Programming in 2019: 7 Key Trends to Watch Out

Like every year, this is the time of the year to have a look at the most prominent trends in programming. In the past few years, some languages and frameworks enjoyed more popularity than others and we watched the OS platforms to experience some shifts. Android embraced Kotlin and React enjoyed explosive popularity across the spectrum. While these trends will still continue, in the coming years we can expect a few other trends to show up.

Here we are going to explain the biggest programming trends that are likely to dominate 2019 and beyond.

1. Full-Stack Programmers Will Become More Popular

As building applications are increasingly getting a cost-intensive exercise, programmers with credible expertise in multiple front-end and backend technologies are becoming popular. These sought-after professionals are called full-stack programmers.

It is very likely that in the years to come, the popularity of this rare breed of programmers will rise to immense proportion given the fact that most small businesses and startups will face the wrath of competition and lack of resources more than ever before.

A full-stack developer with great expertise in most prominent frontend and backend technologies like HTML, JavaScript, PHP, Angular, Python, Swift, CSS, etc. and exposure across multiple mobile platforms will be considered as a more organic choice for building sophisticated cross-platform apps without really quoting a towering budget.

2. Kotlin Will Be Mainstream For Most Android Apps

One language that gained tremendous attention from Android developers is Kotlin. In the coming years, Kotlin is likely to enjoy this popularity. It shares many similarities with Java and offers smooth interoperability with Java. While for most Java developers null-point error remains to be a common concern, Kotlin has none. Compared to Java you can do away with most of the bottleneck code while building an app with Kotlin.

For developing apps at a faster pace with less code and to ensure more non-erroneous coding, Kotlin will continue to enjoy popularity among Android developers. In the coming years, we can expect Kotlin to jump into the bandwagon of more flexible languages capable to switch between object-oriented and functional programming and different platforms.

3. The Rise Of CoffeeScript

The rising popularity of CoffeeScript as a potential alternative to the JavaScript is going to shape the mobile app development trends of the future. The best thing about CoffeeScript is that it can fill in the gaps left out by JavaScript. The language not only utilizes TypeScript but makes the language work with least learning curve.

CoffeeScript is much simpler and straightforward language in spite of solving many shortcomings of JavaScript. By using significant whitespace and syntactic signs it literally makes it impossible to commit coding errors. CoffeeScript also offers straightforward functions and effective Lamda definition. The direct and clean class definition us another strength of the language.

4. Java 8

Java has long been the lingua franca of the programming world. It’s a role in shaping most of the languages and frameworks we use till date is a sure proof of its dominance. But while most other previous languages bearing its name including the JavaScript maintained a common link, Java 8 is not really Java. It is much different.

Java 8 has some unique attributes like allowing developers to come up with features for utilizing parallel codes in your app. Java 8 will allow you building an app without functional approach while writing clean and least buggy code. The two key strengths that help Java 8 to stay apart are the Lambda expressions and scope of writing concurrent code.

5. A Programming Language For Data Analysis

R is the latest entrant in the world of programming that earned a lot of accolades including the distinction of being only language specialized for data analysis. As most companies are now focused to utilize data analysis and reporting through their apps to stay ahead competitively, R will continue to remain a popular choice.

R is the only programming language which is entirely conceptualized and developed by the statisticians and scientists for needs specific to their niche, there is no imminent stop in the popularity of this language. Apart from these data science professionals, a great number of developers are simply preferring R over Python for building apps with Machine Learning capability.

6. React Making The Role Of UI Designers Bigger

Finally, without mentioning React any post on programming trends in recent times is incomplete. The popularity of React exploded in the past few months and developers across the platforms are preferring to React for lean development of apps with native features.

But React is also increasingly being embraced by designers for UI design and prototyping. As React offers a component-based architecture along with modularity and encapsulation of code, it allows designers to work more closely with the developers and deliver more engaging and business-specific UI. As the design is increasingly becoming component based rather than screen oriented, we can expect to React to play a bigger role in UI design and prototyping.

7. Go: The Simple Language To Manipulate Data

Google created this language with the objective of coming with a simple language for the servers. What resulted is a language devoid of most of the complex abstractions and clever means to achieve functions. This is how we received Go, the programming language with the simplest and most straightforward syntax. So much simplicity in syntax can help team members while manipulating data as everyone irrespective of their own twisted way of approaching a problem will be able to think in a level-headed manner.

Conclusion

Did we miss anything? It is quite possible to miss one or two trends or some promising languages that might be featured here. As the year will progress further, other trends will continue to get brighter.