Link to sectionJavaScript/TypeScript Balance
We're now firmly in the TypeScript era. 67% of respondents stated they write more TypeScript than JavaScript code – while the single largest group consisted of people who only write TypeScript.
Link to sectionCompiled Code Balance
It should come as no surprise that in 2024, almost all of our JavaScript code goes through a build step. While bundlers and build tools certainly add complexity to our development process, they are most likely here to stay.
Link to sectionAI Code Generation
For all the talk of AI-assisted coding, most of us still only use AI tools sparingly. And in fact, a whole 20% do not use them whatsoever to produce code.
Link to sectionUsage
It's always good to know in what context respondents are writing JavaScript code, and the vast majority are using it as part of their day job.
Link to sectionUse Case
Virtually every respondent stated that they use JavaScript for frontend development, which makes sense given the language's origins.
Link to sectionIndustry Sector
While the largest industry sector consisted of developers building tools for other developers, the highest-paying one turned out to be Advertising.
Link to sectionApplication Patterns
Despite modern JavaScript meta-frameworks now supporting intricate rendering strategies, the most common application patterns remained the most traditional ones: single-page apps and server-side rendering.
Link to sectionJavaScript Pain Points
Code architecture is always a concern once a codebase gets past a certain size, so it makes sense that it topped the rankings of overall JavaScript pain points, followed by state and dependency management.
Link to sectionNew Proposals
There are currently quite a few TC39 proposals that are on the verge of becoming a reality. Temporal and Decorators stood out this year as the ones respondents were most excited about.
Link to sectionMissing Features
While the lack of native static typing has long been felt by the community, it's interesting to see Signals making an entrance at number 3 on this list, despite not being part of the most popular front end framework.
Link to sectionNative Types
It's clear that survey respondents want native types, and that they hope to seem them implemented with a TypeScript-like syntax.
This year's question phrasing sadly did not make a clear distinction between runtime types and TypeScript-like type-as-annotations, so it remains to be seen which of these two paths will gain the community's favor.
Link to sectionWeb Technologies Happiness
Link to sectionJavaScript Happiness
Link to sectionRecommended Resources
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