Scripting Languages 2009 Rankings

Evans Data Corp, March 2009

Abstract

Over 400 developers across the globe can't be wrong!

- How did the top scripting languages rank overall?
- Which languages integrate best for web services and SOA applications?
- When broken down by languages, which languages have the best features?
- Is one language really easier to use than another?

This report examines the opinions and attitudes of developers worldwide who use the top scripting languages. Developers only ranked those languages they used, making these ratings fair and unbiased.

The top dynamic languages ranked in this report are:

- Actionscript
- Flex
- Javascript
- Microsoft F#
- Microsoft Powershell
- Perl
- PHP
- Python
- Ruby
- VB Script

Features and capabilities rated were:

- Ease of Use
- Exception handling
- Extensibility
- Maintainability / Readability
- Cross-platform portability
- Community
- Availability of tools
- Quality of tools
- Performance
- Memory management
- Client side scripting
- Security

Worldwide in scope and unbiased in approach, this insightful report is not to be missed.

PHP Tops Ruby, Python or Javascript in Developer User Satisfaction Survey

Developers using PHP are more satisfied than users of other scripting languages including Ruby, Python, Perl, Java script, Flex and VB script according to an Evans Data user satisfaction survey released this week. Over 500 developers were asked to rate the features of scripting languages that they personally use across 12 different categories. PHP received the highest overall score while Ruby did best in ease of use and exception handling, and Python was tops in extensibility and memory management. Java script was best for client-side scripting, while F# got the best score for security. PHP was rated best in everything else.

The study concluded that PHP was the best all around scripting language for web applications with a large community and lots of readily available tools. Ruby was the easiest to use and thus the most accessible, but suffers from performance problems and a tiny community, while Python showed itself to be the best suited for creating large and complex applications.

User Choice Satisfaction surveys are conducted several times a year by Evans Data as a free service to the development community.

Languages in the survey included: Actionscript, Flex, Java Script, Microsoft F#, Windows Powershell, Perl, PHP, Python, Ruby and VB Script.

Features and capabilities rated were: Ease of Use, Exception handling, Extensibility, Maintainability / Readability, Cross-platform portability, Community, Availability of tools, Quality of tools, Performance, Memory management, Client side scripting, and Security.

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