Stack Overflow: Difference between revisions

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{{Short description|Question-and-answer website for computer programmers}}

{{for -multi|the general term|Stack overflow|and|Stack overflow (disambiguation)|the parent company|Stack Exchange}}

{{Use dmy dates|date=October 2020}}

{{Infobox website

| name = Stack Exchange, Inc.

| logo = {{Dark mode switch|[[File:Stack Overflow DarkMode Logo.svg|250px]]|[[File:Stack Overflow logo.svg|250px]]|logo}}

| screenshot = StackOverflow.com Top Questions Page Screenshot.png

| caption = Screenshot in June 2022

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| author = [[Jeff Atwood]] and [[Joel Spolsky]]

| CEO = Prashanth Chandrasekar

| launch_date = {{start date and age|df=yes|2008|9|15}}<ref name="launches">{{cite web |access-date=2014-07-07 |url=http://www.joelonsoftware.com/items/2008/09/15.html |title=Stack Overflow Launches |last=Spolsky |first=Joel |date=2008-09-15 |publisher=Joel on Software |archive-date=14 February 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210214111921/https://www.joelonsoftware.com/2008/09/15/stack-overflow-launches/ |url-status=live }}</ref>

| revenue =

}}

'''Stack Overflow''' is a [[Question-and-answer site|question-and-answer website]] for [[computer programmers]]. ItCreated in 2008 by [[Jeff Atwood]] and [[Joel Spolsky]],<ref name="introducing">{{cite web |author=Jeff Atwood |date=2008-04-16 |title=Introducing Stackoverflow.com |url=http://www.codinghorror.com/blog/archives/001101.html |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100203112658/http://www.codinghorror.com/blog/archives/001101.html |archive-date=3 February 2010 |access-date=2009-03-11 |work=Coding Horror |language=en-US}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |author=Jeff Atwood |date=2008-09-10 |title=None of Us is as Dumb as All of Us |url=http://www.codinghorror.com/blog/archives/001169.html |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090314173417/http://www.codinghorror.com/blog/archives/001169.html |archive-date=14 March 2009 |access-date=2009-03-11 |work=Coding Horror}}</ref> it is the flagship site of the [[Stack Exchange|Stack Exchange Network]].<ref name="growthmodel">{{cite journal|last=Sewak|first=M.|title=Finding a Growth Business Model at Stack Overflow, Inc.|journal=Stanford CasePublisher|date=18 May 2010|volume=Rev. 20 July 2010|issue=2010–204–1|url=http://www.stanford.edu/class/ee204/Publications/Finding%20a%20Growth%20Business%20Model%20at%20Stack%20Overflow.pdf|access-date=23 May 2014|publisher=Stanford University School of Engineering|id=204-2010-1|display-authors=etal|archive-date=13 August 2012|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120813013908/http://www.stanford.edu/class/ee204/Publications/Finding%20a%20Growth%20Business%20Model%20at%20Stack%20Overflow.pdf|url-status=live}}</ref><ref name="Legal">{{cite web |title=Stack Exchange Network Legal Links |url=https://stackexchange.com/legal |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140820103131/http://stackexchange.com/legal |archive-date=20 August 2014 |access-date=2012-01-02 |work=Stack Exchange |language=en-US}}</ref><ref name="stackapps_legal">{{cite web

|title = Stack Exchange API

|url = https://stackexchange.com/legal/terms-of-service

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|archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20110426013228/https://stackexchange.com/legal/terms-of-service

|url-status = live

}}</ref> ItStack Overflow features questions and answers on certain [[computer programming]] topics.,<ref name="secrets">{{cite web

}}</ref> It was created in 2008 by [[Jeff Atwood]] and [[Joel Spolsky]].<ref name="introducing">{{cite web |author=Jeff Atwood |date=2008-04-16 |title=Introducing Stackoverflow.com |url=http://www.codinghorror.com/blog/archives/001101.html |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100203112658/http://www.codinghorror.com/blog/archives/001101.html |archive-date=3 February 2010 |access-date=2009-03-11 |work=Coding Horror |language=en-US}}</ref><ref>{{cite web

|title = None of Us is as Dumb as All of Us

|url = http://www.codinghorror.com/blog/archives/001169.html

|work = Coding Horror

|date = 2008-09-10

|access-date = 2009-03-11

|author = Jeff Atwood

|archive-date = 14 March 2009

|archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20090314173417/http://www.codinghorror.com/blog/archives/001169.html

|url-status = live

}}</ref> It features questions and answers on certain [[computer programming]] topics.<ref name="secrets">{{cite web

|title = Secrets of social site success

|url = http://www.sdtimes.com/SHORT_TAKES_APRIL_15_2009/About_SHORTTAKES/33403

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|archive-date = 26 April 2009

|url-status = dead

}}</ref><ref name="slashdot">{{cite web

| title = Spolsky's Software Q-and-A Site

| url = http://developers.slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=08/09/16/1910214

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| archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20090516073225/http://developers.slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=08%2F09%2F16%2F1910214

| url-status = live

}}</ref><ref name="google-tech-talks">{{cite web

|title = Google Tech Talks: Learning from StackOverflow.com

|url = https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NWHfY_lvKIQ

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|archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20190504031536/https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NWHfY_lvKIQ

|url-status = live

}}</ref> Itand was created to be a more open alternative to earlier question -and -answer websites such as [[Experts-Exchange]]. StackThe Overflowwebsite was sold to [[Prosus]], a Netherlands-based consumer -internet conglomerate, on 2 June 2021 for $1.8 billion.<ref>{{cite news|last=Dummett|first=Ben|date=2 June 2021|title=Stack Overflow Sold to Tech Giant Prosus for $1.8 Billion|publisher=Wall Street Journal|url=https://www.wsj.com/articles/software-developer-community-stack-overflow-sold-to-tech-giant-prosus-for-1-8-billion-11622648400|access-date=2 June 2021|archive-date=29 October 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20211029175938/https://www.wsj.com/articles/software-developer-community-stack-overflow-sold-to-tech-giant-prosus-for-1-8-billion-11622648400|url-status=live}}</ref>

TheStack websiteOverflow serves as a platform for users to ask and answer questions, and, through membership and active participation, to vote questions and answers up or down similar to [[Reddit]] and edit questions and answers in a fashion similar to a [[wiki]].<ref name="fashion">{{cite web | url = http://www.codinghorror.com/blog/2011/10/the-gamification.html | work = Coding Horror Blog | author = Jeff Atwood | date = 2008-09-21 | title = The Gamification | access-date = 2011-01-24 | archive-date = 1 February 2014 | archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20140201063225/http://www.codinghorror.com/blog/2011/10/the-gamification.html | url-status = live }}</ref> Users of Stackthe Overflowwebsite can earn [[Reputation system|reputation points]] and "badges"; for example, a person is awarded 10 reputation points for receiving an "up" vote on a question or an answer to a question,<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://stackoverflow.blog/2019/11/13/were-rewarding-the-question-askers/|title=Were Rewarding the Question Askers|date=13 November 2019 |access-date=20 November 2019|archive-date=16 November 2019|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20191116115224/https://stackoverflow.blog/2019/11/13/were-rewarding-the-question-askers/|url-status=live}}</ref> and can receive badges for their valued contributions,<ref name="soFAQ">{{cite web | url = https://stackoverflow.com/help/whats-reputation | work = Stack Overflow | title = What is reputation? How do I earn (and lose) it? | access-date = 14 August 2010 | archive-date = 9 June 2013 | archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20130609062938/http://stackoverflow.com/help/whats-reputation | url-status = live }}</ref> which represents a [[gamification]] of the traditional Q&A website. Users unlock new privileges with an increase in reputation like the ability to vote, comment, and even edit other people's posts.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://stackoverflow.com/help/privileges|title=List of privileges|access-date=22 November 2017|archive-date=14 February 2020|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200214143308/https://stackoverflow.com/help/privileges|url-status=live}}</ref>

{{As of|20242025|0306}}, Stack Overflow has over 2329 million registered users,<ref>{{Cite web|title=All Sites – Stack Exchange|url=https://stackexchange.com/sites?view=list#users|access-date=2023-03-26|website=stackexchange.com|archive-date=22 November 2019|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20191122230648/https://stackexchange.com/sites?view=list#users|url-status=live}}</ref> and has received over 24 million questions and 3536 million answers.<ref>{{Cite web|title=All Sites – Stack Exchange|url=https://stackexchange.com/sites?view=list#questions|access-date=20232025-0306-2611|website=stackexchange.com|archive-date=228 NovemberJune 20192025|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/2019112223064820250608151607/https://stackexchange.com/sites?view=list#questionsoldest|url-status=live}}</ref> The site and similar programming question -and -answer sites have globally mostly replaced programming books for day-to-day programming reference in the 2000s, and today are an important part of [[computer programming]].<ref>{{Cite web |title=Stack Overflow Developer Survey 2021 |url=https://insights.stackoverflow.com/survey/2021/ |access-date=2022-07-22 |website=Stack Overflow |language=en |archive-date=16 September 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210916193418/https://insights.stackoverflow.com/survey/2021/?utm_source=social-share |url-status=live }}</ref> Based on the type of [[tag (metadata)|tags]] assigned to questions, the top eight most -discussed topics on the site are: [[JavaScript]], [[Java (programming language)|Java]], [[C Sharp (programming language)|C#]], [[PHP]], [[Android (operating system)|Android]], [[Python (programming language)|Python]], [[jQuery]], and [[HTML]].<ref name="tags">{{cite web | work = Stack Overflow | title = Tags | url = https://stackoverflow.com/tags | access-date = 9 December 2014 | archive-date = 15 February 2020 | archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20200215125549/https://stackoverflow.com/tags | url-status = live }}</ref>

== History ==

The website was created by [[Jeff Atwood]] and [[Joel Spolsky]] in 2008.<ref name="introducing"/> The name for the website was chosen by voting in April 2008 by readers of ''Coding Horror'', Atwood's programming blog.<ref name="help_name">{{cite web|author=Jeff Atwood|date=2008-04-06|title=Help Name Our Website|url=http://blog.codinghorror.com/help-name-our-website/|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150416073345/http://blog.codinghorror.com/help-name-our-website/|archive-date=16 April 2015|access-date=2014-07-15|work=Coding Horror}}</ref> On 31 July 2008, Jeff Atwood sent out invitations encouraging his subscribers to take part in the private beta of the new website, limiting its use to those willing to test out the new software. On 15 September 2008 it was announced that the public beta version was in session and that the general public was now able to use it to seek assistance on programming related issues. The design of the Stack Overflow logo was decided by a voting process.<ref>{{cite web|title=J.Atwood & J.Spolsky founding stackoverflow.com – but we need a logo.|url=http://99designs.com/logo-design/contests/logo-stackoverflow-6774/brief#contest-breadcrumbs|publisher=99Designs.com|access-date=23 May 2014|date=30 April 2008|archive-date=3 March 2016|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160303182732/http://99designs.com/logo-design/contests/logo-stackoverflow-6774/brief#contest-breadcrumbs|url-status=live}}</ref>

On 3 May 2010, it was announced that Stack Overflow had raised $6 million in venture capital from a group of investors led by [[Union Square Ventures]].<ref>{{cite web|last=Ha|first=Anthony|title=Stack Overflow raises $6M to take its Q&A model beyond programming|url=https://venturebeat.com/2010/05/04/stack-overflow-funding/|publisher=VentureBeat|access-date=23 May 2014|date=4 May 2010|quote=The money we've raised means that, for the next ($6m / monthly burn rate) months, we can take on new projects, hire new people, and build new expert Q&A sites on a wide variety of new topics. Instead of opening sites in exchange for money, we’re about to launch a new, democratic system where anyone can propose a Q&A site, and, if it gets a critical mass of interested people, we'll create it.|archive-date=21 April 2016|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160421001812/http://venturebeat.com/2010/05/04/stack-overflow-funding/|url-status=live}}</ref>

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=== Security breach ===

In early May 2019, an update was deployed to Stack Overflow's development version. It contained a bug which allowed an attacker to grant themselves privileges in accessing the production version of the site. Stack Overflow published on their blog that approximately 184 public network users were affected by this breach, which "could have returned IP address, names, or emails".<ref name="Cimpanu">{{Cite web|url=https://www.zdnet.com/article/stack-overflow-says-hackers-breached-production-systems/|title=Stack Overflow says hackers breached production systems|last=Cimpanu|first=Catalin|website=ZDNet|language=en|access-date=2019-06-22|archive-date=7 December 2019|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20191207032048/https://www.zdnet.com/article/stack-overflow-says-hackers-breached-production-systems/|url-status=live}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |last=Ferguson |first=Mary |date=2019-05-17 |title=Update to Security Incident [May 17, 2019] |url=https://stackoverflow.blog/2019/05/17/update-to-security-incident-may-17-2019/ |access-date=2022-06-11 |website=Stack Overflow Blog |language=en-US |archive-date=19 May 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220519214227/https://stackoverflow.blog/2019/05/17/update-to-security-incident-may-17-2019/ |url-status=live }}</ref>

=== 2023 controversy over AI-generated content and moderation strike ===

{{excerpt|Stack Exchange|June - AugustJune–August 2023 moderation strike}}

== Content ==

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== Statistics ==

[[File:Top -StackOverflow Tags-tags.pngsvg|thumb|Top Stack Overflow tags]]

A 2013 study has found that 75% of users only ask one question, 65% only answer one question, and only 8% of users answer more than 5 questions.<ref>{{cite web|last=Wang|first=Shaowei|title=An Empirical Study on Developer Interactions in StackOverflow|url=http://www.mysmu.edu/faculty/lxjiang/papers/sac13stackoverflow.pdf|publisher=Singapore Management University|author2=David Lo|author3=Lingxiao Jiang|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150202001818/http://www.mysmu.edu/faculty/lxjiang/papers/sac13stackoverflow.pdf|archive-date=2 February 2015|date=18–22 March 2013|access-date=25 February 2014|url-status=live}}</ref> To empower a wider group of users to ask questions and then answer, Stack Overflow created a mentorship program resulting in users having a 50% increase in score on average.<ref>{{Cite book |last1=Ford |first1=Denae |last2=Lustig |first2=Kristina |last3=Banks |first3=Jeremy |last4=Parnin |first4=Chris |title=Proceedings of the 2018 CHI Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems |chapter="We Don't do That Here" |date=2018 |series=CHI '18 |___location=New York, NY, USA |publisher=ACM |pages=608:1–608:12 |doi=10.1145/3173574.3174182 |isbn=9781450356206 |s2cid=4758001 |doi-access=free}}</ref> As of 2011, 92% of the questions were answered, in a median time of 11 minutes.<ref>{{cite book|last=Mamykina|first=Lena|author2=Bella Manoim|author3=Manas Mittal|author4=George Hripcsak|author5=Björn Hartmann|title=Proceedings of the SIGCHI Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems |chapter=Design lessons from the fastest q&a site in the west |date=2011 |pages=2857–2866|doi=10.1145/1978942.1979366|chapter-url=http://www.cs.berkeley.edu/~bjoern/projects/stackoverflow/|isbn=9781450302289|s2cid=8706419|access-date=25 February 2014|archive-date=5 March 2014|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140305221429/http://www.cs.berkeley.edu/~bjoern/projects/stackoverflow/|url-status=live}}</ref>

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== Technology ==

Stack Overflow is written in [[C Sharp (programming language)|C#]] using the [[ASP.NET MVC]] ([[model–view–controller|Model–View–Controller]]) framework, and [[Microsoft SQL Server]] for the database<ref name="soStack">{{cite web | title= What Was Stack Overflow Built With? | url= https://blog.stackoverflow.com/2008/09/what-was-stack-overflow-built-with/ | work= Stack Overflow Blog | author= Jeff Atwood | date= 2008-09-21 | access-date= 2009-05-23 | archive-date= 26 April 2016 | archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20160426184213/http://blog.stackoverflow.com/2008/09/what-was-stack-overflow-built-with/ | url-status= live }}</ref> and the [[Dapper ORM|Dapper]] [[object-relational mapper]] used for data access.<ref name="dapperIntro">{{cite web | title= How I learned to stop worrying and write my own ORM | url= http://samsaffron.com/archive/2011/03/30/How+I+learned+to+stop+worrying+and+write+my+own+ORM | author= Sam Saffron | date= 2011-03-30 | access-date= 2014-07-22 | archive-date= 2 August 2014 | archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20140802022318/http://samsaffron.com/archive/2011/03/30/How+I+learned+to+stop+worrying+and+write+my+own+ORM | url-status= live }}</ref> Unregistered users have access to most of the site's functionality, while users who sign in can gain access to more functionality, such as asking or answering a question, establishing a profile and being able to earn reputation to allow functionality like editing questions and answers without peer review or voting to close a question.<ref>{{Cite web|title=Why should I create an account? – Help Center|url=https://stackoverflow.com/help/why-register|access-date=2021-03-28|website=Stack Overflow|archive-date=28 March 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210328093509/https://stackoverflow.com/help/why-register|url-status=live}}</ref>

== Reception ==

Stack Overflow won the [[2020 Webby Award|2020 Webby People's Voice Award for Community]] in the category Web.<ref name="Kastrenakes">{{cite web|last1=Kastrenakes|first1=Jacob|date=20 May 2020|title=Here are all the winners of the 2020 Webby Awards|url=https://www.theverge.com/2020/5/20/21263445/2020-webby-awards-winners-lil-nas-x-nasa-jon-krasinski|access-date=22 May 2020|website=The Verge|language=en|archive-date=21 May 2020|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200521205535/https://www.theverge.com/2020/5/20/21263445/2020-webby-awards-winners-lil-nas-x-nasa-jon-krasinski|url-status=live}}</ref>

The site's culture has been criticized in the past for being unfriendly by one research paper, especially in the context of gender differences in participation and beginners learning computer science.<ref>{{cite web |last1=Brooke |first1=Siân |title="Condescending, Rude, Assholes": Framing gender and hostility on Stack Overflow. |url=http://aclanthology.lst.uni-saarland.de/W19-3519.pdf |year=2019 |access-date=21 July 2021 |archive-date=21 July 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210721142719/http://aclanthology.lst.uni-saarland.de/W19-3519.pdf |url-status=live }}</ref> A 2023 study by another researcher concluded that the website's new users were met with significant difficulties in obtaining help from other users in posts started by the former; an analysis from a sample of 968 posts showed that 49% experienced hurdles such as their questions being closed, receiving no response, or receiving no mention as to why their posts were being negatively scored.<ref>{{cite book|editor-last1=Kaindl|editor-first1=Hermann|editor-last2=Mannion|editor-first2=Mike|editor-last3= Maciaszek|editor-first3=Leszek A.| date = 7 July 2023| title = Evaluation of Novel Approaches to Software Engineering: 17th International Conference, ENASE 2022, Virtual Event, April 25–26, 2022, Revised Selected Papers| url = https://books.google.com/books?id=V1LKEAAAQBAJ| publisher = Springer Nature Switzerland| pagepages = 251-256251–256| isbn = 9783031365973}}</ref>

A study from the [[University of Maryland]] found that Android developers that used only Stack Overflow as their programming resource tended to write less secure code than those who used only the official Android developer documentation from Google, while developers using only the official Android documentation tended to write significantly less functional code than those who used only Stack Overflow.<ref>Y. Acar, M. Backes, S. Fahl, D. Kim, M. L. Mazurek and C. Stransky, "[https://www.cs.umd.edu/class/fall2017/cmsc818O/papers/get-where-look.pdf You Get Where You're Looking for: The Impact of Information Sources on Code Security] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210214111923/https://www.cs.umd.edu/class/fall2017/cmsc818O/papers/get-where-look.pdf |date=14 February 2021 }}," ''2016 IEEE Symposium on Security and Privacy (SP)'', San Jose, CA, 2016, pp. 289–305. doi: 10.1109/SP.2016.25</ref>

== Decline ==

Starting from 2023 and as of July 2025, Stack Overflow's questions have rapidly decreased due to AI-enabled solutions like ChatGPT, Deepseek and Claude AI.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Stack Overflow’s decline |url=https://www.ericholscher.com/blog/2025/jan/21/stack-overflows-decline/ |access-date=2025-07-21 |website=Eric Holscher |language=en}}</ref>

== See also ==