It's been over 50 years since programming pushed the boundaries of digital craftsmanship – and is still doing so with no signs of slowing down.
Every now and then, there's a new tool, framework, functionality, technology, an add-on is breaking the internet.
Any adept programmer, not only needs to be good at programming but also has to stay abreast of the upcoming happenings in programming. Just learning to code won't give you a big edge over the others.
By having a great idea of what's coming ahead, presents steps can be planned in the most efficient way.
Of course, no one can forecast perfectly what's going to happen to the future of programming, but that won't stop us from guessing.
Here are 5 predictions for the future of programming you should keep an eye on:
- Cloud-native is the new default
- Video content will keep on dominating the web
- Data is, and will always be important
- Machine learning dominance
- Open source vs Closed development
Cloud-native is the new default
Fun fact: Did you know that in order to cater to a single search query, Google uses more than 1000s of servers?
All of this is done purely to serve the right results to a specific question or query. Cloud, obviously has been popular for the last decade, but it's definitely destined for more. It's supposed to grow immensely in the future as more and more developers intend to use the cloud for faster go to market.
Using the cloud to build apps is so much easier compared to the management of your owns servers. You can simply rent a windows virtual desktop azure at an low cost azure virtual desktop pricing for setting up programming server.
The benefits of using the cloud are not having to
- Buy new servers
- Maintain servers
- Upgrade them
- Or add new servers when the demand fluctuates
Users get more and more impatient as time passes by, so making a faster web page is an absolutely top priority.
About 40% of users abandon a website that takes more than 3 seconds to load – remember that.
Video content will keep on dominating the web
In order to evade the glitches caused by plugins, the HTML committee started embedding video tags into HTML.
Video tags are programmers by the virtue of the fact that basic video tags respond to basic JavaScript commands. Not to forget to mention that earlier video content was fixed.
Now, if you watch videos about cats fighting big dogs, you will be recommended just that. Nothing more, nothing less relevant.
But, this is not the case anymore. It's the time of seamless canvas design in which web designers tend to figure clever ways to deploy various video content. Doing this enables the user to steer the way that a narrative is unfolded – and opens up a new way of interacting with videos.
Now machine learning can deliver higher-quality streaming experiences that do not buffer as much as many existing systems.
And once again, programming makes it feasible and now video tags and iframe are part of programming.
Data is and always will be important
Data is the backbone of the network of networks – the Internet.
Everything we read, see and hear over the gigantic web is data. Lots of it.
However, the collection of said data is not something brand new for humanity. Since antiquity, we've been collecting data and stored lots of it for churning out important for later.
With the passage of time, the process of enriching and protecting data have become more and more important. While the former is achieved by presenting data in the form of videos, pictures, charts etc, the latter of it is accomplished by adding SSL to the website – exactly like the digital ecosphere itself.
In the enterprise world, the gathering of data will branch out more into storing, curating and parsing. Roughly said, data is and always be the undisputed champion in the Digital World.
Machine learning domination
The machine learning area is already flourishing and seeping into everyday life. Machine learning is definitely one 5 predictions for the future of programming that you need to keep an eye on.
For instance, machine learning algorithms are already implemented in very important automation code for large companies. They are mainly used for heaping big data projects. Programming languages like R and Python have enabled this proliferation of machine learning – so far.
What's really astonishing about machine learning is that it's being integrated into modern life slowly. And soon enough, it will become a common entity in a person's life – just like smartphones did. Of course, for now, machine learning requires services of coding and programming. So, no code – no machine learning.
The increase in popularity of machine learning as a service aims to remove, or at least minimize programming.
But, if history taught us anything is that even with drag-and-drop web design tools grow – the professional developers also grow in demand.
I personally expect to see a somewhat similar trend with machine learning as it keeps going down the path of democratization.
Open source vs. Closed development
Almos all laptops run on proprietary software – but smartphones using Android lead the race with the most open-source possibilities.
Open source vs. closed development is one of the 5 predictions for the future of programming to keep an eye on because there will always be a feud between them. It will never die. Also, software will always either be open source or closed development.
iOS still remains closed but has a robust set of APIs that developers can edit and built their very own empires.
While open-source software is something that pretty much anyone can tinker with, the closed development restricts 3rd-party accessing and toying with a system like this. Among other differences between them, a huge difference is in the quality of the support. This, needless to say, is better offered by closed source software.
Open source, on the other hand, is rocking the world with new developers entering every day into programming by tinkering with open source. It's like an open field for anyone who wants to try something new. While the closed development environment is also growing rapidly because of the personalization and security features.
It's still one hell of a competition.
Have your own prediction? Contact us and let's talk about it :).
Alicia leads content strategy for LearnWorthy managing a team of content producers, strategists, and copywriters. She creatively oversees content programs, awareness campaigns, research reports, and other integrated marketing projects.
