Top 10 useful and important open source tools in 2019

In Black Duck's 2017 open source survey, 77% of respondents used open source to build internal applications, 69% used open source components to create customer applications, and 69% said open source powers their infrastructure. 48% of enterprises surveyed said the number of people contributing to open source in their organization is increasing.

GitHub currently has over 24 million users and over 25 million public repositories. In many areas, open source projects have become the dominant technology, and IT professionals who want to keep themselves up to date need to at least be familiar with these tools. Based on current trends, here are ten of the most important open source tools for 2019:

1. Docker

The dual trends of DevOps and cloud computing have greatly increased people's interest in container technology. Docker is the leader in container technology. The 2017 "Cloud Report" shows that 70% of enterprises have used or are planning to use Docker. At the same time, Docker is also the preferred tool for enterprises to deploy DevOps.

Docker allows developers to package their applications and dependent packages into a portable container and then publish it to any popular Linux machine, which makes it easy to move applications from one place to another and facilitates use in hybrid cloud environments.

Kubernetes

Docker helps you use container technology, while Kubernetes helps you better manage containers. Kubernetes is open sourced by Google and provides functions such as application deployment, maintenance, and expansion mechanisms. It provides container services for Amazon, Microsoft Azure, and Google Cloud Platform. Even Swarm, which manages Docker clusters, integrates Kubernetes technology.

In GitHub's October 2017 report, Kubernetes was the second most frequently reviewed open source project and the most popular repository.

Git

Git has become the most popular version control solution. In the 2017 Stack Overflow Developer Survey, 69.2% of developers said they use Git, making Git the top choice for developers. In comparison, the second most popular version control system, Subversion, was chosen by only 9.1% of respondents.

In the open source world, the rise of GitHub, which is based on Git, has helped this version control system increase its influence. As more and more companies embrace open source, they also choose Git.

4. Java

Java is one of the most popular programming languages ​​in the world and one of the most loved programming languages ​​in the world. In the Stack Overflow survey, Java is the most popular language, with 62.5% of people saying they have used Java. Java is also the most popular programming language on GitHub. In PYPL's Programming Language Popularity Index, Java is currently fourth, and in the latest TIOBE index, it is sixth.

Java is particularly popular in web development, but it has also made its way into backend and mobile development.

5. Node.js

One of the main reasons for the popularity of Java is the growing popularity of Node.js, a runtime that allows developers to write server-side code in Java. This means that developers can use the same language when writing both the front-end and back-end of a web application.

In GitHub's October 2017 report, Node.js was the most popular library. In the Stack Overflow survey, 47.1% of developers said they were using Node.js. At the same time, Node.js was the second most popular framework as 62.1% of developers said they liked it. Moreover, it is one of the most popular technologies among developers.

React/React Native

React is a JavaScript library created by Facebook for developing user interfaces. The related project React Native allows developers to create cross-platform native mobile applications using React.

Although React and React Native are fairly new technologies, they are already very popular. In the GitHub report, React is one of the most popular projects, and in the Stack Overflow survey, although only 19.5% of developers said they are using React, 66.9% said they like the library, making it the most popular framework in the category.

In a report released by Indeed on the fastest growing skills in 2018, React topped the list. Job seeker searches for React increased 313%, while company searches for React skills grew 229%.

7. Angular

Angular is also on Indeed’s list of fast-growing skills. Job seekers’ searches for Angular-related positions increased by 50%, and companies’ searches for resumes with Angular skills increased by 6%. It is the second most popular technology in the Stack Overflow survey. It is also one of the projects with the most contributors on GitHub.

Like Node.js and React/React-Native, Angular is part of the JavaScript ecosystem (although the latest version of Angular is actually based on TypeScript and compiles to JavaScript). It is an open source framework designed to help developers build cross-platform applications on native mobile, web, mobile web, and native desktop.

Hadoop

Hadoop is a very popular open source tool in big data solutions for processing large amounts of data on a cluster of distributed systems. In the Stack Overflow report, Hadoop appears on both the most popular and most desired technology lists.

However, as enterprises begin to look for other technologies that can better meet their needs, some analysts are beginning to question whether Hadoop will continue to play a central role in the big data ecosystem. Still, it remains one of the key open source projects used by enterprises in 2018.

9. Spark

Spark is also an emerging big data technology that is growing in importance. Like Hadoop, it is managed by the Apache Software Foundation, but is much faster than Hadoop's standard MapReduce engine. Many organizations use both Spark and Hadoop for applications that need to process real-time streaming data.

According to Indeed, job seekers’ searches for Spark-related positions increased by 39%, and recruiters’ searches for job seekers with Spark skills increased by 14%. It is also the fourth most popular technology in the Stack Overflow survey.

10. TensorFlow

A report published by Digital Ocean found that 83% of developers are not yet using artificial intelligence (AI) or machine learning (ML). However, these developers who have not used AI/ML intend to start learning in the next year.

Many of them will probably start by learning TensorFlow, the open source machine learning library created by the Google Brain team.

Several leading public cloud providers now offer TensorFlow-based services. In GitHub's report, TensorFlow was the most forked project of the year, and it also appeared in the list of projects with the most contributors and the most comments.