Analysis of the State of JavaScript 2018 Survey Results

The State of JavaScript is an annual survey started in 2016 by Raphaël Benitte, Sacha Greif, and Michael Rambeau that gathers developers' opinions on JavaScript ecosystem trends, framework popularity, salary expectations, and more. The 2018 edition attracted more than 20,000 participants, with the United States contributing the largest share (4,929 respondents) and only 75 respondents from China.

Among compiled‑to‑JS languages, TypeScript is the clear favorite, praised for its type‑checking and broader feature set, while Flow sees less interest. Reason, built on OCaml, is highlighted as the most promising language despite low awareness, and ClojureScript remains unpopular, mainly due to its code style.

In the front‑end framework arena, React dominates, Vue follows closely, and Angular experiences a steady decline as developers cite its complexity and bloat. For state management, Redux retains a large user base, while GraphQL and Apollo attract growing interest, and Vue’s official Vuex solution is widely mentioned.

On the back‑end side, Express remains the most chosen framework for its sensible defaults, and Next.js is recognized as the preferred solution for server‑side rendering of React applications.

Testing tools are split between Jest and Mocha, with Jest gaining rapid traction due to its zero‑configuration setup and comprehensive documentation; many developers also combine Jest with Enzyme for React component testing.

When it comes to building desktop and mobile applications with JavaScript, Electron and React Native are the leading choices. Electron is criticized for its large bundle size and performance overhead, while React Native is praised for its rich ecosystem despite occasional stability issues.

Among emerging technologies, the author recommends exploring GraphQL with Apollo for simplifying CRUD operations and adopting React Hooks to decouple state logic from components, both expected to shape the 2019 front‑end landscape.

Development tools also show a clear preference: VS Code leads the editor market by a wide margin over Sublime Text and Atom, offering a lightweight yet IDE‑like experience.

Overall, the community believes JavaScript is moving in the right direction, though the author personally prefers using TypeScript or Reason for large‑scale, serious applications. The article concludes with links to additional resources on GraphQL, React Native at Airbnb, and the full 2018 JavaScript trends report.