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Java Tech Popularity Index Q1/2024

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What’s This?

Picking a popular technology makes our developer life easier. My free, quarterly newsletter measures Java technology popularity by following the money: job ads in 59 countries and online course purchases by 60+ million developers. I also analyze developer interest with Google searches and developer engagement with questions at Stack Overflow.

The Java technologies are: IDEs, build tools, JVM languages, databases, back-end frameworks, web frameworks, and mobile app frameworks. I also recommend options in each of these seven areas. My recommendations are based on that popularity, industry analysis, and my 25 years of Java experience.

Java Tech Popularity Index Q1/2024: Back-End Frameworks

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Summary for Q1/2024

Here is the scorecard of Spring Boot (left) and Quarkus (right) vs. Jakarta EE (100%), not on the card. The arrows show the trend vs. Jakarta EE.

Spring Boot pulls away from Jakarta EE everywhere except for job ad mentions. Quarkus gains on Jakarta EE everywhere.

Java Tech Popularity Index Q1/2024: Build Tools

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Summary for Q1/2024

Here is the scorecard of Maven (left) and Ant (right) vs. Gradle (100%), not on the card. The arrows show the trend vs. Gradle.

Maven loses to Gradle except for jobs, where it rises slightly. Ant has disappeared from searches and Stack Overflow but surprisingly gains in jobs.

Java Tech Popularity Index Q1/2024: Databases

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Summary for Q1/2024

Here is the scorecard of MySql (left) and MongoDB (right) vs. Postgres (100%), not on the card. The arrows show the trend vs. Postgres.

MySQL and MongoDB gain jobs on Postgres. MySQL loses slightly in courses, holds steady in searches, and drops more heavily in Stack Overflow questions. MongoDB holds steady in courses but loses slightly in searches and Stack Overflow questions.

Java Tech Popularity Index Q1/2024: Front-End Mobile

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Summary for Q1/2024

Here is the scorecard of React Native (left) and Xamarin (right) vs. Flutter (100%), not on the card. The arrows show the trend vs. Flutter.

React Native and Xamarin lose to Flutter in all categories.

Here are my recommendations:

• Don’t build two separate applications with Apple’s and Google’s first-party frameworks. Use a cross-platform framework instead.
• If you already use Flutter or React Native in your project, keep using them. Otherwise, evaluate a migration. In many (most?) cases, such migration doesn’t make business sense.
• If you start a new project or migrate and have used React before, start with React Native first and use Flutter otherwise.
• If you start a new project or migrate and have not used React, begin with Flutter first and use React Native otherwise.

Archive

Table Of Contents

• Summary for Q1/2024
• Archive
• Applications
• Choices
• State of the Art
• Popularity
  • Why Popularity - and How?
  • Installed Base
  • Employers: Job Ads
  • Developers
    • Students at Udemy
    • Google Searches
    • Monthly Questions at Stack Overflow
• Analysis
• Next Issue

Applications

These recommendations are for building native enterprise applications on iOS and Android - forms, data grids, and reports. They are not for games or media applications.

Java Tech Popularity Index Q1/2024: IDEs

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Summary for Q1/2024

Here is the scorecard of VS Code (left) and Eclipse (right) vs. IntelliJ (100%), not on the card. The arrows show the trend vs. IntelliJ.

VS Code pulls away from IntelliJ in all categories except Udemy courses. Eclipse loses ground to IntelliJ in all categories.