Ask HN: What technologies will we still be using in 20 years?

For example, I assume that in 20 years Python will still be popular, meaning that at least one of the existing web frameworks will still be popular. I suspect Postgres and SQLite will be in still, but MySQL will be out almost entirely. I presume Flask will fall by the wayside.

In your field, what do you think will still be in use and what will be either deprecated or just entirely out of favor by that point.

brianhorakh · 4 years ago

Git, linux are ubiquitous.

Html, css, svg.

Tcp/ip & Ipv6, ipv4 for wifi

K8, c++, java, postgres (as legacy tech)

20 years requires a lot of guessing about communities, libraries, where our society is after a decade of bad ai, mars & moon base. Is Linus still alive? What was his hat trick (3rd act) after linux & git?

Blender probably is big, but also mostly ai driven by then

open-source-ux · 4 years ago

For programming, we'll still be using plain text (in a monospace font) for creating programs - relying on clumsy, cryptic syntax based on the limited characters available on a keyboard. In other words, the default preference of most developers for the past 50 years.

The simplicity of text is very appealing to developers. But arguably, it's modern IDEs that make dealing with plain text tolerable - without them, the simplicity of text would rapidly lose its shine.

mindcrime · 4 years ago

At the rate things are going, I'd posit that it will be:

Flint & Steel

Trapping

Boiling water

Foraging

Fishing

Smoke signals

Drums

etc.

Maybe I'm just in a pessimistic mood right now, but the future isn't looking terribly bright to me right this minute.

kleer001 · 4 years ago

> Maybe I'm just in a pessimistic mood right now

I feel yah. I was like that too. Until I read a bunch of optimistic stuff from Stephen Pinker. I always say to give "The Better Angels of Our Nature" a try.

mindcrime · 4 years ago

I always say to give "The Better Angels of Our Nature" a try.

I've actually been meaning to read that for a while now. Guess it's time to dive into it.

yen223 · 4 years ago

You'd want to look for technologies that were used 20 years ago, that we're still using today. Chances are high that they'll survive the next 20 years.

Things like HTTP, JavaScript, C, C++, Python, Java are all still in regular use now, and will likely still be used 20 years from now.

mikewarot · 4 years ago

GNU/Linux with the monolithic gigakernel, user based security, and all the attendant security faults.

Virus scanners, firewalls, "trusted boot", and all the government regulation that results from the security holes generated above.

I'm not sure if unlicensed general purpose computing will be available to the working class, or if we will have lost that war in 20 years.

pddpro · 4 years ago

I wouldn't be surprised if COBOL were still around by that time. Lots of tech came and went but FORTRAN and COBOL were stubborn enough to survive!

mikewarot · 4 years ago

Note that a lot of that old code that caused so much of the fuss in Y2K wasn't ever supposed to be around even a decade after it was written... the phase change caused by IBM OS/360 and widespread backwards compatibility froze it in place.

Normally, you rewrote everything for the new system when it showed up, and used the knowledge gained from the old one to make the new one better. This suddenly stopped when you didn't need to do it, and everyone decided to save time/money and make due with the old code.

jozsefdev · 4 years ago

Bash, VIM (without knowing how to exit it). Also I hope some ideas will come into practice from Bret Victor's vision for the future of programming. https://youtu.be/8pTEmbeENF4

I'm also curious to see when will we fully explore the programming language space. I think the possible ways to write code are finite.

openfuture · 4 years ago

Lisp, prolog and forth.

Atomask · 4 years ago

Python will add all-encompassing parentheses, making it a full Lisp. Keeping up with population growth, there will now be a handful, nay dozens, of ANSI Common Lisp users. And every ANSI Common Lisp program will still work flawlessly (sound and graphics included), despite changes in chip architecture. The Common Lisp Hyperspec will be enshrined by the World Heritage Foundation as an example of heavenly, Platonic writing. So let it be written. So let it be done.

tluyben2 · 4 years ago

The future is very bright then? But Java definitely.