Top programming languages, developer productivity, the 5G future, and more: ZDNet's research round-up

The majority of chief financial officers expect the COVID-19 pandemic to hit their businesses, to cut into revenue and profit, and spur a recession, according to a survey of CFOs by PwC. All of the finance experts say their business is experiencing some coronavirus impact and 54% of respondents say there is the potential for a significant impact. More than half (58%) of CFOs expect a decrease in revenue and/or profits.

For more see: CFOs see COVID-19, novel coronavirus financial hit ahead, but optimistic about recovery, says PwC

The use of remote access technologies like RDP (remote desktop protocol) and VPN (virtual private network) has skyrocketed 41% and 33%, respectively, since the onset of the coronavirus (COVID-19) outbreak. According to data compiled by Shodan, a search engine that scans and indexes internet-connected devices instead of websites, the number of RDP endpoints has gone from roughly 3 million recorded at the start of the year to almost 4.4 million on Sunday, March 29, 2020.

For more see: RDP and VPN use skyrocketed since coronavirus onset

Unify Square has released a new report examining the most-utilised features across workplace collaboration. Approximately 90% of enterprises use some form of a collaboration platform for internal communications. The research shows that the most-preferred collaboration platforms are Microsoft Teams (31%), Microsoft Skype for Business (27%), Google Chat (21%), Cisco WebEx Teams (15%), and Zoom (13%).

For more see: Employees crave stricter rules around collaboration app usage

Microsoft has run an analysis of the productivity of its Office product engineers during the company's remote-work response to the new coronavirus outbreak. The company is using the number of completed pull requests as a proxy to measure its engineers' productivity while working from home. While it says it has found no decline in productivity, it has detected new working patterns. While it's still early days, Microsoft found that on the week commencing March 8 there was no typical lunchtime dip in productivity. 

For more see: Microsoft: This is how coronavirus home-working is changing our developers' habits

The Internet of Things continues to be a source of innovative projects, yet challenges remain. Connectivity is the top concern when developing IoT projects, according to research from Libelium. The remaining top five issues are: integration of hardware devices; interoperability between platforms; security; and total cost. Security, in particular, could prove to be something of a time bomb for the IoT.

For more see: The Internet of Kings: How IoT technology is helping to monitor cliffs surrounding Tutankhamun's tomb

Mobile industry trade organisation GSMA has released its annual analysis into the global state of the mobile economy, and the report is dominated by 5G-related trends. European policy hurdles can partly explain the geographical discrepancies in 5G uptake predicted by the GSMA. While in the US and China, estimated the organisation, about half of the mobile connections in 2025 will be 5G; the same statistic drops to 34% in Europe. 

For more see: As 5G arrives, the biggest impact will be on business

The UK's tech industry continues to be a significant generator of jobs, and has extended its lead over France and Germany when it comes to attracting tech investment. According to the data from industry body Tech Nation, UK tech investment increased by 44% over the past year, reaching £10.1bn. However, the UK is still a distant third on tech investment compared to the US (£81.9bn) and China (£32.2bn). 

For more see: Work in tech? This is how big a deal the industry has now become

Python is tying with Java as the second most popular programming language behind JavaScript, according to developer analyst RedMonk's latest rankings. The second spot for Python is the highest position it's ever attained in RedMonk's list of top programming languages, which is based on an analysis of GitHub and Stack Overflow data. Historically, Python has been steady in fourth position but it rose to third spot three years ago in RedMonk's tables. 

For more see: New programming language rankings: Python now as popular as Java, as TypeScript climbs

Demand for skills in big data and analytics is driving a lot of the hiring efforts at US companies, with most recruiters seeking mid-level developers with between two and five years' experience. That recruitment climate means mid-level developers are in luck. Some 49% of 5,297 tech-hiring leaders – including engineering managers, tech recruiters, and interviewers – report they most often search for mid-level candidates, according to a survey by developer skills-matching platform HackerRank. 

For more see: Developer jobs: These are the coders who are most in demand

Increased adoption of open-source software and more focused efforts on finding dangerous bugs mean the number of reported open-source vulnerabilities has risen to 6,100, up from 4,100 last year. The bugs were tallied by security firm WhiteSource, whose report shows that reported open-source security vulnerabilities have jumped drastically since 2009 when fewer than 1,000 bugs were reported.   

For more see: Open-source security: This is why bugs in open-source software have hit a record high

The UK's tax authority, HMRC, has revealed there were nearly 600,000 reports of bogus emails, phone calls and texts to its phishing team last year. Of those, 334,000 were about phishing emails. The number of reports in 2019 is down significantly from 2018, when there were over 800,000 complaints about phishing emails. 

For more see: Phishing scams: Big jump in complaints about phoney calls and texts

Oracle has announced general availability of Java Development Kit (JDK) 14, its reference implementation of the Java 14 programming language spec. Rolling out in line with Oracle's six-monthly release schedule that began with Java 9 in 2017, JDK 14 includes enhancements that Oracle says will improve developer productivity. Reflecting the shift to more frequent but smaller releases, JDK 14 includes 16 JDK Enhancement Proposals (JEPs). Java 9, by contrast, included over 90 JEPs. 

For more see: Oracle: Programming language Java 14 is out with these 16 major feature improvements