The 2017 JavaScript Status Report: Asked 23,000 developers, they gave this answer
Editor’s note: There is an old joke about programming languages that goes like this: those who write C look down on those who write C++, those who write C++ look down on those who don’t write Java, those who write Java look down on those who write JS, and those who write JS look down on artists. So JavaScript has fallen to the bottom of the contempt chain for programming languages. But the language has long been one of the top 10 programming languages to do almost anything. Check out the 2017 state of JavaScript report by Raphael Benitte, Sacha Greif, and Michael Rambeau.
I recently published the results of our 2017 edition of our annual state of JavaScript Survey, which is based on responses from 23,000 developers.
From fashion trends to salary details, the results reveal a lot. If you haven’t already come in and see for yourself. But amid all this data, there are 10 things that stand out.
Even if you haven’t seen these results yet, you might want to check out the new features and ideas section we’ve just added.
Insight #1: React Stand firm
This year’s release confirms last year’s trend: React is now the dominant front-end library.
React has the happiest users so far (dark purple bar)
Early criticism of React (usually centered on the way React mixed HTML and JS) now seems like a distant memory, and Facebook has put aside the last major annoyance for developers this year — the cancellation of patent clauses in their copyright agreements.
With usage and developer satisfaction at an all-time high, it’s safe to say React is on top of the mountain, at least for now.
Insight #2: Angular is shifting to a new role
That doesn’t mean you can condemn Angular. Yes, Angular isn’t as strong as React, but it has some very strong factors behind it.
First, Angular has the power of Google behind it. Call it what you will, that’s one of the best engineers in the industry, and they’re putting in full-time hours to improve the framework.
It’s also important to point out that Angular still has a huge user base. Banks, governments, and other large companies have not been as quick to embrace this latest craze as you regular freelancers, who often have a large legacy Angular code base to maintain for this reason.
“New” Angular (2+) vs. “old” Angular (AngularJS) : Lower acceptance, higher developer satisfaction
But this last point is perhaps the most critical: Angular stopped trying to compete with React, and instead shifted its focus to the enterprise market. Just look at Angular’s adoption of TypeScript: while it may deter some developers, the decision also brings the kind of reliability and security that enterprise applications need.
Insight #3: You can’t ignore vue.js anymore
Vue seemed to come out of nowhere last year and in a very short time earned himself the title of React’s biggest threat. It may not have Angular’s audience size or Ember’s longevity, but it has something that can beat both: momentum.
Vue & React: These two have the highest developer satisfaction (light purple vs dark purple)
While it still seems unlikely that Vue will beat React, there’s no denying that Vue has a better story when it comes to providing a full-framework experience, thanks to official routing and state management libraries maintained by the same core team.
Insight #4: Knowing something about libraries will help you earn more money (but not for the reasons you think)
By collecting and cross-referencing salary data, we were able to figure out which technology was the most profitable.
Different JavaScript technologies, in order of salary from lowest (left) to highest (right)
As the results suggest, it is often niche technologies such as Polymer or Reason that are associated with the highest salaries.
JavaScript front-end libraries, in order of salary, from lowest (left) to highest (right)
While it is possible that Polymer earns a higher salary, it is also possible that more experienced developers (who tend to earn more) tend to experiment with more different libraries, while less experienced programmers prefer to concentrate their managers on one or two mainstream technologies.
So following this list might (just might) not be the key to earning more money.
Insight # 5:2018 is going to be the year of GraphQL
If you’re like most survey respondents, you’ve probably heard of GraphQL and are interested in it, but you haven’t tried it yet.
REST wishes it had a cool logo
As it turns out, this is a very common situation. Of all the technologies mentioned in the survey, GraphQL is the one that is generating the most interest — even though it currently has a small number of users.
The big yellow bars represent the 14,000 developers who are curious about GraphQL
Speaking of current users, it’s worth pointing out that Transparency is generally very happy with GraphQL. With the combination of high interest and high satisfaction here, don’t be surprised if 2018 is the year GraphQL crosses the chasm into the mainstream.
Insight #6: JavaScript! = the front-end
It’s been a while since we learned that JavaScript can be used in more than just browsers. After all, Node is a very popular back-end option that has been around for several years.
But 2017 saw further expansion of JavaScript: platforms like AWS Lambda let you write back-end code without one, and the growing popularity of Internet-of Things devices means there’s a good chance your toaster will end up running JavaScript before long, too.
This toaster uses heat from running Slack’s desktop app to bake bread
If this sounds ridiculous, remember that the hottest text editor of the year, VS Code itself is written in JavaScript and runs as Electron.
JavaScript evolved from a tool for displaying banner ads to a writing tool for text editors, all within a few years. Trust me, JavaScript toasters may be here sooner than you think.
Insight #7: Microsoft is fighting back
Speaking of VS Code, this is definitely one of the big surprises of the year. While Sublime Text and Atom were fighting for the throne of Text editors, new entrant VS Code broke in and stole their lunch.
In the past Sublime Text tended to have a speed advantage that was offset by an unintuitive UI, while Atom had a nice UI but tended to feel slow.
VS Code editor
The results suggest that VS Code may have found the right balance. Microsoft’s engineers did a good job of improving performance, even though it was based on Electron like Atom. Like Sublime, it supports a wide range of plugins and customizations, although a more user-friendly package “just works.”
Add to that the rise of TypeScript, and it looks like Microsoft is finally putting its own web tools together and proving that it can make something developers use because they want to, not just because they have to.
Insight #8: JavaScript is different around the world
When we talk about JavaScript, we tend to talk about it as a unified ecosystem. While important trends are consistent across regions, it is interesting to note that different countries tend to add their own idiosyncs to JavaScript.
For example, did you know that Vue is extremely popular in China? This makes sense, as Vue’s developer Evan You speaks Chinese, and Vue has been adopted by a number of major Chinese technology companies such as Alibaba and Baidu.
India, on the other hand, seems to love Angular. This may be driven at least in part by India’s vibrant outsourcing industry, which tends to focus on large enterprise projects like the ones Angular uses.
Insight #9: Typed JavaScript is on the rise
What do TypeScript, GraphQL, Elm, Reason have in common? First, they are both advanced technologies that are developing rapidly. Second, they all depend on type.
There’s a “Type” right before the name.
While JavaScript developers have long enjoyed the freedom to write whatever code they want without the compiler yelling at you, this freedom is a double-edged sword: it also means less reliability and more developer experience.
But in 2017, things finally started to change. It’s not just a coincidence that TypeScript is gaining wider acceptance. Developers are also moving to IDE style text editors like VSCode to take advantage of the additional capabilities that types offer.
Insight #10: Ever-changing JavaScript
Again, this survey shows how rich the JavaScript ecosystem has become.
It seems that after years of sometimes criticizing and sometimes ignoring JavaScript, the developer community has finally hit on a third option: improve it.
This is probably why most developers agree that despite its flaws, the language as a whole is moving in the right direction: