

Perl programming survey (2010) - draegtun
http://survey.perlfoundation.org/

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btilly
Please note that it is useful to fill this out if you've used Perl in the
past, whether or not you do now. People are sure to analyze the data in a
number of ways, and will be interesting to contrast views from people who use
the language actively with those who don't any more.

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mstevens
I found the question about "school" ambiguous.

Depending on your location, this may or may not include university.

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jrockway
I don't really get the point of these surveys. All they do is quantify what we
already know -- lots of people are using Perl, and most people get paid for
that. In theory, if the survey asked what areas people were using Perl in,
then grants could be given to shore up modules for the popular areas. But if
people want to do that, they will do it anyway... and if nobody wants to do
it, only someone very desperate for some spare change will do it, with results
that match.

So other than liking to click stuff and look at data, I don't get it. It seems
to me that if the Perl community stopped yelling, "no really, we aren't dead",
everyone would stop thinking that.

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draegtun
_It seems to me that if the Perl community stopped yelling, "no really, we
aren't dead", everyone would stop thinking that._

I totally agree with this statement.

However I don't think this survey is being carried out with this purpose in
mind. So I'm hopeful that some interesting and perhaps useful metrics will be
gathered by this census.

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DrSprout
A couple ambiguous questions. What other dynamic languages have I formally
studied? Does that mean weakly typed? In that case none, though obviously I've
picked them up here and there.

> What percentage of your work time working on software projects is spent not
> writing code?

If we're looking at actual time I spend writing code, probably 5%. But then
that's not counting reading code and testing code I've just written. So I
don't know, it seems like that's a very small sliver of development when it
feels like people are wondering how much time one spends in meetings or doing
mockups.

~~~
mike-cardwell
I stopped filling it in when I got to this question. Ambiguity is a killer in
questionaires like this.

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Sukotto
They have a question: Please indicate up to five programming languages that
you use frequently [excluding Perl]

Followed by: Where does Perl belong in this list?

Why didn't they just ask "Please list up to 6 programming languages that you
use frequently INCLUDING perl?

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Sukotto
My thinking here is to simplify and clarify the question.

The downvotes make me wonder if you disagree with my premise "These two
questions could be simpler/clearer" or my attempt at a solution.

Care to tell me which?

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Sukotto
I liked the XKCD survey's "gender" question better.

Q: Do you have a Y chromosome?

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telemachos
Best captcha ever: Unit rash (a test suite gone ugly?)

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epi0Bauqu
Select boxes don't work on the iPad.

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adam-_-
Worked for me on the iPhone...

Edit: I could get it to work on the iPhone by using the crazy two finger
click/slide gesture I use for select boxes.

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Isamu
Could you describe that? I was unable to get it to work on the iPod touch.

On reflection though, I guess I'm running an old version of the OS on that
one.

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adam-_-
Literally click and hold with one finger and then with another perform an
awkward scrolling type movement - usually seems to work but it's hardly
elegant!

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geoffc
Good idea, I filled one out.

