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Published Oct 10, 2023 ⦁ 8 min read

New Kids on the Block: 5 Development Technologies to Watch

Introduction

The world of software development evolves at lightning speed, with new frameworks, languages, and tools emerging constantly. As developers, keeping our skills up to date is crucial for building innovative applications and staying competitive in the job market. In this post, we'll highlight five cutting-edge technologies that every developer should have on their radar. These tools and platforms are shaping the future of software engineering and opening up new possibilities for developers.

Specifically, we'll be covering Flutter, GraphQL, WebAssembly, blockchain platforms, and WebRTC. For each technology, we'll provide an overview of its capabilities, benefits, and real-world use cases. We'll also dig into key features and examples of major projects leveraging these new technologies.

By the end, you'll have a solid understanding of the landscape of trending developer technologies. Even if you don't adopt them immediately, knowing what's coming next will help future-proof your skills. So let's dive in!

1. Flutter

Flutter is Google's open-source framework for building beautiful, high-performance apps across platforms like iOS, Android, web, and desktop from a single Dart codebase. Since its alpha release in 2017, Flutter has seen massive growth and is now used by companies like Alibaba, eBay Motors, and Square in production applications.

Some of the key benefits of Flutter include:

  • Rapid development cycle - Flutter's stateful hot reload feature lets you quickly view code changes in real time without losing app state. This tight feedback loop enables faster iteration.
  • Expressive and flexible UI framework - Flutter includes a modern reactive-style framework and extensive widget set for crafting adaptive UIs. The declarative programming model makes it easy to build complex interfaces.
  • Excellent documentation and community support - Flutter has in-depth, up-to-date docs and a welcoming community that makes learning the framework approachable for developers of all skill levels.
  • Native performance - Flutter apps have the same responsiveness and fluidity as native apps. Platform-specific APIs give access to native device capabilities.
  • Portability across platforms - Flutter uses a single codebase written in Dart that compiles to native ARM code. There's no need to maintain separate native projects.
  • Hot reload - View code changes instantly without restarting your app or losing state. Hot reload boosts developer productivity.
  • Expressive and flexible UI - Quickly build beautiful adaptive UIs using Flutter's modern react-style framework and extensive catalog of widgets.

Flutter enables fast development of high-quality, portable apps for mobile, web, and desktop from a single codebase. Its hot reload capabilities and extensive widgets for crafting UIs make Flutter a leading choice for cross-platform development. Companies like Google Ads, Philips, and Storecoat use Flutter to deliver robust apps across platforms.

2. GraphQL

GraphQL is a query language created internally by Facebook in 2012 before being publicly released in 2015. It provides an alternative to REST APIs with greater flexibility and efficiency. Leading tech companies like GitHub, Shopify, and Airbnb have adopted GraphQL in production.

GraphQL lets clients specify exactly the data they need via declarative queries rather than multiple REST endpoints. This allows retrieving diverse data in a single request while reducing over and under-fetching. GraphQL improves performance through targeted querying and reduces boilerplate code needed to compose data from separate API calls.

For example, a single GraphQL query could retrieve a user's profile information and recent posts by specifying the exact fields needed:

query {
  user(id: 5) {
    name
    profilePic
    posts(limit: 10) {
      id
      text
      timestamp
    }
  }
}

This flexibility allows clients to get the data they want in one round trip. And the strongly typed schema system helps with writing more consistent queries.

Key Benefits of GraphQL

  • Increased flexibility for clients to specify data needs
  • Improved performance through targeted queries
  • Reduced boilerplate code
  • Powerful developer tools like GraphiQL IDE
  • Strongly typed schema system
  • Built-in versioning and deprecation support
  • Growing community and tooling ecosystem

GraphQL enables declarative data fetching that greatly improves upon REST conventions. Its flexibility and performance gains explain rapid adoption by companies like Yelp, The New York Times, and PayPal.

3. WebAssembly

WebAssembly (Wasm) is a low-level binary format optimized for executing performance-critical code on the web. It provides near-native speeds while maintaining the security and portability of web apps.

Major browsers like Chrome, Firefox, Edge, and Safari all support WebAssembly. Use cases include 3D games, computer vision, machine learning, CAD applications, and other performance-sensitive scenarios. WebAssembly helps expand the capabilities of web apps closer to native.

For example, Figma uses WebAssembly to power their web-based design tool with native speeds:

The Vector API makes extensive use of WebAssembly. We use it for parsing SVG paths, rasterizing strokes, performing boolean operations on paths, and more. Without WebAssembly, Figma's editing experience wouldn't be nearly as fast and responsive as it is today.

Key Features

  • Near-native performance for computationally intensive workloads
  • Safe, sandboxed execution environment
  • Wide support from browsers and JavaScript engines
  • Complementary to and interoperable with JavaScript
  • Cross-platform and language-agnostic
  • Modular .wasm packages for code distribution
  • LLVM compiler infrastructure

WebAssembly enables a new category of lightning fast web apps. It excels in use cases like 3D games, computer vision, machine learning inferencing, and other performance-critical domains.

4. Blockchain Platforms

Blockchain platforms like Ethereum are enabling decentralized applications through capabilities like cryptocurrency, smart contracts, and distributed consensus. There is growing demand for blockchain developers as enterprises explore use cases beyond finance like supply chain management.

Leading platforms include Ethereum for general purpose smart contracts, Hyperledger Fabric for private enterprise blockchains, and Corda for regulated industries like finance and insurance.

Ethereum powers the Ether cryptocurrency and decentralized apps built on smart contracts. Over 75% of blockchain developers use Ethereum.

Hyperledger Fabric offers a permissioned ledger with private channels for enterprise blockchain networks. IBM, Walmart, and other Fortune 500 companies use Fabric.

Corda streamlines blockchain for finance through standards like ISO 20022. R3 partners like HSBC, Wells Fargo, and Bank of America use Corda for blockchain networks.

Key features common across platforms include:

  • Decentralized consensus mechanisms like proof-of-work and proof-of-stake
  • Transparent and verifiable transactions through distributed ledgers
  • Native support for digital assets and cryptocurrency
  • Self-executing smart contracts to automate business logic
  • Permissioned and permissionless models for public or private blockchains

Blockchain enables innovative applications like:

  • Cryptocurrencies and decentralized finance
  • Supply chain tracking and logistics
  • Medical records management and security
  • Digital identity platforms and self-sovereign identity
  • Voting systems and governance models

The unique capabilities of blockchain make it a prime target for enterprise adoption across industries.

5. WebRTC

WebRTC (Web Real-Time Communications) is an open-source project providing web browsers and mobile applications with real-time communications capabilities via simple APIs. It allows streaming audio, video, and data peer-to-peer between browsers without plugins.

Leading companies like Google, Mozilla, and Microsoft contributed to its development. WebRTC has been used by companies like Twilio, Vonage, Snapchat, and Facebook for embedding real-time communications in their apps.

For example, Zoom uses WebRTC for powering real-time video communications across desktop and mobile:

The Zoom Meetings desktop client, mobile app, and Zoom Rooms all use WebRTC to enable Zoom's industry-leading video meeting experience across platforms.

Key Features

  • Real-time video, voice, and file sharing
  • Advanced features like screen sharing and recording
  • End-to-end encrypted peer connections
  • Ultra low-latency communications
  • Cross-platform support across browsers and devices
  • No plugins, downloads, or installs required
  • Programmatic control for dynamic media routing

WebRTC makes adding real-time communications seamless. Its uses span from telehealth to live streaming to peer-to-peer file sharing.

Conclusion

The rapid pace of advancement in the development world presents exciting opportunities. Learning trending technologies like the ones covered here will enable you to build the next generation of immersive, intelligent, and connected experiences.

Each technology opens new possibilities - from portable apps with Flutter to decentralized finance using blockchain platforms. By expanding your skills, you'll boost your capabilities and opportunities as the industry continues evolving.

We covered five major technologies, but many others are emerging constantly at the bleeding edge. DevHunt is a great place to discover and track the latest developer tools across categories as they launch. You can get early previews of new technologies and sign up for updates on ones you're interested in.

What technology covered here are you most excited to learn next? Let me know in the comments!

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