Software Use in Astronomy: an Informal Survey

TL;DR

This survey reveals that software use is universal among astronomers, with most writing their own code despite limited formal training, and a narrow selection of popular tools and languages.

Contribution

It provides the first comprehensive informal survey of software practices, training, and tools used by astronomers worldwide, highlighting gaps in software training and common tool preferences.

Findings

All astronomers use software in research.

90% write their own software.

Only 8% received substantial training in software development.

Abstract

We report on an informal survey about the use of software in the worldwide astronomical community. The survey was carried out between December 2014 and February 2015, collecting responses from 1142 astronomers, spanning all career levels. We find that all participants use software in their research. The vast majority of participants, 90%, write at least some of their own software. Even though writing software is so wide-spread among the survey participants, only 8% of them report that they have received substantial training in software development. Another 49% of the participants have received "little" training. The remaining 43% have received no training. We also find that astronomers' software stack is fairly narrow. The 10 most popular tools among astronomers are (from most to least popular): Python, shell scripting, IDL, C/C++, Fortran, IRAF, spreadsheets, HTML/CSS, SQL and Supermongo. Across all participants the most common programing language is Python ($67\pm 2\%$), followed by IDL ($44\pm 2\%$), C/C++ ($37\pm 2\%$) and Fortran ($28\pm 2\%$). IRAF is used frequently by $24\pm 1\%$ of participants. We show that all trends are largely independent of career stage, area of research and geographic location.