Coding: It’s what’s for dinner. OK, maybe it’s not for dinner, but it might be responsible for cooking your dinner. Today, you can dump ingredients into a crock-pot before you leave the house and start it up from anywhere your smartphone has a connection, so it’s ready and warm when you arrive, famished. To make that happen, we begin with a single line of code.

Technology is Developing and Coding is the Foundation
Technologies we never thought possible, and those we have yet to imagine, will be driven by code. Coding is impacting the future of technology and subsequently, our daily lives in ways we’re only beginning to understand.

“Coding is the groundwork and foundation of all different types of technology. Whether it is UX/UI, project management, business analysis, etc., coding will have a part in play,” says Morgan Walker, MS, Manager of Employer and Industry Engagement at Eleven Fifty Academy. “Technology is ALWAYS developing, and coding is not going anywhere! If anything, it will only start to get more prevalent in our daily lives.”

Coding Moves the Technology Revolution Forward
We are in the infancy of emerging technologies such as artificial intelligence, virtual reality, Internet of Things (IoT), and automation. Coding will nurture these technologies from bottle to solid food.

For example, the ubiquitous Cloud is growing and advancing. That translates into dramatic shifts and growth potential for coding. It’s the coders and programmers harnessing the IoT revolution to improve response times, build better applications, and scale their ability to work.

Databases of code can be found in the Cloud, eliminating the need to write every line of code that a program or technology needs to operate proficiently. The Cloud’s ability to store an enormous amount of data means that coding is increasingly accessible. Subsequently, coders can work faster and address other aspects of the technology to enrich our experiences as users.

Let Coding do the Heavy Lifting
We mentioned the crock-pot earlier, but take a moment to think of the things you can control from your smartphone and other devices. Coding is pushing the concept of the Internet of Things (IoT) so you can set and program your thermostat from afar. You can move money from your checking to your savings thanks to code.

Coding is also at the heart of understanding how you prefer technology to operate. The driver inside your head doesn’t have to think when it has too much on its plate, in other words, coding lets the technology do the thinking and the work.

Emerging Technologies Rely on Code
Time may move quickly, but the development of technology advances at an even more rapid pace. For example, autonomous vehicles were merely a dream a decade ago. Today, all of the major auto companies around the globe are testing them. The engineers are critical to this process. Still, the programmers are the ones programming the vehicle to respond to road conditions, to engage the windshield wipers, to use the turn signal, or to make an emergency stop. Which manufacturer will win the race to build the first street-ready autonomous vehicle? Perhaps it will be the one with the best team of coding professionals.

The accessibility and availability of virtual reality continues to improve and it’s changing the way gamers play and how businesses connect with consumers. This is made possible by a programmer’s ability to simplify writing the code that powers the technology.

Artificial intelligence (AI) is maturing beyond the machines on the factory line into automated commands stored in your computer. Thanks to coding, AI is capable of making a complex process as simple as pushing a button.

Latest Technology from 2020: Meet Future Technology in 2050
Cloud programming and smart, interconnected devices are the cutting-edge of consumer technology today. But even more emerging technologies are starting to manifest that will shape the future of technology for the next thirty years. Here are some of the industries that will be completely transformed by tech in 2050, and some predictions about how:

Energy: The US Energy Information Administration (EIA) predicts that half or more of the planet’s energy will come from renewable resources like solar, wind, thermal, and natural gas, by 2050. Technology will play a vital role in both planning and executing easy and profitable transitions across all economic sectors.

Agriculture: By 2050, humanity will need anywhere from 25-70% more food than we currently consume. At the same time, agriculture must adapt to a changing climate, meaning smart technologies and the Internet of Things will be leveraged to balance increasing food demand with the needs of the environment in real-time.

Architecture: Massive reinvestments in smart infrastructure like sewer, storm drainage, and electrical will reshape many cities behind-the-scenes by 2050. Additionally, architects of 2020 are already being encouraged to “future-proof” structures like parking garages in anticipation they may be obsolete by 2050 when cities are denser and fossil fuels are falling out of use.

Flight and Travel: Some sources predict that by 2050, humans will have established a permanent colony on the Moon, Mars, or both. But space flight is just the farthest-reaching manifestation of travel technology in 2050. Self-driving vehicles should be common by this point, and many high-speed, energy-efficient rail projects are also projected to be completed to reduce the emissions from air travel.

Healthcare: Everything from robotics to genetics and virtual reality is predicted to make an impact on healthcare. Small drones may be able to come to our homes to take blood and tissue samples—if they aren’t implanted in us to begin with. Handheld devices like MRI scanners allow patients to teleconference with specialists at a fraction of the cost. Devices like prosthetics and artificial joints will be able to collect data to perform better and warn about failures in advance.

Fashion: It isn’t just shopping that is being transformed by technology, but fashion itself. 3D printing is projected to transform fashion to be more sustainable, personalized, and functional. Instead of washing clothes, what if you just threw them in the 3D printer and came up with something totally new? Some fabrics may even be grown from microbes in the home.

Education: By 2050, it is predicted that 90% or more of higher education will take place online. Immersive virtual environments will mean the structure of learning itself will move beyond the classic lecture-and-test setup to admit every learning style and provide a customized experience. Even the division between subjects into different classes may begin to dissolve as knowledge is viewed more comprehensively.

Media and Communication: By 2050, many big media conglomerates may no longer exist as media consumption becomes more personalized and fragmented across social media. Devices like smartphones (and whatever comes after them) will continue to grow with artificial intelligence and be connected to an increasing number of other devices around us.

These technology future predictions might seem far-fetched in some places, but they are united by the progress of technologies that are already booming today—artificial intelligence, sensors and the Internet of Things, and cloud connectivity. Remember that in 1990, the first web browser was launched. In just 30 years since then, technology has advanced exponentially, and that growth power only increases with each innovation we make today, tomorrow, and the day after that.

How Coding For Kids Plays a Part
As smart devices and cloud connection become an increasing part of daily life on Earth, coding and programming is evolving from an optional field of study into a basic literacy. Teaching today’s children to code is on par with teaching them to read and speak in their native language. Without coding skills, they may not be able to communicate with the devices and tools that make the world around them function.

Teaching children to code is also a part of handing over the reins and responsibility for the future. A child born today will be reaching age 30 in 2050, meaning this generation is poised to inherit the environmental, infrastructure, and population challenges facing humanity that can only be solved through technology. Perhaps this is why 90% of parents today want their children to study computer science—because they don’t want to see their offspring left out of the conversation.

Future ideas that will change the world are going to come from the adults of the future. As children are born into and grow up immersed in the complexities and potential of technology, they will understand the possibilities. Far beyond the days of teens teaching adults to use webcams and smartphones, technology is already empowering kids who can code to solve problems for their communities.

Future Technologies That Will Change The World Need Coders
Some have started to predict that the future of coding is no coding at all. This is because tools to build software are expected to progress beyond the writing of line-by-line instructions for the computer, to drag-and-drop tools that allow anyone to create software.

While these tools will certainly democratize the building of software, coding will still be necessary. Not only will software developer jobs be the ones creating and maintaining the drag-and-drop tools, a knowledge of code will also empower innovation outside the scaffold that others create. Using a set of provided tools, future innovators without an understanding of one or more coding languages may ultimately be limited by the opportunities within drag-and-drop platforms. These tools will in fact automate the repeatable work, like creating an API or setting up a virtual server. But if you want to create something that’s never been done before, you won’t find the tools ready-made in a code library.