5,000 Developers Have Spoken: Among PHP Programmers, The Force Truly is Stronger With Star Wars

5,000 Developers Have Spoken: Among PHP Programmers, The Force Truly is Stronger With Star Wars

Zend Developer Pulse 2013 Finds that Developers Prefer Star Wars to Star Trek

Cupertino, Calif.—May 10th 2013—With the premier of “Star Trek into Darkness” ready for release, and recent news of Disney acquiring the Star Wars franchise, the two sci-fi classics are at the forefront of popular culture. But the age-old question remains: Is Star Trek better than Star Wars? Zend, the PHP Company, may have that answer, at least for the PHP development community. This year’s Zend Developer Pulse survey, to be released later this month, found that Star Wars reigns supreme. Surprisingly, Star Trek didn’t even come in second place.

When Zend, the PHP Company, asked 4,809 developers what their favorite sci-fi shows and movies are, software developers responded in the following way:

#1 Star Wars
#2 Avatar 
#3 Star Trek
#4 The X-Files
#5 The Avengers

Beam Me Up—To the Movies

It is unclear what drove the choice towards Star Wars. Perhaps PHP programmers prefer to look at epic and eternal questions of good vs. evil, as depicted in Star Wars, over the vignettes featured in Star Trek, which are geared more towards answering questions of race, culture and what it means to be human.   

“With Disney’s recent acquisition of the famous Star Wars franchise, perhaps it’s no surprise that the force is with PHP developers,” said Zend CMO Elaine Lennox. “The more unexpected finding was that Star Trek came in third place, after Avatar. Perhaps developers prioritize the escapist elements of both films over the Starship Enterprise, which does sometimes more resemble the tech world that we all work in.”

Use the Force, Drink Beer and Listen to Rock n’Roll

Zend’s previous Developer Pulse survey found that beer is the preferred drink for developers,  with nearly one third (29 percent) of developers saying that they “live for it.” The year before that, Zend discovered that the most popular form of music for developers to listen to is is rock, with particular popularity for Metallica and Pink Floyd. Electronica took a distant second place.

So the average PHP developer drinks Heineken, listens to Metallica, and would rather watch Avatar than Star Trek—but would watch Star Wars above them all. Has Zend uncovered a rebel stereotype, or is there something about the developer community that makes them gravitate towards certain sounds, sights and substances? More knowledge, and more surveys, promise to light the way.

About Zend Technologies 
Zend partners with businesses to rapidly deliver modern apps across mobile and cloud. Zend helped establish the PHP language, which today powers over 200 million applications and web sites. Zend’s flagship offering, Zend Server, is the leading Application Platform for developing, deploying and managing business-critical applications in PHP. Zend solutions are deployed at more than 40,000 companies, including NYSE Euronext, BNP Paribas, Bell Helicopter, France Telecom and other leading brands worldwide. Learn more at www.zend.com.

About Zend Developer Pulse

Zend is keenly focused on serving the developer community. Zend Developer Pulse was created as a series of surveys that take the pulse of developers to provide insights into evolving trends. Prior surveys can be found at www.zend.com/developerpulse.