The Future of Web Development: Our Predictions for 2024
by Miroslav Dimitrov, CEO
1. AI Assisted Development
The 2022 introduction of Github Copilot provided the tech industry with a direct integration of collective coding wisdom, reminiscent of Stack Overflow, right within the IDE. For numerous developers, Copilot not only streamlined their workflow but also humorously offered a degree of plausible deniability regarding any potential bugs in their code.
As we move into 2024, we anticipate that these assistants will undergo significant advancements, triggering a cascade of effects within the industry.
A notable consequence might be a sharp decrease in traffic to MDN. Developers might find themselves less reliant on manually looking up JS array methods. On a related note, we forecast that Stack Overflow's sibling site, "PromptVine," will skyrocket in popularity, potentially becoming one of the web's go-to destinations in just a few months.
2. Rendering Patterns
"Server render or not?" That was the question. However, in 2022, the stewards of the internet, Vercel, proposed a novel approach: rather than making this decision just once for your entire application, it's now a choice you'll face each time you craft a new component.
In what seems like a nod to keeping things "interesting," front-end developers—who are the same heroes battling with CSS—will now also need to familiarize themselves with the intricacies of Streaming SSR and Progressive Hydration.
In 2024, we're forecasting that frameworks will gravitate towards ever more detailed rendering patterns, peaking with the introduction of per-line rendering (PLR) by year's end. Concurrently, we anticipate a surge in job listings for Rendering Reliability Engineers, setting new industry records. We're also predicting that the term "rendering" will be used so frequently that it will lose all meaning. To those of you reading this and preparing to update your resumes, take a moment to remember: the best predictions are always grounded in a sense of humor. Always question the rendering, even when it's a joke! 😉