TechBeacon tracked the hottest application development and software quality topics and trends in 2015. Didn't catch them all? No worries. Now's your chance to catch up as you prepare for 2016. Here's our list of the top 10 most popular app dev and QA stories of the year.
13 programming languages defining the future of coding
Faster, smarter programming, with fewer bugs: Those are the promises coming from the creators of the latest round of languages capturing the attention of programmers this year. Yes, they're the same buzzwords we've heard before, but lack of novelty is no reason to dismiss them. The future of coding will require stability and solid best practices, so next-generation innovations may be just what you need in 2016. In fact, projects are getting so much bigger that software engineers need to innovate more than ever, says Peter Wayner.
7 bad habits of highly ineffective software engineers
Every software developer wants to be as effective as possible, but some aren't hitting the mark. How do you measure up? If you're like most engineers, you've probably developed a few bad habits over the years, and some are much worse than others. Here are seven career-breakers every coder needs to ditch, writes John Mello.
You've heard the benefits of containers, now understand the challenges
Using containers in the cloud promises to make portability simple and easy. At least, that's the story being told to the cloud application development masses who want to quickly adopt containers. But there's another side to this story, writes cloud expert David Linthicum. Here's what you need to know for 2016.
Why you should be putting mobile app development first
IT organizations that are ready to meet the mobile application challenge head-on will be well positioned to prevail in 2016. So why are so many enterprises still outsourcing mobile development? In a mobile-first world, mobile should be a core competency, and preparing an action plan is a vital first step, writes Bernard Golden.
Understanding cloud application governance: A developer's guide
Many software engineers have yet to fully come to grips with the issue of governance as it relates to cloud application development. What's missing is a solid understanding of how to develop cloud applications that can be effectively governed and managed, and how to link those applications with service and resource governance tools. Understanding these links and the mechanisms that make for a good cloud governance program is an outright necessity. Cloud expert David Linthicum offers the steps you need to take to get your cloud governance program under way and build systemic governance into your cloud applications.
Application fiefdoms perpetuate waste. Here's how to dismantle them.
When an internal software application reaches critical mass, it often turns into a self-perpetuating fiefdom that generates work well beyond its natural lifespan. People employed on an application full time have an incentive to continually extend and improve it in any way that keeps the development effort going, whether or not the work is really worth doing. The application becomes their purpose and their identity, a fiefdom in which they reside and over which they rule. Such fiefdoms can be hard to recognize and dismantle, so managers. Stephen Frein explains how to identify them, speed their dissolution, and prevent new ones from forming.
The top 5 software quality metrics that matter right now
Using those good old, tried and true, stand-alone test metrics isn't enough anymore. When it comes to quality in development, testing, and overall operations, you should be asking these questions, says performance engineering expert Todd DeCapua.
Android's fragmented future: 4 best practices for tackling testing
Fragmentation in the Android market makes app testing like trying to put together a puzzle with too many pieces. The key to making mobile testing manageable is to take some of these pieces off the table. Mobile development expert Ori Bendet shows you how.
Software quality doesn't come cheap. Are you ready to invest?
As DevOps drives faster releases, the pressure is intensifying on testers to find critical defects earlier, well before product rollout. Optimizing the release pipeline, building in automation, and hitting the market ahead of competitors are key aims for many businesses, but you can't achieve them without assigning more resources to testing. This pressure has driven the widespread adoption of agile testing, and it's now starting to pay dividends in terms of speed to market, says Mush Honda.
Building software: It's all about thinking, acting, and effective communication
Expert coding is essential to building good software, but effective communication is equally vital. Software developers have many channels available to them to accomplish this. You can communicate with your users by providing an intuitive and simple user interface that guides them through the app; you can communicate with other developers by writing clear code that uses known design patterns and idioms, and by using and sharing code through open source; and you can communicate with your operations staff through short, continuous delivery cycles that create a clear and actionable feedback loop, writes Shay Tsadok. Here's how to get set up those communications lines and keep them open.
Keep learning
Take a deep dive into the state of quality with TechBeacon's Guide. Plus: Download the free World Quality Report 2022-23.
Put performance engineering into practice with these top 10 performance engineering techniques that work.
Find to tools you need with TechBeacon's Buyer's Guide for Selecting Software Test Automation Tools.
Discover best practices for reducing software defects with TechBeacon's Guide.
- Take your testing career to the next level. TechBeacon's Careers Topic Center provides expert advice to prepare you for your next move.
