Stack Overflow

For the general term, see Stack overflow and Stack overflow (disambiguation). For the parent company, see Stack Exchange.

Stack Exchange, Inc.
Screenshot in June 2022
Type of site
Knowledge market
Question and answer
Available in
  • English
  • Spanish
  • Russian
  • Portuguese
  • Japanese
OwnerProsus
Created byJeff Atwood and Joel Spolsky
CEOPrashanth Chandrasekar
URLstackoverflow.com Edit this at Wikidata
CommercialYes
RegistrationOptional
Launched15 September 2008; 16 years ago (2008-09-15)[1]
Content license
  • CC BY-SA 2.5 (until April 2011)
  • CC BY-SA 3.0 (until May 2018)
  • CC BY-SA 4.0
Written inC#

Stack Overflow is a question-and-answer website for computer programmers. It is the flagship site of the Stack Exchange Network.[2][3][4] It was created in 2008 by Jeff Atwood and Joel Spolsky.[5][6] It features questions and answers on certain computer programming topics.[7][8][9] It was created to be a more open alternative to earlier question and answer websites such as Experts-Exchange. Stack Overflow was sold to Prosus, a Netherlands-based consumer internet conglomerate, on 2 June 2021 for $1.8 billion.[10]

The website 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.[11] Users of Stack Overflow can earn 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,[12] and can receive badges for their valued contributions,[13] 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.[14]

As of March 2024 Stack Overflow has over 23 million registered users and has received over 24 million questions and 35 million answers.[15] 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.[16] Based on the type of tags assigned to questions, the top eight most discussed topics on the site are: JavaScript, Java, C#, PHP, Android, Python, jQuery, and HTML.[17]

  1. ^ Spolsky, Joel (15 September 2008). "Stack Overflow Launches". Joel on Software. Archived from the original on 14 February 2021. Retrieved 7 July 2014.
  2. ^ Sewak, M.; et al. (18 May 2010). "Finding a Growth Business Model at Stack Overflow, Inc" (PDF). Stanford CasePublisher. Rev. 20 July 2010 (2010–204–1). Stanford University School of Engineering. 204-2010-1. Archived (PDF) from the original on 13 August 2012. Retrieved 23 May 2014.
  3. ^ "Stack Exchange Network Legal Links". Stack Exchange. Archived from the original on 20 August 2014. Retrieved 2 January 2012.
  4. ^ Stack Overflow Internet Services, Inc. (8 June 2010). "Stack Exchange API". Stack Apps. Archived from the original on 26 April 2011. Retrieved 8 June 2010.
  5. ^ Jeff Atwood (16 April 2008). "Introducing Stackoverflow.com". Coding Horror. Archived from the original on 3 February 2010. Retrieved 11 March 2009.
  6. ^ Jeff Atwood (10 September 2008). "None of Us is as Dumb as All of Us". Coding Horror. Archived from the original on 14 March 2009. Retrieved 11 March 2009.
  7. ^ Alan Zeichick (15 April 2009). "Secrets of social site success". SD Times. Archived from the original on 26 April 2009. Retrieved 16 April 2009.
  8. ^ "Spolsky's Software Q-and-A Site". Slashdot. 16 September 2008. Archived from the original on 16 May 2009. Retrieved 23 May 2009.
  9. ^ Joel Spolsky (25 April 2009). "Google Tech Talks: Learning from StackOverflow.com". YouTube. Archived from the original on 4 May 2019. Retrieved 23 May 2009.
  10. ^ Dummett, Ben (2 June 2021). "Stack Overflow Sold to Tech Giant Prosus for $1.8 Billion". Wall Street Journal. Archived from the original on 29 October 2021. Retrieved 2 June 2021.
  11. ^ Jeff Atwood (21 September 2008). "The Gamification". Coding Horror Blog. Archived from the original on 1 February 2014. Retrieved 24 January 2011.
  12. ^ "Were Rewarding the Question Askers". 13 November 2019. Archived from the original on 16 November 2019. Retrieved 20 November 2019.
  13. ^ "What is reputation? How do I earn (and lose) it?". Stack Overflow. Archived from the original on 9 June 2013. Retrieved 14 August 2010.
  14. ^ "List of privileges". Archived from the original on 14 February 2020. Retrieved 22 November 2017.
  15. ^ "All Sites – Stack Exchange". stackexchange.com. Archived from the original on 22 November 2019. Retrieved 26 March 2023.
  16. ^ "Stack Overflow Developer Survey 2021". Stack Overflow. Archived from the original on 16 September 2021. Retrieved 22 July 2022.
  17. ^ "Tags". Stack Overflow. Archived from the original on 15 February 2020. Retrieved 9 December 2014.