From self driving vehicles to aerial drones that capture data on people and hyper realistic algorithms that mimic human faces and voices, technology continues to march in all directions, promising new potentials every year. It’s only a matter of time before people move on to the next big thing and start adopting new technologies faster. Softwares are not behind in this case. Here are some of the more obvious and expected trends that will dominate the following year in 2020.
5G Overtakes 4G
Despite the controversies surrounding the adoption of a faster internet connection in certain Asian countries and the cavalcade of controversies among giants like Huawei, it is anticipated that 5G internet services would be commercialized to a larger populace as data charges would become cheaper. This could signal a trend towards more IoT devices being hooked up to 5G internet services and a greater interest in investing in software geared towards providing on the spot services as compared to cloud technology.
And of course where there’s development in technology, smart machines are sure to benefit as well. Everything from wearable tech to smart vehicles will feel the next wave of the IT revolution. If Gordon Moore’s law is to be taken into account, then the rate at which machines will have increasing IC chips is only at it’s first head of the curve. A lot more is expected to happen in terms of advancing technology.
Smarter Bots and AI
The buzzword around town is that AI isn’t all that full of merit. There are abstract theories as to the ways in which bots and AI can be misused, especially in the wake of the US Elections marred by propaganda and malicious content. However, those in the opposite camp who know AI as a much more powerful tool anticipate that new algorithms and platforms will definitely pave the way for new software catered towards development.
Amazon and Google Cloud are by far the largest contributors to technology that can be leveraged to build apps and tools with expanded AI options. But these services will become the building blocks for a number of new software that will track every lasting information about user interaction on websites and applications. Of course, debates about privacy and fraud will surface once again but only when the software development architecture becomes cheap enough for middle and small businesses to use.
More Cryptocurrencies and Blockchain Technology
Let’s think outside the Libra bubble for now. There are a plethora of cryptocurrencies online that investors are pumping money into along with blockchain based payment schemes that are bringing the world closer to a cashless utopia. Blockchain has been well talked of in the discussion circles for its ease of use and elimination of hidden fees. But this technology has its functions that serve consumers far beyond bitcoins and will become a staple for new coins.
What does this have to do with software development. Well for starters, one can expect a sudden yet potent boom in software developers for wallets as well as micro investing and micro lending services. The end result is an interconnected economy that would have a greater demand for developers to build applications for all processes including signing up, security, income transfers and investments.
Better Websites
As if webpages couldn’t get any better. Thanks to new scripting languages, development architectures and simpler coding mainframes arriving in the market, webpages will definitely become more active and take a proposed role in extracting much more information from users even with the smallest interaction times. Single page applications will become common that would eliminate extra wait times which often frustrate visitors with reload times.
Languages like Javascript have been lauded for their multipurpose use in building dynamic web pages that are fluid and responsive to user demands. One can anticipate a more proactive generation of websites to become the norm that predict what the user’s next move would be. And of course, trends like UX and UI will take a backseat and make way for AX(Amplified or Artificial Experience) where interactions are measured by an all powerful algorithmic tool. This would become a norm for e-commerce websites thus prompting new competition for developers like Salesforce, Surveymonkey, mailchimp and the like.
Putting Money On The Cybersecurity
One can never have enough security. And if the data hacks or the leaks by large corporations has proven anything, it is that there is a serious lack of a universal consensus on threats and malicious content across the boards. Luckily, with more software developers dabbling in concepts like cryptography, random number generation and the more popular quantum computing, cybersecurity will experience a revolution like no other.
It is estimated that global giants like Google and Facebook are looking at hiring development teams to utilize quibits for generating more secure mainframes that are resistant to the most harmful of attacks. Such technology will fall prey to the hands of hackers which would produce new coders or white hat hackers as well.
The future for software development is a bumpy road with peaks and troughs due to the unclear nature of which trends prove to be a complete benefit to users. But as time will tell, more technology will definitely overcome its own negative trends.