Predictions for the next big thing in Software Development

Software development are the set of activities done by computers to meet the needs of the customer such as creating, designing, documenting, testing, bug fixing etc. in a software.

It often involves research, prototyping, modification, reuse etc. as it includes everything involved between the conception of the desired software through to the final manifestation of the software, sometimes in a planned and structured process. There are wide range of reasons for the development of a software such as to meet a perceived need of some set of potential users or for personal use.

2020 has been the most unprecedented year for people all around the globe. As the entire mass was forced to switch to online mode be it willingly or unwillingly , software development made a major breakthrough in many areas. This led to the rapid and significant increase in the digital transformation and its being predicted that the trend will be much greater in the field of software development in 2021 .

Centralized Infrastructure: Cloud, cloud everywhere

During this pandemic, most of the industries suffered heavily except a few. Cloud industry is one among those few industries in the field of software development that actually became much stronger than before and all the uncertainty and doubts related to cloud adoption have disappeared during COVID 19. It showed that cloud is necessary for up-scaling as well as down-scaling.

No matter which industry you are in, planning cloud migration will be wisest thing one can do. Its been predicted that there will be a huge shortage and high demand of Cloud-Native engineers in 2021 and onwards. The good news is major public cloud providers are offering free courses including Amazon.

Decentralized Infrastructure: Edge Computing

Although Edge computing is a very old concept when it comes to software development and is being used in CDN, it is gaining popularity slowly in recent years. It is expected that Edge computing will be a gigantic market in 2021. This is all due to the rise of connected vehicles, online gaming, smart devices and most importantly 5G mobile devices.

It is also expected that there will be a fight between two group of industries having software development as their domain for the market share in Edge computing. One group can be public cloud providers like Amazon, Google and other one is the industry that already has the Edge Infrastructure like Telecom Companies, Data Center Providers, Network Providers.

Quantum Computing

It is the most revolutionary technology in the software development field. It has the potential to impact every sector be it on a small scale or on a much larger scale. There were some significant breakthroughs and advancements in Quantum computing in 2020 and Honeywell claimed that it had created the most powerful Quantum Computer, beating the previous record set by Google.

A while ago, a group of scientists from the University of Science and Technology of China (USTC) showed that for a particular task, Quantum Computer could beat the most advanced classical Supercomputer very comfortably. It is being predicted that considering the massive interest and its infinite possibilities, there will be some breakthroughs and jaw-dropping discoveries in Quantum computing in 2021.

Blockchain: The roller coaster ride will continue

One of the major disruptive technologies in the field of software development developed in recent times is blockchain. Surprisingly, it has the potential to change the whole industry. Although cryptocurrency has played a major role in the success of the blockchain, the government gets involved in this very often in order to prevent scams that occurs due to the greed of people to cheat common people who wanted to be rich in a short time.

In 2021, Blockchain is expected to be used more as a Smart contract mechanism, and most probably it will enter the “Slope of Enlightenment” phase. It is also expected to get a major boost in 2021, as China has prioritized it in its ambitious 500 Trillion “New Infrastructure” plan.

Artificial Intelligence

It is one of the most hottest technologies in the recent times in the software development field and has seen many breakthroughs in 2020. It started slowly and entered all the sectors with a very catchy slogan "AI for all". In the near future, it is expected that there will be a breakthrough in Natural Language Processing, where AI will write articles or small software programs.

It is also expected to have a major advancement in Full Cycle AI Automation and more democratization in AI. Also, there will be major progress as the EU has set regulations to explain AI’s decision. AI will also see major adoption in the Aviation industry in the next few years and will also be the centerpiece in Chinese digital-based infrastructure for the future.

Programming

The programming language is also going through major changes in the recent years when we talk about the software development field. The traditional heavyweight programming languages are losing their market share to the easier and developer-friendly programming languages.

As the Software development industry is flourishing and a huge percentage of new developers are joining the industry, the easier, developer-friendly programming languages will be more popular in the next few years and the mainstream programming Languages will hold their own, although they will feel pressure from the modern programming languages.

App Development

App development also comes under the field of software development. Nowadays, smartphones are the unavoidable and most important part of our daily lives. The number of Smartphone users is already 3.5 Billion, and it is expected to rise up to at least 3.8 Billion till next year. As a result, Mobile Apps are becoming increasingly important for end-users, especially for the younger generation.

In Mobile App development, there are four major trends i.e. Native App Development, Cross-Platform App Development, Hybrid App Development, and Cloud-Based App Development. In recent years, Cloud-based Apps are getting more popular where the Data and the main business logic remains in the Cloud . While it is a better choice for Data savvy applications, it is not mainstream for normal App development.

Native app development is still the better choice for normal app development for enterprises, although Cross-platform app development is catching up. In 2021, Enterprises will be expected to prefer Native app development, whereas startups and small companies will most probably prefer Cross-platform app development.

API: REST for Business Applications

Microservice Architecture and Server less are becoming increasingly popular in recent years. The Microservices or Nano services need to communicate, and usually, Synchronous communication is used over event-driven, asynchronous communication.

REST is a communication standard based on Web technology and is a most dominant technology in 2021 and will continue to dominate in the recent upcoming years also in the field of software development.

Conclusion

All the topics and data mentioned above are collected from the research done by me based on facts and figures. There are many more big things that are coming in the field of software development in the recent years such as Low- And No-Code Tools, the Integration Of Dev Sec Ops, motion UI, Delta Testing and many more but all of this could not be included in this.

So, Software development is going to have a very major impact in the world in the recent years and will lead our world to a better and modified future.