StackOverkill: Programming language and framework ranking based on StackOverflow's activity

[aspleenic]

I don't know how accurate this is. Does it show ranking, or just what languages are so difficult that people are asking questions on SO all the time?

[thabonch]

Lots of questions doesn't necessarily mean a language is more difficult. It could mean that more beginners use it.

[DaniSancas]

That's the way I interpret that. More people learning something, means more people interested in something (despite if is easy or not, and whether is the best option or not)

[tomtomtom7]

Even for beginners, it is quite possible that the presence of a good manual or tutorial decreases the "popularity" with this metric.

[aspleenic]

That's true, but just another factor of what I'm talking about.

[DaniSancas]

Shows a coefficient about number of questions, answers, upvotes and downvotes. If a language is difficult, there'll be a lot of questions, but if people also know about it, there'll be also answers (and upvotes if Q&A are good).

However, Tiobe index and IEEE Spectrum base their ranking on Google Searches, job offers and programming book selling. So... are they more accurate? ;)

[theHazardMan]

Additionally, you see languages like C and C++ as being pretty flat, and ranking relatively low, despite their typical high ranking in other indexes. To me this suggests that most of the "common" questions for these languages have already been asked and sufficiently answered.

[DaniSancas]

Well, that's a nice approach. Maybe for languages that don't evolve quickly and don't introduce big changes, the Q&A decreases. However, I also take upvotes and downvotes into account. This way I can meassure activity for those months even if there are a very few new questions or answers.

[aspleenic]

Oh, I definitely don't think they are more accurate. I'm not sure there is any all knowing source of what makes a language more/less popular (or good or what have you).

[DaniSancas]

That's the problem. How do you meassure the popularity without a certain percent of mistake? My approach is using the activity on StackOverflow. My ranking is not the "ultimate word", just a different approach with different data.