Stack Overflow Developer Survey 2020: Rust is the most loved programming language, VBA the most dreaded

Stack Overflow’s annual survey of programming languages and developers is in, and it brings us some very interesting results.

Notably, Rust grabs the top spot in the ‘Most Loved’ programming language category for 2020, with TypeScript and Python close behind.  On the other side of the road, VBA gets the unwelcome distinction of topping the ‘Most Dreaded’ programming language category, with over 80% of developers stating that they have no interest in continuing to use it. A third category, ‘Most Wanted’, ranks languages in terms of  the percentage of developers who haven’t used them before but would like to do so. Python grabs the top spot here, 30% of developers surveyed admitting they would like to give it a shot.

Rust has recently picked up in popularity among the developer community for being an effective means of developing software applications. It is increasingly being used to develop game engines, operating systems, and even simulation engines for VR. Such an array of intriguing applications and a fairly bearable learning curve could explain why developers are loving Rust.

TypeScript gives us some interesting insight into the developer community as well. It has surpassed Python to become the second-most loved programming language of 2020, with 67.1% of developers expressing an interest to continue using it. However, it is worth noting that for developers who haven’t worked with it before, Python continues to be the most interesting language.

Go has experienced a big jump in terms of popularity, as it has moved up to 5^th position from 10^th last year. With 62.3% of developers surveyed interested in continuing to use it, it is expected to climb even higher in the coming years.

What about the languages developers would rather forget about? VBA takes the cake here, with a deplorable 80.4% of developers not interested in it anymore. Objective-C and Perl follow close behind, with 76.6% and 71.4% of developers respectively wanting to move past them. This isn’t surprising, because languages continue to get outdated as our requirements and applications advance.

You can see how your favorite programming language fared in each category over here.