There is no doubt that COVID-19 has made the last couple of years extraordinary years which will form the foundation of the software trends and APIs that we can expect to see in 2023. As well as the COVID crisis other factors will come into play that will influence the API trends of 2023.
Python has become the dominant programming language of 2023. It is one of the easiest programming languages to learn and arguably one of the easiest programming languages for a beginner of computing to use to query APIs. In 2023 more people will know what APIs are and how to work them. With many people taking up programming courses during the COVID pandemic who have not previously worked in computing, the demand for Python tutorials for new and existing APIs is going to be exponential in 2023. One example of an easy to learn api for ip address location to get started with is ipstack.com.
Even before COVID the Internet Of Things was a growing area and it will continue to grow. Last year saw the announcement of the METAVERSE, many interesting software and API projects in VR are going to spring up around that. Below are some more general trends.
1. INCREASE OF COVID DATA / RESEARCH SHARING APIs
There has been much government and private funding into software that tracks COVID research and data. In 2023 we can expect an increase in the development of existing and new APIs for COVID software, which include APIs that allow news agencies to pull hospital patient stats from across the world and sharing of scientific research from the scientific communities.
2. What are some HEALTH AND WELLNESS APIs?
With COVID lockdowns there has been a surge of domestic abuse and mental health challenges. Technology and apps will be created to solve the increased problems COVID19 has put on the health services.
Doctors and hospitals have been pressurized to prioritize COVID patients over other patients and more care is administered remotely to other patients. There has been increased usage of video consultation technology in the health services as well as in the general business sector.
There has also been a rise in health monitoring rings like ouraring.com that collect health data like heartbeats and exposes it via an API to smartphones to consume and display.
With people experiencing the pressures on the health services more people are taking greater responsibility for their own health and wellbeing. Exercise equipment has been adopting API usage, such as Peloton bikes that use APIs to send workout data to the cloud.
Again expect more APIs as software develops to meet the challenges in these areas.
3. REFORM OF TRAVEL BOOKING AND HOSPITALITY APIS
QR codes have been around for 20 years but have really exploded in usage in the past few years as people have become familiar with scanning of COVID passport QR to access many public facilities.
More broadly, this entire industry is experiencing digital transformation. Restaurant menus moving to online, customers being encouraged to use their phone to order from the table to limit contact with staff.
As people focus on nutrition, API providers such as Edamam that provide APIs for Nutrition Analysis, Food Databases, Recipe Search are coming to the fore providing restaurants and the catering industry with competitive food analysis data that customers into food facts want to know.
As travel restrictions begin to lift Flight APIs will become increasingly significant for root planning for the travel industry, as not all flight services will have returned to normal.
4. APIS THAT ASSIST EMPLOYERS AND APPLICANTS WITH REMOTE JOB APPLICATIONS AND MANAGE REMOTE WORKERS
The COVID crisis has had more people following remote working trends.
Recruitment companies and employers will increasingly begin to see the value in resume parsing APIs to analyze resumes to minimize initial social contact with applicants.
While applying for job positions online continues to replace traditional in-person recruitment, more people learning API skills will automate their job searches and job bidding using job site and freelancer APIs.
APIs such as userstack.com which do instant user device authentication will increasingly become important for companies that want to validate the identity and maintain device security of their remote workers.
5. MORE APIS FOR THE INTERNET OF THINGS
People familiar with working with API are used to APIs being designed to provide data and content to be consumed by humans, but more APIs will continue to be designed to be consumed by machines or even artificial intelligence. Technology is increasingly being designed to connect people to machines and for people to control machines with their thoughts. Consider Elon Musk’s recent announcement of his intention for his company Neuralink to do its first human brain chip implant.
The future of software technology and API development looks set for more brain-computer interfaces for humans to use their thoughts to control technology, Facebook is one of the most active companies in developing this technology. Scientists as far back as 2013 have been creating Brain to Brain interfaces using technology to control thoughts, in 2023 some very interesting technologies are going to emerge.
Artificial Intelligence (AI) will increasingly consume the enormous information available from API resources and AI may one day channel that information directly back to wearable tech or chip implants that influence human thoughts in much the same way that AI already makes Netflix recommendations.
