Paul Krill
Editor at Large

Ruby use grows in developer survey

news
Jun 23, 20092 mins

According to an Evans Data survey, use of Ruby has jumped 40 percent since last year

Use of the Ruby programming language increased 40 percent among North American software developers in an Evans Data survey being unveiled on Tuesday.

The latest Evans Data North American Development Survey found that 14 percent of developers in the region use Ruby part of the time, an increase from the 10 percent who used it this way in 2008. Meanwhile, 20 percent of developers expect to use it in the coming year.

[ Last year, InfoWorld discussed scripting languages like Ruby that are sparking a new programming era. ]

“The increasing adoption of developers using scripting languages correlates with today’s overall emphasis on Web-centric applications, which have to be highly malleable to rapidly changing market-driven requirements,” said John Andrews, president and CEO of Evans Data, in a statement released by the company. “Interestingly, while we see Linux continue to increase as a target platform, this category of development (scripting languages) reflects the greatest growth in targeting a non- Windows target platform.”

Other findings in the survey include:

  • Commercial SQL databases are 2.5 times more likely to be used as a primary database than open source SQL databases
  • 60 percent of developers use agile methodologies some of the time
  • 75 percent of applications considered for cloud deployments will require audit trails

Evans’s biannual survey includes more than 400 North American developers. It measures use of scripting languages, 3GL languages, and platform targeting and migration. Technology adoption such as cloud, Web services, SOA, and parallel programming also are factored into the survey.

Paul Krill

Paul Krill is editor at large at InfoWorld. Paul has been covering computer technology as a news and feature reporter for more than 35 years, including 30 years at InfoWorld. He has specialized in coverage of software development tools and technologies since the 1990s, and he continues to lead InfoWorld’s news coverage of software development platforms including Java and .NET and programming languages including JavaScript, TypeScript, PHP, Python, Ruby, Rust, and Go. Long trusted as a reporter who prioritizes accuracy, integrity, and the best interests of readers, Paul is sought out by technology companies and industry organizations who want to reach InfoWorld’s audience of software developers and other information technology professionals. Paul has won a “Best Technology News Coverage” award from IDG.

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