lestrrat

During Apr 7 - 19, I conducted a web questionnaire targeting Japanese Perl users, which I titled "Perl5 Census Japan 2013" ;)

I purposely asked people spreading the news to specifically state that this was not just for hardcore Perl users, and that even if you did't use Perl much these days, I still wanted your input.

So over approximately two weeks I got 394 replies, and I've compiled the results in my blog. However, this is all in Japanese, and even with Google Translate, the outcome was pretty um, poor.

So here's a (terse) version in English so y'all can see. This will probably give you an insight into how the Japanese Perl community looks like, and what type of technology they prefer.

Q. Where do you live

This probably means nothing if you don't know Japan, but this shows that the Japanese tech market and resources are extremely concentrated in the greater Tokyo area, with a whopping 74% of the respondents living in 関東 area.

Q. How long have you been using Perl ?

In the chart below "年" means "year". So 38.1% of the people have been using Perl for 10 years or more, 10.9% have been using it for 7~9 years, etc.

Q. What is your Perl proficiency?

I used a vague terminology here: In the form, 初級者 (beginner) was somebody who needs others to help you to write proper Perl code. 中級者 (intermediate) was somebody who can do more or less all you want to do, but you still need the aid of books and web pages. 上級者 (experienced) was somebody who can do whatever he wants, and if you don't know something, you just go and checkout the source code

Q. How much Perl do you use at work?

We asked to rate how much you use Perl at work. 10 means you use it all the time, and 1 means you rarely use it.

Q. How Much Perl Do You Use For Projects Outside Of Work?

Same as above, but for projects that you work on outside of work

Q. How Do You Manage Your Perl?

We asked how you manage your Perl installation. Multiple answers were allowed. In the chart below, "システムPerl" is "System Perl" i.e., stuff that you install via rpm, deb, and other variations that are pre-installed with your OS. "自前でカスタマイズ" literally means "Hand-rolled", but in this case we mean "You build your own Perl"

Q. What Operating System Do You Use Perl On?

I think this is self-explanatory. Multiple answers were allowed. "その他" means "Other", so "その他 Unix" is "Other Unixen".

Q. If You Use Perl On Windows, Which Platform Do You Use?

I think this is self-explanatory

Q. What Do You Use Perl For?

Multiple answers were allowed. This was a vague question. Basically we wanted to know if you used Perl for web-based stuff, or others. The choices were "Web Apps", "Server Management/Configuration", and "Data Processing"

Q. Which Perl Version Do You Use The Most?

Ditto. There seems to be still a relatively large number of people using Perl < 5.10

Q. Are There Other Versions Of Perl That You Use?

Multiple answers were allowed. Looked like most people use multiple versions of Perl.

Q. How Do You Install CPAN Modules?

cpanminus takes a whopping 62.7% of the share. The second from last choice is "I don't use modules". Yes, these people exist.

Q. What Environment Do You Deploy Your Web Apps?

Multiple answers were allowed. Lots of CGI are still out there...

Q. Which Class Builder / Accessor Generator Do You Use?

Multiple answers were allowed. This should be interesting for English-speaking readers. A LOT (and I mean ALOT) of people don't use any class builder-llike tools. Class::Accessor::* family is preferred. Mouse is at the top of Moose family, and Moo and Moose are used about as much. Moose-family is NOT favored in the Japanese community. My guess would be that people in Japan prefer light+simple over big+feature full, which is also evident in the next question.

Q. Which Template Engine Do You Use?

Multiple answers were allowed. The whopping success of Text::Xslate in this category also shows how Japanese people prefer products that are geared towards speed.

Q. What Language(s) Do You Use Other Than Perl?

This should be self-explanatory.

That's it for now! If you find any interesting correlations, please let me know. Also, if you feel like it and you can wade your way through Japanese, the original data (anonymized) is available on Google Docs. Feel free to use that data, but if you do, please let me know.