Thinking of the future no longer enough to write good code – you also have to maintain it in order to protect against hackers, fraud and other glitches that might occur. Any weak spots within a programme’s code should be seen as liabilities – something that can and will be exploited if not fixed. So the question then becomes: How do we fix this? How can we make it easier for developers to spot weak points within software quickly so they can make the necessary changes in a timely manner?
Automating your intel One way to streamline this process is to implement artificial intelligence into your systems. AI technology, like that used in our Gamma platform, is able to regularly test systems and identify problems so that developers can more easily assess and fix bugs as they occur.
While AI is making software development and management easier, it should be caveated that even though it’s advancing, there are still limits to its use. The complexity involved in building software is such that, if you were to ask Alexa to help you build an application that could manage your investments and budget, automated processes would work off a set of pre-programmed or learned assumptions. Needless to say, this would be unlikely to fall in line perfectly with what you were looking for. AI definitely has a place in software development to help streamline businesses, applications, and ultimately, lives. But its role is much more nuanced than simply creating – it is best put to work as a safety measure, to check and correct what is broken.
“If so much as one line of code is incorrect, the entire system can be thrown into chaos.”
Using technology like AI will make software developers better at their jobs, and enable them to build better and more advanced code, software, and ultimately programmes and devices. So what can we expect in years to come? We’re already on a path to omnipresent tech – that is to say, technology that manages almost all facets of our lives. I don’t think it’s unreasonable to think that within a few years’ time we’ll also have tech implanted within our bodies. To some extent this is already happening with pacemakers and fitness trackers. As this tech advances, it becomes even more crucial that software runs smoothly and developers are able to make fixes quickly and easily. Agility and responsiveness will be the name of the game – our lives depend on it. After all, we would not want the software in our body to crash as often as our smartphones crash today. Acellere, +49 69 272 430 80 Acellere.com March 2018 | 33