Unveiling Ruby: Insights from Stack Overflow and Developer Survey

We employed BERTopic modeling and manual analysis to develop a taxonomy of 35 topics, grouped into six main categories. Our findings reveal that Web Application Development is the most commonly discussed category, while Ruby Gem Installation and Configuration Issues emerged as the most challenging topic. Analysis of trends on SO showed a steady decline. A survey of 154 Ruby developers demonstrated that 31.6\% of the participants find the Core Ruby Concepts category particularly difficult, while Application Quality and Security is found to be difficult for over 40\% of experienced developers. Notably, a comparison between survey responses and SO metrics highlights a misalignment, suggesting that perceived difficulty and objective indicators from SO differ; emphasizing the need for improved metrics to capture developer challenges better. ... We identified a hierarchical taxonomy of 35 topics, organized into six main categories of Ruby challenges and a decline in trends of questions on SO. ... Difficulty: Table 1 shows three metrics for difficulty. Ruby Gem Installation and Configuration Issues has the highest percentage of questions without an accepted answer, suggesting that developers encounter challenges when setting up and managing gems in Rails applications. Questions about Search Engines Integration have longer response times, reflecting the complex work involved in configuring advanced search functionalities and managing hierarchical relationships in Elasticsearch. These topics seem to pose unique difficulties, likely due to their technical complexity and critical role in application functionality. … This is likely because these concepts are essential for any Ruby developer and serve as foundational knowledge for those starting with Ruby programming, resulting in relatively straightforward questions. The Development Environment and Infrastructure category emerges as the most difficult while also exhibiting above-average popularity. Software Architecture and Performance is the least popular category, yet it has above-average difficulty. The other three categories are characterized by both moderate popularity and difficulty. This suggests that while questions in these areas are frequently viewed, they present challenges for developers. … For novice developers, 26.54\% expressed that they struggle with Software Architecture and Performance, whereas 54.71\% stated that Data Management and Processing does not present difficulties for them. The perceived difficulty of Core Ruby Concepts versus Data Management and Processing likely stems from their nature. Core Ruby Concepts involve advanced features like metaprogramming and complex methods, which are not essential for routine data management. …