{"id":983,"date":"2013-12-13T10:24:00","date_gmt":"2013-12-13T10:24:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blogs.msdn.microsoft.com\/vcblog\/2013\/12\/13\/developer-activities-survey-results-overview\/"},"modified":"2019-02-18T18:40:46","modified_gmt":"2019-02-18T18:40:46","slug":"developer-activities-survey-results-overview","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/devblogs.microsoft.com\/cppblog\/developer-activities-survey-results-overview\/","title":{"rendered":"Developer Activities Survey Results Overview"},"content":{"rendered":"

Hi there!<\/p>\n

A few months ago, some of you took a survey on C++ developer activities, the results of which will be used to hone in on which areas to improve for the next release of Visual Studio. I wanted to take some time to share with you the preliminary results of the survey.<\/p>\n

Without further ado, out of the 47 tasks included on the survey, here’s what we found out! “Aggregate Score” is the composite score from all respondents. “Normalized Score” is adjusted by the number of respondents for which the activity is meaningful for them.<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n
 <\/td>\nTop 7 Frequent Tasks By Aggregate Score<\/span><\/strong><\/td>\n (Normalized Score Ranking) <\/span> <\/strong><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
1<\/td>\n Jump between header and source<\/td>\n 1<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
2<\/td>\n Read [normal C++] code<\/td>\n 2<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
3<\/td>\n Debug code<\/td>\n 3<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
4<\/td>\n Use source control <\/td>\n 4<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
5<\/td>\n Navigate through project structure <\/td>\n 5<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
6<\/td>\n Understand compiler outputs (errors\/warnings\/etc.)<\/td>\n 6<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
7<\/td>\n String\/Incremental search<\/td>\n 7<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n

Survey says, normalized or not, these tasks are the most often performed by C++ developers. Hopefully none of these tasks being here are a surprise!<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n
 <\/td>\nTop 7 Tasks Cited As Pain Points By Aggregate Score<\/span>
<\/span><\/strong><\/td>\n		 (Normalized Score Ranking) <\/span> <\/strong><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
1<\/td>\n Refactor – Rename Item (var, meth, etc.)<\/td>\n2<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
2<\/td>\n Refactor – Extract Method (copy\/paste)<\/td>\n3<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
3<\/td>\n Jump between header and source<\/td>\n4<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
4<\/td>\n Refactor – Code Cleanup (copy\/paste)    <\/td>\n5<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
5<\/td>\n Understand compiler outputs (errors\/warnings\/etc.)<\/td>\n6<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
6<\/td>\nOpen file\/Load project – time to edit<\/td>\n10<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
7<\/td>\n Align code to coding style<\/td>\n7<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n

It’s no surprise that every refactoring topic offered in the survey made it to the top of the pain points list. It is well-known that the lack of support for C++ refactoring is widely felt.<\/p>\n

AH, BUT WHAT’S THIS?!<\/strong> Many of you are probably wondering which task made it to the top of the normalized list, and you should! Take a look for yourself:<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

Of the 54 (likely graphics) developers that had the opportunity to voice concerns over writing and compiling shader code, a whopping one-fifth of them said it was a pain point. Most of you (77% of you, in fact =P) probably saw that task and said “What the heck is shader code, I don’t do that.” Well, your graphics-developing colleagues do that, and it’s a pain point for them J<\/span>.<\/p>\n

For those who love reading some of the “verbatims” we receive, here are a few “pain point verbatims” reflecting common themes. Note that since we asked specifically for pain points, we did not receive positive statements as we often do with more general “what else would you like to share” feedback questions:<\/p>\n