developers by focusing on Python, Kotlin, Go, TypeScript or Rust - especially if this then gives them the chance to learn about these technologies.

• Compared to 2019, the number of languages that reached the 5 mention mark dropped by 6.
• For comparison, on the far right, the ranking of languages used in 2020: So there is a chance to see an upward trend in newcomers Go, Kotlin and Rust in the next few years.
• The low ranking of Java compared to its distribution is also astonishing. It could be argued here that hardly anyone "needs" to learn it again due to the already strong distribution. However, this thought can be refuted with TypeScript, Python or C#, since these are also widely used and established languages, which nevertheless inspire many developers.
• The low ranking of PHP has a particularly harsh effect:  Despite continued strong distribution, hardly anyone wants to learn the formerly leading web development language for beginners today. This is probably because the frontend, and thus JavaScript, is becoming increasingly important on the Web. In addition, JavaScript can also be used in the backend. The language is therefore more powerful for beginners and nowadays also comparably easy to learn.

Would like to use 2020	Would like to use 2019	In use 2020
Python 143	Python 120	JavaScript 493
Kotlin 138	Kotlin 119	Java 455
Go 130	Go 111	TypeScript 298
TypeScript 119	WebAssembly 89	Python 206
Rust 105	TypeScript 89	C# 177
WebAssembly 93	Rust 72	PHP 130
Swift 58	Swift 65	C++ 92
C# 54	C++ 60	Groovy 88
JavaScript 44	Scala 56	C 82
C++ 43	JavaScript 48	Kotlin 58
Haskell 38	C# 45	Go 49
SQL 37	Ruby 43	VBA 46
Scala 36	C 38	Swift 43
Shell script 28	R 36	Ruby 38
CSS 26	Bash/Shell 28	Objective-C 33
R 25	Elixir 28	Scala 29
F# 25	SQL 25	R 25
Ruby 24	Dart 25	VB.NET 20
Dart 24	Clojure 24	Perl 19
Java 22	HTML 22	Matlab 18
C 22	Groovy 22	Assembly 16
HTML 21	Java 18	Abap 13
Clojure 21	Matlab 17	Delphi 12
Groovy 18	CSS 16	WebAssembly 9
Elixir 18	Assembly 15	Dart 8
Erlang 17	PHP 14	F# 7
Matlab 16	Objective-C 14	Elixir 6
PHP 14	Haskell* 13	Rust 6
Elm 14	F#* 12	Cobol 5
Assembly 13	Perl 8	Elm 5
Objective-C 8	Elm* 7	Smalltalk 5
Perl 5	VBA 7	Fortran 5
	VB.NET 6
	Cobol 5

Here, too, the languages marked with * are taken from the free text data for 2019, but, interestingly, are hardly relevant in 2020.

Languages developers like

Please note: The word "like" is not synonymous with "frequently used". The focus in this section is clearly on languages that are both used and liked.

Here again we see a good convergence between liked and frequently used languages. That is, languages that are often used usually also have a correspondingly higher appeal.

Once again Shellscript is ranked higher here, as the selection was formulated more comprehensibly in 2020.

Liked 2020		Liked 2019		Used 2020
SQL	413	SQL	314	HTML	598
HTML	385	HTML	298	SQL	596
Java	339	Java	276	Shell script	567
Shell script	309	CSS	245	CSS	522
TypeScript	280	JavaScript	225	JavaScript	493
CSS	268	TypeScript	220	Java	455
Python	252	Python	207	TypeScript	298
JavaScript	248	C#	201	Python	206
C#	197	Bash/Shell	200	C#	177
Kotlin	125	C++	102	PHP	130
C++	121	PHP	95	C++	92
C	101	Kotlin	88	Groovy	88
PHP	92	C	85	C	82
Go	92	Go	72	Kotlin	58
Swift	60	Swift	64	Go	49
Rust	57	Ruby	48	VBA	46
Groovy	53	Groovy	45	Swift	43
Ruby	53	Scala	42	Ruby	38
WebAssembly	53	Rust	40	Objective-C	33
Scala	45	Assembly	32	Scala	29
Haskell	42	WebAssembly	29	R	25
R	30	R	27	VB.NET	20
F#	28	Elixir	27	Perl	19
Objective-C	26	Matlab	26	Matlab	18
Matlab	26	Clojure	18	Assembly	16
Assembly	25	Objective-C	18	Abap	13
Delphi	22	Perl	17	Delphi	12
Dart	21	Haskell*	15	WebAssembly	9
Clojure	20	VB.NET	14	Dart	8
Perl	19	VBA	12	F#	7
Elixir	17	Dart	11	Elixir	6
Elm	17	F#*	9	Rust	6
Erlang	16	Abap	7	Cobol	5
VB.NET	15	Smalltalk*	5	Elm	5
VBA	13	Elm*	5	Smalltalk	5
Smalltalk	13			Fortran	5
Abap	7
Cobol	6
Fortran	5

What is not clear from the list is how many developers actually like the language they use. Accordingly, we have evaluated this for the top 6 main languages:

	In use	Liked	Not liked
JavaScript	493	210 (43%)	158 (32%)
Java	455	294 (65%)	60 (13%)
TypeScript	298	204 (68%)	18 (6%)
Python	206	141 (68%)	20 (10%)
C#	177	132 (75%)	11 (6%)
PHP	130	69 (53%)	34 (26%)

(The percentages above put "like" and "dislike" in relation to "use" - but only for people who  actually use that language. "Dislike" and "Like" are not coupled, so here both, neither, or only one may have been checked).

• This shows that the top languages Java, TypeScript, Python and C# are also strongly liked by their developers - and will probably continue to be so in the foreseeable future.
• JavaScript performs worst here in percentage terms - perhaps because many developers do not use it voluntarily, but only because of technological constraints (browser language). Accordingly, TypeScript as a superset and quasi as a "supplemented variant" of JavaScript would have a higher acceptance among its users, since its use is more voluntary. 
• C# seems to have the highest level of satisfaction among its own users, with rejection matching that of TypeScript at a low level.
• PHP is listed here because of its special status: This is because, compared to JavaScript, which is mostly used in a complementary way, software projects that use PHP are also primarily built on it. This means that there are a large number of developers who work on PHP projects, but have only limited fun with it - which is very important for efficient development.

Languages ​​developers don't like

In contrast to the table above, we do not show a comparison with the languages actually used.

Here we continue directly from the table above and show the complete list, without any link to usage. This means that all "I don't like" mentions made by developers who do not actively use the language are also listed here.

Compared to the previous year, significantly more languages were rated as "don't like". In 2019, there were 1,901 languages so marked. In 2020, there were 2,697. We cannot explain this discrepancy by the slightly higher number of participants or otherwise. 

And although JavaScript and PHP are at the top of the list here, we should consider the results of the last chapter: Because many developers rate languages with "don't like", although they don't use them at all. This can be considered a bad reputation, but it doesn't mean that developers who work with them don't enjoy them.

2020		2019
JavaScript	254	JavaScript	205
PHP	238	PHP	196
CSS	185	Java	124
Java	160	CSS	113
VBA	153	VBA	113
Shell script	135	VB.NET	97
HTML	112	C++	89
C	108	Bash/Shell	85
C++	101	C	85
VB.NET	97	Objective-C	66
SQL	82	C#	62
C#	77	Python	60
Perl	77	Perl	59
Groovy	74	SQL	55
Objective-C	71	Assembly	55
Python	69	HTML	53
Assembly	55	Ruby	44
Matlab	52	Groovy	41
TypeScript	48	Matlab	38
Ruby	43	TypeScript	36
Cobol	42	Cobol	36
Scala	40	Abap	34
Abap	39	R	25
Fortran	38	Swift	23
Delphi	32	Scala	21
Swift	31	Go	19
R	31	Clojure	14
Kotlin	28	Dart	13
Smalltalk	28	Kotlin	12
Haskell	24	Rust	11
Go	23	Elixir	9
Dart	22	WebAssembly	8
Clojure	22
Rust	19
F#	18
Elm	18
Erlang	18
Elixir	17
WebAssembly	16

Languages ​​developers want to adopt

• For this section keep in mind the difference between new languages to be introduced and languages that developers would like to use needs. This could indicate that the coders clearly distinguish whether they want to try something new once or or really want to introduce it for the company or a product.
• Here TypeScript has made another big leap. This is followed by Kotlin and Python, which are fighting it out for third place. JavaScript, interestingly, is also still way up there.
• What is very eye-catching is the rise of Golang, which is now in 4th place. So not only do developers want to use Golang, they strongly recommend companies to adopt it.
• At the same time, C# has slipped down significantly, while Java has made up two places. It should be kept in mind here that fewer C# users participated this year. However, this also applies to Java.
• It is also important to note that developers are unlikely to suggest languages that are already in use in the company.

Adopt 2020		Adopt 2019		Like to use 2020
TypeScript	149	TypeScript	88	Python	143
Kotlin	104	Python	77	Kotlin	138
Python	92	Kotlin	69	Go	130
Go	70	JavaScript	48	TypeScript	119
JavaScript	59	C#	46	Rust	105
Rust	55	HTML	43	WebAssembly	93
SQL	54	Go	42	Swift	58
Java	52	CSS	38	C#	54
WebAssembly	49	Java	37	JavaScript	44
CSS	46	SQL	33	C++	43
HTML	45	Bash/Shell	32	Haskell	38
Shell script	45	Swift	30	SQL	37
C#	35	Rust	30	Scala	36
Swift	29	WebAssembly	27	Shell script	28
C++	21	Scala	23	CSS	26
Scala	21	C++	20	R	25
F#	18	PHP	16	F#	25
Dart	17	Ruby	15	Ruby	24
Groovy	16	R	13	Dart	24
Haskell	15	C	12	Java	22
R	13	Groovy	9	C	22
PHP	12	Clojure	8	HTML	21
Ruby	12	Elixir	9	Clojure	21
Clojure	10	Assembly	7	Groovy	18
Elm	8	VBA	5	Elixir	18
C	7	Matlab	5	Erlang	17
Elixir	7	F#*	5	Matlab	16
		Dart	5	PHP	14
				Elm	14
				Assembly	13
				Objective-C	8
				Perl	5

Languages developers want ​​to replace

Now the reverse question: Which languages are used but should be replaced?

• Here, too, the participants were more diligent in their selection and cast more votes overall than last year.
• However, the ranking does not change much. Only ShellScript moves up - which is again due to the aforementioned change in the survey description.
• Groovy stands out here, with more than twice as many mentions for replacement this year. Perhaps this is related to the change in the Grails team, as Groovy is mainly used for this framework.
• If we compare which languages are both introduced and gladly used anew and at the same time hardly replaced, Golang, Python and TypeScript certainly stand out. This is particularly noteworthy in the case of Python and TypeScript, since these languages are already well established.

2020		2019
PHP	155	PHP	122
JavaScript	146	JavaScript	100
Java	127	Java	91
VBA	99	VBA	79
Shell script	85	VB.NET	74
VB.NET	63	Objective-C	56
C	62	C	47
Objective-C	57	Perl	43
Perl	54	C++	40
Groovy	48	Cobol	42
C++	47	Bash/Shell	37
Cobol	50	SQL	32
CSS	42	CSS	30
SQL	34	C#	27
Ruby	30	Ruby	22
C#	28	Assembly	21
Delphi	27	Abap	21
Matlab	25	Groovy	19
Assembly	25	Python	17
Abap	25	HTML	16
Fortran	25	Matlab	16
Python	23	R	14
HTML	22	TypeScript	11
Scala	17	Swift	9
TypeScript	16	Scala	9
Smalltalk	16	Kotlin	6
Kotlin	13	Dart	6
Swift	8
R	8
F#	7
Go	6
WebAssembly	6
Haskell	6
Dart	6
Erlang	6
Clojure	5

Languages ​​developers want to keep

For the sake of completeness, here are the languages that are already in use and, according to the developers, should continue to be used by companies.

Here, it is now necessary to consider which languages should be retained as often as replaced. In other words, do these camps balance each other out or is there a clear direction in which opinions are going?

PHP shows a clear trend towards "replace", which outweighs "keep". This is in contrast to JavaScript, which many more developers want to continue to build on than replace.

Keep 2020		Keep 2019		Replace 2020
HTML	387	HTML	297	PHP	155
SQL	385	CSS	258	JavaScript	146
CSS	305	SQL	256	Java	127
Shell script	277	JavaScript	242	VBA	99
Java	267	Java	203	Shell	85
JavaScript	227	Bash/Shell	188	VB.NET	63
TypeScript	152	TypeScript	144	C	62
Python	137	C#	117	Objective-C	57
C#	118	Python	102	Perl	54
C++	71	C++	57	Groovy	48
PHP	58	PHP	52	C++	47
C	57	C	41	Cobol	50
Kotlin	34	Kotlin	36	CSS	42
Groovy	30	Swift	34	SQL	34
Swift	29	Go	30	Ruby	30
Go	27	Groovy	28	C#	28
Ruby	20	Ruby	27	Delphi	27
Assembly	18	Scala	15	Matlab	25
R	14	Objective-C	12	Assembly	25
Scala	13	Assembly	12	Abap	25
Objective-C	9	Rust	12	Fortran	25
Matlab	8	VB.NET	10	Python	23
Perl	5	Matlab	8	HTML	22
WebAssembly	5	Perl	7	Scala	17
F#	5	R	7	TypeScript	16
Erlang	5	VBA	6	Smalltalk	16
		Abap	6	Kotlin	13
		Clojure	6	Swift	8
				R	8
				F#	7
				Go	6
				WebAssembly	6
				Haskell	6
				Dart	6
				Erlang	6
				Clojure	5