Anticipating the latest software development trends in 2021 can help you to make significant breakthroughs. Here’s what to look for.
Table of Contents
1. Market Growth
The year 2020 certainly was unprecedented, forcing many IT companies to rethink their processes entirely. Nevertheless, this year was significant for the software development industry. Going solely online and remote working has been a huge boost for the entirety of IT. We struggle to find positives during these uncertain times, however we have noticed a rapid acceleration in digital transformation. So, what awaits us in 2021? In this article, we aim to predict forecasts and highlight the top trends.
For a clear comparison of the growth of the digital sphere, let’s investigate IT costs. According to Alpacked, by 2021, the market is predicted to grow by $560 billion. Therefore, we can confidently begin to predict that the software/digital industries will only continue to rapidly grow and develop.
Companies that supply this valuable hardware and software are also vitally changing their processes. Their goal is to improve efficiency and productivity. Likewise, the focus is on a continuous development cycle, by speed of updates and the release of new versions. Quality assurance and the monitoring of fault tolerance have become the top priorities at the forefront of these industries.
2. From Monolithic to Microservice
A dynamic approach is the core foundation of continuous development and integration and continues to play a major role in software development trends in 2021. There are two basic types of architecture in software development, Monolithic and Microservice. The difference between the two is very obvious.
The Monolithic architecture consists of multiple modules, but a single codebase. However a Microservice is a collection of several relatively connected services. Due to its simplicity, many people now prefer the Microservice architecture. Unquestionably, this is due to the shortcomings of the classic Monolithic structure.
Therefore, developers face a number of challenges when working with this type of architecture. Subsequently, these products begin to grow, and the plan of the project itself becomes increasingly blurred. The codebase becomes cumbersome and difficult for developers to interpret, especially for those who are new to the project.
The flexibility of a Monolithic architecture certainly leaves a lot to be desired. Even the tiniest of updates requires a full deployment. For all of the aforementioned reasons, it is quite time-consuming and costly to introduce new technologies, with teams having to reconfigure the entire application.
Additionally, many companies tend to prefer the Microservice architecture, simply because it has gained its popularity within the agile development sphere. Autonomy and independence provide a lot of possibilities.
For instance, the Microservice structure allows for the creation of teams pertaining to specific business tasks. Accordingly, each unit will fulfil its correct role and can be made available for production, regardless of the completion of other teams.
Microservices are very easy to use thanks to the interaction protocols, where they can be developed in any programming language and used on any device, cloud or local service. Read more about it in the article about microservices case study.
3. The Future Is Cross-Platform Development
Cross-platform is what many companies are beginning to strive for, since the development of applications ‘only for Android’ or ‘only for IOS’ has become increasingly more expensive to create and maintain. Flutter became the first in a number of solutions aligning with the fields of fintech, retail, etc.
Many have already begun to comprehend the vast capabilities of this framework. So, why Choose Flutter? It’s simple: it meets two main criteria. First, it is largely cost-effective in terms of development. Secondly, it is able to provide a high-quality user experience every time.
Alternatively, there is also React Native. It is often compared to Flutter, however many companies point out that Flutter is still much more convenient for their use. React Native is used by giant companies., such as Microsoft and so it is not profitable for medium-sized companies to use it. Henceforth, this is why even companies like Uber andAirbnb prefer to utilize the capabilities of Flutter. Let’s evaluate why cross-platform development is becoming one of the important software development trends in 2021.
Fewer Risks
Risks are reduced with the help of cross-platform and they usually work in the user interface development. The key risk is that the application does not meet user expectations. Therefore, businesses should often pay more attention to the functionality of the applications than the user’s expectations. According to this logic, the way in which the functions are implemented within the application itself is more important.
Non-Repetition
On frameworks for developing cross-platform applications, it is enough to write the code once and it will be suitable for both Android and iOS.
Same Functionality
Regardless of which operating system the client uses, the functionality is the same. Therefore, users of a different OS will still be able to use the same application.
4. Artificial Intelligence: AI Is Indispensable
Artificial intelligence is one of the most popular technologies in recent years and there have been many critical breakthroughs in this area. For example, a huge development has been made in the field of natural language processing. GPT-3 was developed by OpenAI and by utilizing deep learning technology, it was possible to create a human text.
The Guardian was able to write an entire article using GPT-3. As a result, the entire article was written by a robot that used only 0.12% of its cognitive capabilities. 2021 will be a breakthrough year in AI full-cycle automation, where development tools, such as AutoML 2.0, can help automate the development of varying functions.
AI algorithms empower software development teams to make instant decisions. Using real-time data, these teams are able to concisely make decisions immediately where the AI collects and analyzes the data for them. Moreover, AI helps to fully automate the coding process. The code itself becomes the most efficient and cleanest possible, ultimately leading to a more flexible and scalable process.
It may seem that AI will replace human intelligence, however this is not true. On the contrary, AI is aimed at helping teams simplify their development processes and speed up responses. AI also seeks to reduce human errors and automate routine processes.
Conclusion
By knowing the key software development trends in 2021, you can help guide your company on strategies related to your architecture and technology. Many companies are interested in what areas will dominate in the future and what groundwork needs to be laid now to succeed in the next couple of years.
It is clear that 2021 will be a year of exponential growth in application development and similarly, there are many digital/software areas that will evolve from this.
