The software development industry is a dynamic industry and every year new trends emerge. We see lots and lots of trends come and go, and while some of them stick around, many of them do not see the light of day. Each trend promises to bring a paradigm shift for the software development industry, but all of them can’t keep their promises.

The software development process typically starts with the identification of a problem or opportunity that can be addressed by software. This is followed by the design and planning phase, in which the software requirements are defined and a roadmap is created for the development process.

Software development is a complex and dynamic field, and it requires a wide range of skills and expertise. By staying up-to-date on the latest technologies and best practices, software developers can build high-quality and reliable software applications that meet the needs of users.

The benefit of being close to the software industry is to know when these paradigms are shifting and what causes them to shift. This new year is also going to see some shifts in the software industry. Here, I am making some predictions about what trends are going to bring those shifts. So, let’s begin with the software development trends to keep an eye on in 2023.

Trends in Software Development to Watch for in 2023

To clear the air, I am not going to state the obvious trends such as blockchain, IoT, Voice UI, and others that you are already familiar with. Still, they are widely being adopted and must be on your watchlist. Meanwhile, we are going to delve deeper into some of the unique and fresh trends that are believed to gain steam in 2023. So, without further ado, let’s start:

1. API-First Development

Short for Application Programming Interface, APIs enable software programs to communicate with each other. It is a technology to send and receive data within the applications and there are a lot of ways to carry out these tasks. The most obvious is using REST but GraphQL is also gaining popularity in the same arena. Find more information about which technology is best for API development out of REST and GraphQL here. 

Since the industry is slowly adopting real-time data processing, API-first development has a significant part to play. APIs are being used increasingly for applications to run on a per-function basis. This enables more functionalities to be integrated into software products.

There are several key benefits to using an API-first development approach: 

• Decoupling.
• Reusability.
• Scalability. 
• Ecosystem development.

The same principle works for microservices where the app has a set of multiple features and APIs that make them interact with each other. APIs extend the functionality of traditionally developed applications and going forward API-first approach will gain pace as it provides more flexibility, control, and scalability.

2. Micro Frontend Architecture

Often considered a revolutionary approach, Micro Frontend Architecture emerged as a promising solution to the inefficient monolithic frontends. It is a decoupled codebase that breaks monolithic code into parts that work collectively.

Also, it enables the web app frontend to scale as and when needed. Inspired by microservices, this type of architecture is a lucrative approach that helps extend the functionality for frontends of enterprise web applications.

A powerful technique called micro frontend architecture enables programmers to create scalable and adaptable online apps that can quickly respond to changing user demands. As it enables teams to operate autonomously while yet being able to incorporate their work into the overall program, it can be especially helpful for large businesses with numerous teams working on various components of the application.

Moreover, the architectural type brings more advantages to the table such as independent development, deployment, easy testing, etc. Many organizations facing bottlenecks in creating highly interactive frontends have already adopted this trend and many more will join the bandwagon going forward.

3. Server-Side Rendering

The Internet has come a long way and so does web page rendering. Yes, server-side rendering (SSR) isn’t exactly a new way for pages to render content. However, it has reappeared again thanks to the advancements in the computing powers of today’s servers.

With the introduction of JavaScript and frameworks based on that language, SSR took a backseat for a while. JavaScript provided a new approach to client-side rendering to offer end-users a fun and engaging experience.

Key benefits of Server-side Rendering : 

• Better performance: Since server-side rendering avoids the need for the client's web browser to run any additional code, it enables the content of the page to be provided to the client more quickly. This may result in quicker page loads and enhanced user experience.
• Better search engine optimization (SEO): Server-side rendering makes it easier for search engines to crawl and index a web page's content because it is completely rendered and accessible at the time of the search engine's first access to the page. The ranking of the page in search results may rise as a result.
• Better accessibility: Server-side rendering makes the material accessible to assistive tools like screen readers by enabling the delivery of fully-rendered content to them.

SSR is a way to load and parse contents and elements of frontends of web apps by a server it is hosted on instead of delegating the task to the browsers of end-users. The idea is to render all elements of frontends on the server itself so that browsers don’t take much load on themselves.

It is fast, efficient, and powerful enough to render large and complex web frontends. Thus, it is gaining the lost momentum of all these years now.

4. Serverless Architecture

Since we are talking about servers and architecture, let me introduce another relevant trend to keep an eye on this year. Traditionally, what used to happen is the development team was responsible for managing the underlying server infrastructure. They used to do all the configurations, manage storage, load balancing, patching, and all other stuff as well.

What serverless architecture does is remove all these functions and delegate them to third-party vendors such as cloud management systems. Similar to other trends in the list, it’s not something new but by the looks of it, it has a very promising and bright future. Serverless basically means moving your hosting to the cloud which expands your resources and capacities to run multiple apps at scale.

Additional advantages of serverless architecture include:

• Cost-effectiveness: Serverless architecture can be more affordable than standard infrastructure-based methods because developers only pay for the resources they actually utilize.
• Scalability: Serverless architecture enables automatic application scaling without requiring operator intervention. This may make it simpler to manage unexpected increases in usage or traffic.
• Flexibility: Since applications are constructed from a number of separate functions, developers can quickly update and modify specific components of an application without affecting the system as a whole.

Serverless architecture has two models namely Backend as a Service, and Function as a Service. BaaS offers more comprehensive services while FaaS offers an event-driven architecture.

5. Multi-Cloud Environment

Cloud is now the new normal and as we proceed further into the future, more cloud will mean better it is for your software. Multi-cloud refers to an environment where different elements, applications, software assets, and others are distributed across several cloud providers.

Going all-in for the cloud has a big advantage and it is to avoid potential lock-in for vendors. One famous saying goes like ‘Never put all your eggs in one basket.’ As your needs evolve so do your requirements to have different cloud services for different functions.

There are several benefits to using a multi-cloud environment:

• Flexibility: By utilizing a variety of cloud platforms, businesses may select the appropriate platform for each individual application or workload based on aspects like cost, performance, security, and compliance.
• Redundancy: Because applications and services can be set up to switch to a separate cloud platform in the event that one platform is unavailable, a multi-cloud architecture can offer redundancy and failover capabilities.
• Cost savings: By utilizing numerous cloud platforms, businesses can benefit from the various pricing structures and deals provided by each platform, thereby saving money.
• Vendor diversity: By utilizing several cloud platforms, businesses can lessen their reliance on a single vendor, which can help to reduce risk and guarantee that they have access to a variety of tools and technologies.

That’s where the multi-cloud environment comes into play. However, one needs to take the right approach out of redundancy and distribute for going multi-cloud deployment. The redundant approach is where the same assets are run on multiple clouds and don’t have a single point of failure. In the distributed approach, a dedicated cloud is allotted to each part of the assets.

Adopting the multi-cloud environment is going to require much consideration, strategy, and planning to execute perfectly.

Wrapping Up

There are also many other trends one must consider, but these were some of the software development trends that you must keep an eye on in 2023. Businesses should try to integrate new trends and techs that help solve their burning issues and scrape the ones that don’t.

For more such trends news and technology updates keep following the ashutec blog. Ashutec Solutions Pvt. Ltd. is an experienced and adept team of software and product development services providers, To get in touch, please write to connect@ashutec.com.