JetBrains, a developer of tools for Java and other languages, conducted its fourth annual study. Based on responses from programmers, JetBrains analyzed the developer ecosystem in 2020: the latest trends in tools, technologies and programming languages. The study surveyed more than 34 thousand people from Argentina, Belarus, Brazil, Canada, China, France, Germany, India, Japan, Mexico, Poland, Russia, South Korea, Spain, Turkey, Ukraine, the UK and the USA. Approximately 70% of all developers in the world are based in these 18 countries. Therefore, according to the researchers, the survey data is representative. We have collected the key findings of the study - about the Java language, the work and lifestyle of programmers.
How many developers use Java and where?
Java continues to be the most popular main programming language in the world (37% of respondents named it as their main language for development), the study says. It is used by about 5.2 million developers. 54% of respondents have used Java in the past year, and another 4% plan to integrate it into their workflow at some stage. Java's main competitor is Python. It has surpassed Java in the list of languages used. Over the past 12 months, 30% of respondents have started or are continuing to learn Python, even more than last year (27%). The largest number of Java developers live in Asia, where about 2.5 million programmers use Java as their primary language. Java is used most in China and South Korea - about 51% and 50% of developers, respectively. Java is also actively used in India, Germany, Spain and Brazil. Belarus is in the middle of this list of countries with 33% of developers. But Russia and Ukraine are at the bottom of the list with 25% and 21% of programmers, respectively. The reasons why Java may be popular in the first 6 countries of the list are the free use of this programming language, government support and open source code, JetBrains clarifies . In India, for example, employees are often hired to create mobile applications in Java. In Germany, it is popular to create highly scalable applications for many industries, including those based on Java.
Which version of Java is the most popular?
Despite the release of new versions, Java 8 remains the most beloved . It is preferred by three quarters of Java developers. At the same time, the popularity of Java 11 is growing. Compared to last year, the share of users of this version increased by 10%. The relatively new Java 12 and Java 13 are also quickly finding their audience: each of them is used by 10% or more. There are several factors that explain why Java 8 is so popular, according to the JetBrains blog : “It has everything the typical Java developer needs in a language, lambda expressions and streams - it's a nice simple version to use. Also, people are very reluctant to move to Java 9. There were big architectural changes in Java 9, and people are afraid that these changes will break their applications built on Java 8.” The fact that Java 9, Java 10, Java 12 and Java 13 have fewer users compared to Java 8 is also due to the fact that Oracle supports only 6 months after release.
Apache Tomcat has lost a few percentage points since last year's survey, but is still used by the vast majority of respondents. Apache Tomcat is chosen by 62% of respondents, Jetty - 17%, GlassFish - 5%.
Which frameworks do you choose?
Among the frameworks, Spring Boot is the leader - it was chosen by 61% of developers. In second and third places are Spring MVC (42%) and JSF (6%), respectively. The percentage of developers using Spring MVC has not changed since last year. Despite the popularity of Maven (71% of respondents chose it) and Gradle (48%, respectively), 9% of Java developers still prefer Ant for building projects.
What is Java used for: websites, utilities, software
Java is most often used to write websites (36%). In second place is the development of utilities (25%), in third is the development of system software (19%). Less commonly, Java is used to work with databases, libraries and frameworks (17% for each position). Java is used even less in financial technology, data science, entertainment software, and programming tools.
Web development and full-time: where and how IT specialists work
More than half of developers work full-time, 16% study at universities, 8% also study but work, 5% freelance, and another 5% work directly for the customer. 78% of respondents work as a programmer, 14% as a team lead, 12% as an architect, 12% as a DevOps engineer. A quarter of respondents answered that they have been programming for about 3-5 years (this is the largest share among respondents), another 21% of developers have been coding for about 1-2 years, 20% have been coding for more than 11 years, and 17% have been coding for 6-10 years. The largest number of developers work in product companies (63%), 45% are engaged in internal development, 35% - specially adapted software, 33% - websites and mobile applications. Despite the coronavirus pandemic, in 2020, 38% of developers worked in the same office, 27% in different places, but within the same country, 22% in different countries.
Developer Digital Security
Most developers are concerned about the security of personal data. Developers most often use forums, social networks and news sites as sources of information. Most respondents have an account on GitHub. Professional materials are more often read from a smartphone. Half don't trust artificial intelligence, 65% prefer laptops, and only 16% have cryptocurrency.
Lifestyle of IT specialists: hobbies and charity
For the first time in 2020, JetBrains explored not only tool and technology trends, but also developer lifestyles. IT specialists were asked about their habits, ways of searching for information and participation in charity. Most respondents start working before noon and easily wake up with an alarm. Almost a third of respondents devote 32 hours a week to programming, a slightly smaller number - from 17-31 hours, 17% - from 9-16 hours. More than a third of developers devote 3 to 8 hours a week to personal projects. Another 19% of IT professionals spend 1-2 hours a week on personal projects. But 2% of respondents devote 32 hours a week or more to such projects. Most developers don't have pets, but those who do have an equal split of cat and dog lovers. Developers are not inclined to separate work and hobbies: most respondents have a common hobby - programming. Almost 60% program in their free time. Most also play computer games, listen to music, and spend time with family. Half of the developers surveyed are involved in charity work. Most often, they are motivated to do this by the desire to make the world a better place (62%). Many care about the environment (43%), helping children (41%) and fighting social inequality (39%).
54% of respondents have used Java in the past year, and another 4% plan to integrate it into their workflow at some stage. Java's main competitor is Python. It has surpassed Java in the list of languages used. Over the past 12 months, 30% of respondents have started or are continuing to learn Python, even more than last year (27%). The largest number of Java developers live in Asia, where about 2.5 million programmers use Java as their primary language. Java is used most in China and South Korea - about 51% and 50% of developers, respectively. Java is also actively used in India, Germany, Spain and Brazil. Belarus is in the middle of this list of countries with 33% of developers. But Russia and Ukraine are at the bottom of the list with 25% and 21% of programmers, respectively. 
The reasons why Java may be popular in the first 6 countries of the list are the free use of this programming language, government support and open source code, JetBrains clarifies . In India, for example, employees are often hired to create mobile applications in Java. In Germany, it is popular to create highly scalable applications for many industries, including those based on Java.
Despite the popularity of Maven (71% of respondents chose it) and Gradle (48%, respectively), 9% of Java developers still prefer Ant for building projects.
Half of the developers surveyed are involved in charity work. Most often, they are motivated to do this by the desire to make the world a better place (62%). Many care about the environment (43%), helping children (41%) and fighting social inequality (39%).
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