Technology Radar for 2015

With 2014 drawing to a close and 2015 offering fresh opportunities it is up to every software development professional to look at the up and coming technologies which are becoming widely adopted. ThoughtWorks have released their technology radar for 2015 with a list of techniques, tools, platforms, languages and frameworks to either adopt, trial, assess or avoid in the coming year. This is well worth a read - I have to say there were quite a few which I hadn't looked at before - a prompt reminder of how quick it is to fall behind in this profession.

Here's my two tips for 2015 - the top technologies to either adopt or trial in any new projects you are working on.

AngularJS
AngularJS is an excellent JavaScript framework which when used effectively allows you to structure your code to make complex web applications easily maintainable, and promotes code re-use. While the latest version (1.3) is extensively used in both small and major projects across the world, the AngularJS team are working on a re-write for version 2 in order to address some potential performance problems. The bad news is that version 2 is not a simple upgrade and will require people to re-write their apps. However, it is unlikely that projects started in 1.3 will need to upgrade - 1.3 is perfectly sufficient. Anyone starting a new project should consider closely whether they should start with version 2.

Docker
Docker has exploded onto the scene this year with people utilizing docker in both development environments and now production environments. Docker describe the product as follows:

"Docker is an open platform for developers and sysadmins to build, ship, and run distributed applications. Consisting of Docker Engine, a portable, lightweight runtime and packaging tool, and Docker Hub, a cloud service for sharing applications and automating workflows, Docker enables apps to be quickly assembled from components and eliminates the friction between development, QA, and production environments. As a result, IT can ship faster and run the same app, unchanged, on laptops, data center VMs, and any cloud."

With Microsoft working on supporting docker in the next version of windows server I think it's fair to say Docker is a major player in the fast moving software container field.

I'd be delighted to hear what technologies you tip to be big in 2015 - have a great new year!