2023 Stack Overflow Survey: Top Languages, Databases & AI Tools Unveiled
The 2023 Stack Overflow Developer Survey of over 90,000 participants reveals the most popular programming languages, highest‑paying language, leading databases, favored web frameworks, dominant IDE, and the hottest AI search and development tools, along with developers' trust and future expectations for AI.
Most Popular Programming Languages
JavaScript has been the most popular language for 11 consecutive years, while Python overtook SQL to become the third most popular. Other languages such as Bash/Shell, C, Ruby, Perl and Erlang all moved up one rank. Go and Rust also saw increased usage compared with last year.
Highest-Paying Programming Language
Zig developers reported a median annual salary of $103,611 (≈ ¥740,000). Zig is a general‑purpose language designed for stability, maintainability and performance, aiming to replace C in system programming. PHP and Dart ranked at the bottom.
Most Popular Databases
PostgreSQL displaced MySQL to become the most popular database this year. Among professional developers, 49.09% use PostgreSQL (up 2.61% YoY), 40.59% use MySQL, 30.17% use SQLite, and DynamoDB (10.31%) surpassed Oracle (10.06%). Among learners, MySQL is used by 45.71%, MongoDB second (28.15%) and SQLite third (26.93%).
Most Popular Web Frameworks and Technologies
Node.js and React.js are the two most popular web technologies; professional developers use them at similar rates, while learners favor Node.js (52% vs 48%). Other widely used tools include jQuery, Express, Angular, Next.js and Vue.js.
Most Popular Integrated Development Environment
Visual Studio Code remains the top choice, with usage rising from 75% to 81% of respondents.
Most Popular AI Search Tools
ChatGPT leads with 83% usage, followed by Bing AI (20%), WolframAlpha (13%) and Google Bard AI (10%).
Most Popular AI Development Tools
GitHub Copilot is the preferred AI coding assistant (55% of respondents), with Tabnine (13%) and AWS CodeWhisperer (5%) trailing.
Trust in AI Tools
Less than 3% of users strongly trust AI tool accuracy, while about 6% strongly distrust them. Around 39% express moderate trust, and 30% are neutral.
AI Tool Usage Scenarios
The majority of developers use AI tools to help write code; other uses include debugging, documentation, learning codebases, and testing.
Future Expectations for AI Tools
Both professional developers and learners expect their development workflows to change within a year because of AI tools.
Full Report
Read the complete 2023 Stack Overflow Developer Survey at https://survey.stackoverflow.co/2023/ .
macrozheng
Dedicated to Java tech sharing and dissecting top open-source projects. Topics include Spring Boot, Spring Cloud, Docker, Kubernetes and more. Author’s GitHub project “mall” has 50K+ stars.
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