Ronald Dattero
Abstract
Comparing differences and similarities in programming language usage according to programmer gender.
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Index Terms
Programming languages and gender
Reviews
Celia T. Romm
Gender differences in programming languages, a fascinating topic, are discussed in this paper. Based on a June 2000 survey of over 37,000 full-time information technology (IT) workers, the authors analyzed the number and type of programming languages that male and female IT employees possessed knowledge of. The findings indicated that female IT professionals had, on average, one less language than males (2.5, rather than over 3). The findings also indicated a difference in the type of languages known by the two groups. While male IT professionals had an advantage in languages that are used for engineering new systems, female IT professionals had an advantage in languages associated with maintaining existing systems. The most encouraging finding from this research was that the gap in the number and types of languages known by men and women programmers was much smaller (almost nonexistent) for younger programmers with less work experience than for older ones. This suggests that the gender gap between male and female programmers is narrowing. At the same time, the smaller representation of women in IT, the relatively lower level of jobs that women occupy, and the lower salaries that women currently earn in IT are still evident, and deserve closer scrutiny by policy makers and educators. Online Computing Reviews Service
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