Caption: A framework built by MIT and IBM researchers finds and fixes weaknesses in automated programming tools that leave them open to attack. One tool (pictured) reads along as programmers write and suggests code. Here, it picks a function among thousands of options in Python’s NumPy library that best suits the task at hand. Credits: Image: Shashank Srikant Next image Whatever business a company may be in, software plays an increasingly vital role, from managing inventory to interfacing with customers. Software developers, as a result, are in greater demand than ever, and that’s driving the push to automate some of the easier tasks that take up their time.