As we approach 2024, the world of software development is buzzing with anticipation. New technologies, languages, and frameworks are on the horizon, promising to revolutionise how we code, not to mention the exciting new features and ideas in the tools we already use.

In this blog post, Morrow's senior software engineer Costas shares what to look forward to in app development in 2024.

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Part 2 coming soon!

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What's New in Software Development in 2024

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Expo Orbit

Expo Orbit is a new tool from Expo that simplifies the life of an Expo developer. This MacOS taskbar tool allows you to:

• List and launch simulators.
• Install and launch builds from EAS directly into your simulators or real devices.
• Launch Snack projects with the click of a button.
• Pin projects and quickly launch the latest builds.
  

Expo has exciting plans for the future of this tool, and I can't wait to see them in action.

React-Native's New Architecture

React Native's New Architecture is already here, although it's not considered stable yet. It offers exciting new features for React Native development:

• Better performance: This is achieved by dropping the "Bridge" and using "JSI".
• Reduced launch times: Native modules no longer have to load all at once at the start.
• Concurrency: It's now possible to invoke functions from JavaScript that are executed on different threads.
• Synchronous Execution: Functions that should not have been asynchronous in the first place can now be executed synchronously.
  

Alongside these improvements, the new "Fabric" rendering system and the new "TurboModules" for native integration have been introduced.

However, as the New Architecture is not yet stable, it is only partially supported by Expo. Expo Go, as well as expo-updates, do not fully support it. I'm looking forward to this becoming stable and fully supported by Expo.

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Read: Why keeping your project's Expo SDK updated is crucial and where to find the updates.

Our AI Copilot in our development flight

GitHub Copilot, an AI-assisted programming tool that provides autocomplete-style suggestions while you write your code, has proven to be one of the most valuable tools in my arsenal in 2023. The recent addition of GitHub Copilot Chat has elevated the coding experience to unprecedented heights. From providing auto-suggestions as you type your code, generating code from comments, reviewing your codebase, to engaging in discussions about your codebase, these tools have truly lived up to their "Copilot" moniker. And this is just the beginning. The anticipation for what 2024 has in store for software developers is palpable.

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Looking for help with your app project in 2024? Contact us!