This past year saw a lot of change on IBM Developer, but one thing stayed consistent: we continued to offer code-heavy learning content to get you started with some of the most exciting technologies.

Based on our top-viewed content created in 2019, you love containers, want to use AI, are trying to wrap your heads around blockchain, use Node.js extensively, and want to know more about mobile development. Here are the top themes from this year – and some content to get you started.

Kubernetes is king

In the past decade, developers increasingly adopted containers as their de-facto development and deployment model. And the open source Kubernetes project was one of the main drivers of that adoption.

While Kubernetes is popular, it can be a bit complicated to master, so our Kubernetes content is in high demand. Here are some of our top pieces from 2019 to get you started on your journey with containers:

• Game of cloud technologies: Kubernetes vs. Cloud Foundry
• Why should you use microservices and containers?
• YAML basics in Kubernetes
• Options for running Kubernetes locally
• Troubleshoot microservices deployments with MicroProfile distributed tracing and Istio
• Deploy and run Jenkins on Kubernetes

AI development is a crucial skill

From asking Alexa about the weather to the way that apps are able to tag your pictures with names, AI is inescapable. And as AI continues to invade our lives, developers need to know how to incorporate this technology into the applications that they’re building.

If you want to learn the basics of AI development, we have a wealth of incredible AI content to get you up and running. Or you can sample 2019’s most popular AI content:

• Introduction to machine learning and artificial intelligence – Watson Studio Tutorial, Part 1
• Visual Recognition Challenge
• Get started with the Model Asset Exchange
• Create a real-time object detection app using Watson Machine Learning

Blockchain doesn’t have to be complicated

While it started as a way to track cryptocurrency, blockchain is now used to track everything from asset management, supply chains, healthcare, identities, and more. Open source projects like Hyperledger let you start using and contributing to the technology in its early stages.

This technology is changing quickly, so use our top content to start tracking with blockchain:

• IBM Blockchain 101: Quick-start guide for developers
• Develop a smart contract with the IBM Blockchain Platform VS Code extension
• Create and deploy a blockchain network using Hyperledger Fabric SDK for Java
• IBM Blockchain Platform tutorial overview, IBM Cloud cluster creation, and console deployment
• Blockchain security, privacy, and confidentiality

Node.js is your favorite JavaScript runtime

2019 was a big year for Node.js. The OpenJs Foundation was created to bring together and strengthen the JavaScript and Node.js communities, Node.js 12 entered LTS, and Node.js 13 was released. We have a number of active Node.js collaborators and contributors at IBM who created great content to help you master your Node.js application development and deployments.

• Release blogs for Node.js versions 12 and Node.js version 13
• 6 reasons your Node.js apps are failing
• Promises in Node.js: An alternative to callbacks
• Node.js memory management in container environments
• Introducing NodeRED version 1.0

New to Node.js? Start with our comprehensive learning path that introduces you to the core concepts and gets you started building your first Node.js app.

Mobile development

No matter the industry, your product is no longer complete without a mobile site, mobile app, or mobile presence of some kind. Because mobile devices are the most popular way for people to connect to the internet, developers need to know how to build with mobile in mind. These resources from 2019 will get you started:

• Building successful mobile apps
• Get started with full-stack mobile development
• Choosing the best programming language for mobile app development

What’s next?

The past decade gave us a lot of new technologies to learn and master — and we have high hopes for what’s in store in 2020. While we will continue to offer great content around the topics above, we also keep our ears tuned to the newest trends — serverless, security, hybrid cloud development, to name a few — and will be sure to deliver content to help you master those technologies as well.