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0 pointsyreg3y ago0 comments

Stack Overflow Developer Survey 2021:

- 69% of respondents love React, 31% dread React

- 25% of developers who are not using React would like to use it (1st place among web frameworks)

https://insights.stackoverflow.com/survey/2021

0 comments

that survey seems like more of a survey of the hive-mind and less of a survey of real opinions.

I recall one year there were SO MANY people saying that they loved Rust (enough to make it the most loved language in the survey) but the number of people who answered that they were actually using Rust was far, far smaller. something like 10% of the number of people who claim to love it have ever used it for any purpose.

I think someone could easily cherry pick results from this survey to back any opinion they have, completely independent of any actual "truth."

yregOP3y ago

So you are saying it represents which technologies the community considers cool?

Because that's exactly the context in which I'm quoting it :)

naikrovek3y ago

no I'm saying it isn't a good view into what people actually like. it's a view into what they want the world to be like.

people respond to surveys according to what they want the survey results to be, and not how things actually are.

mountainriver3y ago

Isn’t that a lot of what’s cool technology is?

dtolnay3y ago

This is a misunderstanding of how the "loved" part of the survey works.

> something like 10% of the number of people who claim to love it have ever used it for any purpose

"Loved" specifically measures what fraction of people currently using the technology say they desire to continue using it next year. In the survey there is no such thing as non-users claiming to love it.

mountainriver3y ago

Yeah probably because people have limited time and corporations don’t just let you use whatever language generally

j / k navigate · click thread line to collapse

0 comments

naikrovek3y ago

that survey seems like more of a survey of the hive-mind and less of a survey of real opinions.

I think someone could easily cherry pick results from this survey to back any opinion they have, completely independent of any actual "truth."

yregOP3y ago

So you are saying it represents which technologies the community considers cool?

Because that's exactly the context in which I'm quoting it :)

naikrovek3y ago

no I'm saying it isn't a good view into what people actually like. it's a view into what they want the world to be like.

people respond to surveys according to what they want the survey results to be, and not how things actually are.

mountainriver3y ago

Isn’t that a lot of what’s cool technology is?

dtolnay3y ago

This is a misunderstanding of how the "loved" part of the survey works.

> something like 10% of the number of people who claim to love it have ever used it for any purpose

mountainriver3y ago

Yeah probably because people have limited time and corporations don’t just let you use whatever language generally

j / k navigate · click thread line to collapse