Machine Learning Development Trends on Stack Overflow 2018 Survey Report

Stack Overflow’s data scientist Julia Silge conducted an in-depth study of the data and analyzed the most popular machine learning techniques and trends in 2018. This survey report collated the response records of more than 100,000 respondents and found that machine learning in software development is a very important trend. But what are the key tools and technologies? Let’s take a look at:

Popular framework

 

This year, TensorFlow surpassed React and Node.js to become the most popular web framework. This is a machine learning library released by Google as open source in 2015. There was no mention of TensorFlow in the survey last year because it was just beginning to spread. However, TensorFlow is growing very fast and it has one of the highest year-on-year growth rates ever seen on stack overflows.

TensorFlow is often used for deep learning, and its rise in popularity is the best proof of the rise of machine learning tools.

Technology related

As a Stack Overflow data scientist, Julia also studied the pre-technical relevance, such as which technologies are most relevant to TensorFlow.

 

The results show that Torch/PyTorch has the highest correlation with TensorFlow, followed by Jupyter Notebook IDE, and the programming languages Python and R have the strong correlation with TensorFlow. Most developers interact with TensorFlow via the Python API, and R also has great support for TensorFlow. Other technologies include other IDEs that focus on data science or Python work such as RStudio and PyCharm, as well as Apache Spark, Apache Hadoop, and Google BigQuery.

The most obvious trend

Python is the most relevant programming language for TensorFlow and the fastest growing major programming language. 

 

The figure shows the most attractive 15 languages. Also found that VBA, Delphi/Object Pascal, Cobol, and Visual Basic 6 are the least attractive.

In June 2017, Python became the most visited month for Stack Overflow in high-income countries such as the United States and the United Kingdom. The amazing growth of Python is driven primarily by data science and machine learning, not by Web development or system management.

Machine learning allows organizations to use data to make correct decisions. The data on Stack Overflow shows that the use of machine learning is increasing.