Updated
Updated · InfoWorld · Sep 28
Software Development Sees 9 Reversals as JavaScript, SQL and Monoliths Regain Ground
Updated
Updated · InfoWorld · Sep 28

Software Development Sees 9 Reversals as JavaScript, SQL and Monoliths Regain Ground

1 articles · Updated · InfoWorld · Sep 28

Summary

  • Nine counter-intuitive shifts are reshaping software development, with older or simpler approaches regaining favor over tools once seen as the default future.
  • TypeScript is increasingly being treated like a linting layer for plain JavaScript, while SQL is resurging over ORMs and NoSQL because direct abstractions add less friction.
  • Local IDEs, monoliths and opinionated full-stack frameworks are also gaining ground as developers push back against cloud workspaces, microservices sprawl and brittle SaaS integration glue.
  • On-prem infrastructure, specialized engineers and WebAssembly are benefiting from the same simplicity-first rethink, challenging cloud-first, full-stack and Docker-centric assumptions.
  • Java rounds out the 9 trends: virtual threads and structured concurrency are reviving a 30-year-old language against newer server-side rivals such as Node, Go and Rust.

Insights

If plain JavaScript and monolithic architectures are the future, did the software industry just waste a decade on unnecessary complexity?
Are tech giants quietly abandoning the complex cloud and microservices architectures they spent the last decade selling to everyone else?
Could the sudden return to on-premises servers and manual database coding signal the bursting of the cloud-native tech bubble?