Top Software Development Trends in 2019

What are the Top Software Development Trends in 2019? This is a common query among businesses & developers alike. Let’s find some of the best software trends for 2019:

Trends change in every arena from fashion to education every day. Similar is the case of software development trends. In fact, in the era of digitalization, software development is one of those fields which is changing at an extremely fast pace.

Every year brings some brand new surprises for software developers. 2018 was the year of complete acceleration for the software development companies worldwide. From blockchain to Artificial intelligence, software technologies have remained a hot topic throughout the year.

According to a report by Gartner in 2018, the IT industry has seen dramatic growth. It has also forecast growth of 8.3 % in 2019. Below is an image of exact figures from the published report:

The reason behind the growth of every industry majorly depends on the innovations introduced in that field. No static industry can see such remarkable results and this is the hard work of full-stack developers that we can view some awesome changing trends in this industry.

Every year restyling and enhancements in software product developmenttechnologies are creating new trends. New technologies from PWAs to blockchain are getting a larger market constantly.

According to a report by Statista, global blockchain technology worldwide is predicted to increase dramatically from the year 2016 to 2021. Undoubtedly, it has become a hot topic in the tech world from the past few years. Here is the statical representation of the same report:

There are many software development trends in 2019 that need your attention. We are discussing some of the most popular ones here:

Software Trend 1: Artificial Intelligence

Artificial intelligence is not much complicated to understand for a layman. In fact, every person has some idea about this technology. It involves developing software that thinks intelligently in the same manner as a human.

Today companies providing machine learning services and solutions are on a boom and more-and-more businesses are shifting towards AI as a necessity. It helps to improvise the tasks and increasing the business in the software market. It has reached the fields like healthcare as well which has widened the scope of constant experiments by developers.

Software Trend 2: Blockchain

We have already discussed the current scenario and predictions of the highlighted technology in the contemporary world. Blockchain technology relates to simplifying banking transactions like transferring money by creating a single ledger for different parties.

All these services need blockchain software which is why a large number of blockchain developers would be needed to serve in this sector. The advantageous and growing opportunities in this arena have made more companies to extend their arms in blockchain development services.

Software trend 3: Low Code Development

If you dare to think of web & software development as an approach similar to building lego blocks, what you’ll get would be something known as low-code development.

In a world where standards, policies, regulations, and procedure keep getting updated from time to time, standard coding practices make the process of adapting slow and gruesome for companies and IT developers alike. Low-code development is a panacea for all these problems, and in the absence of complex codes which require expertise- it can help clients understand their project in better ways, and perhaps enable them to perform customizations on their own.

Low-code development is a huge boon for enterprise software development, and at the same time is a crucial aid for companies seeking digital transformation. But before you decide to jump on the bandwagon, it must be known that even in 2019- such a practice would only benefit normal business use cases. In scenarios where businesses require complex and structured solutions, a low-code development practice simply wouldn’t work.

Software Trend 4: Code Quality

As technology is flourishing, it is essential to focus on the quality of your codes and language trends also. The need for the year 2019 is to have a special eye on the development approach as well.

As discussed earlier, low code development is also on a rising trend in the software industry. This means that even non-technical employees can be hired to program software by information technology companies.

Every software or web development company must have clear development approaches and structures to provide coding to their software. The task type should decide the coding quality and structure solely for the best outcomes.

Software Trend 5: Language Trends

Most of the full stack developers are using Javascript to program the software. The popularity of this language is due to its great adaptivity for hybrid applications as well.

It is essentially vital to choose the correct language to avoid any kind of repercussions in the later stage. There are various surveys that let us know about the popularity of different languages.

In the stack overflow survey of commonly used libraries, frameworks & programming languages, Node.js scored 49.9% and Angular scored 39.6%. Some other popular libraries, frameworks & languages are React, .NET core, spring etc. Here is the graphical representation of their findings:

This data clearly shows the most used and popular languages which are in trend this year in software developing industries. You can utilize this information to finalize your year plan in custom software development.

Software Trend 6: Progressive web applications

These applications are different from regular mobile apps. You can understand it as a hybrid of web applications and mobile applications. They work on a script called service worker and it is their integral part.

They are faster to load and provides some amazing features like push notifications. PWAs are easy to develop and maintain that’s why many mobile app development companies have focussed on them in recent years.

Software Trend 7: Cybersecurity:

Security is an issue in every parameter of human life and this issue spreads its presence in all sizes of business as well. Data and software loss threats have become a major part to look out by software developers.

The image below shows the data that has been lost or stolen industry wise in 2017 by a report published by Wipro in 2018.

This report is evidence that almost every industry is facing cybersecurity issues and they all look upon the software industry for support which makes it a trendy service requirement in the IT sector.

Software Trend 8: Outsourcing

Global outsourcing market is rising every year and has tremendous trends. A survey by Statista shows the global market size of outsourcing services. A graphical representation of the same survey is given below:

This gives a clear picture that the outsourcing market is on a rising spree worldwide. IT industry also has many outsourcing projects as business owners prefer outsourcing developers rather than hiring in-house developers.

Industries in all almost every arena in the age of digitalization have a high demand for full stack developers to look into their software needs. From healthcare software development to financial software development, software requirements are rising with every passing year.

Software Trend 9: IoT

IoT app development is the latest advancement in software development which has its effects spread at both the consumer and industrial scale. The technology that essentially binds that all technologies together is set to witness an exponential demand across the domains of safety and customer experience. As per PWC estimates, over 90% automobiles will be IoT enabled by the year 2020. Such a degree of connectivity and control is expected to deliver incremental efficiency in fields of transportation, logistics and supply chains.

CISCO’s former researcher David Evans’s calculations give an idea about the reach of IoT over time- Over 127 new devices are connected to the internet every second! This adds up to the evergrowing number of IoT devices globally- over 23.14 billion devices as of 2018, with the number expected to rise up to 26.66 billion by the end of 2019.

Software Trend 10: The Mixed Reality

Mixed Reality worldwide Market size in 2017, 2018 and 2025. Source: Statista

The twin technologies of augmented reality (AR) and virtual reality (VR), combine to form what we call the mixed reality. One of these twins- AR has witnessed an incredible amount of growth over the years thanks to its integration on smartphone apps. Undoubtedly, the reason why AR and hiring AR developers is so popular, and why companies are scrambling to have an AR application is primarily because of smartphones. AR apps don’t generally require hardware with high specifications as compared to its twin technology: VR.

Many say that the demand for VR has saturated since its explosion in 2016 and that its scope doesn’t extend beyond entertainment and gaming. However, it’s effective utilization by the US Army and Walmart, among others doesn’t seem to indicate so. Amongst the crowd that seems to have lost confidence in VR app developers, some have been able to find the best uses for this technology. While Walmart plans to use VR in 2019 to train its employees in customer service and compliance, the US Army is already using Microsoft’s HoloLens’s mixed reality tech for military training purposes.

Final words:

These trends very clearly give an idea about the constant research and development that is taking place in this industry. It creates the need for immediate and continual updates on the part of companies and software developers.

The software development is working at a full and same pace all over the world. The one thing that every developer must keep in mind is that change is vital and inevitable. Every software consulting company must focus on the evolution of the industry and follow the same trend to become a leader.