News

Ubuntu For Tablets Completes The Set   Wednesday 20 February

Ubuntu now runs on the desktop, phone and tablet. The tablet version completes the set and makes Ubuntu the only operating system that covers all platforms. Is this enough to give it an edge?

Opportunity To Become a Glass Explorer   Wednesday 20 February

Google is inviting applications from US-based developers who want the privilege of purchasing Glass Explorer Edition headsets.

Computer Science Of Prediction - Who Will Win The Oscars   Wednesday 20 February

David Rothschild of Microsoft Research New York City, who has been working on harnessing the value of big data, has turned his attention to the 2013 Academy Awards using the wisdom of crowds.

What To Call A Language - Mathematica Has a Problem   Tuesday 19 February

Mathematica is an application for doing math but it also has a complete programming language embedded within it. The problem is that it doesn't have a name. Want to help find it one?

Facebook Developers Live   Tuesday 19 February

Facebook has launched a video channel to give developers a new way of accessing its tutorials, conferences and more. Its first live event takes place today.

Draft Specification of Streams API   Tuesday 19 February

The W3C Web Applications Working Group has published the first public working draft of the Streams API, used for representing binary data in web applications as a Stream object.

ROS Moving to Open Source Robotics Foundation   Monday 18 February

The open source Robot Operating System created by Willow Garage is in the process of moving to the Open Source Robotics Foundation. What does this mean for its future?

3D Teapot Classic Using Pure DHTML   Monday 18 February

This is a project of madness - but you have to admire it. Render the classic 3D Teapot using nothing but DHTML, i.e. JavaScript and HTML but no canvas, no CSS 3, no SVG? It sounds impossible - but it's not.

The Economic Outlook for Developers   Monday 18 February

In its most recent research, CompTIA looked at the economic outlook for the IT industry for 2013 and found cautious optimism for it future growth.

The Python Name Under Attack   Sunday 17 February

Will we have to change the name of the Python language to something else? An attempt to trademark the name in Europe might cause some problems unless it is stopped.

Father of IBM Born On This Day In 1874   Sunday 17 February

Thomas J Watson, the man who gave IBM its name in the era when it made punch card machines and was responsible for its distinctive management style and corporate culture, was born on February 17, 1874.

Nao Picks Up Discarded Socks   Saturday 16 February

Given his prowess at five-a-side football, we tend to characterize Nao as a teenage boy. But what teenager picks up dirty socks and puts them in the laundry basket?

President Obama Says Teach Programming!   Saturday 16 February

Ladyada, aka Limor Fried, founder and CEO of Adafruit had the opportunity to ask the President of the United States some questions. She inquired about patents, how the president's girls were doing in science and technology and asked: should we teach programming in schools?

Google Flu Prediction - Beware The Media Effect   Saturday 16 February

Google's flu prediction web site is a really good idea, but recently it got it wrong - all due to a media effect that you might think was itself very easy to take into account.

Amazon Redshift Ready For Data   Friday 15 February

Amazon’s cloud-based petabyte-scale data warehouse service is now available.

Zend Optimizer+ For PHP?   Friday 15 February

The Zend Optimizer+ opcode caching and optimization is now available for open source use under the PHP License. Until now, you could only use it as closed source as part of Zend Server.

Oracle Argues - Software Is Fiction   Friday 15 February

We knew it wasn't over when Oracle lost its lawsuit against Google. And now we have details Oracle's next try - and it opens with Harry Potter.

Big Data - New Open Access Journal   Thursday 14 February

A new journal on all aspects of big data is being launched at the Strata conference. It is open access, peer reviewed and it  charges for the paper and online version. How does that work?

Google Summer of Code 2013   Thursday 14 February

Google's program that offers student developers a stipend to write code for open source projects during the summer break is running for the ninth consecutive year.

Web Alarms API   Thursday 14 February

W3C has published the first working draft of the Web Alarms API Specification. The API gives developers access to device alarm settings for applications that need to notify the user.

Professional Programmer

What Every Developer Needs To Know Now   Friday 15 February

As developers we live in interesting times. The advent of Windows 8 has changed the landscape for many developers and the move from the desktop to tablets and mobile presents even more challenges. We turned to Dave Wheeler, the keynote speaker at next month's DevWeek for help and advice.

The Core

Web Apps In The Browser - BeforeUnload   Monday 18 February

One of the big problems with building a web application is keeping the browser from messing up your best efforts. You can see the browser as an enemy trying to enforce a more general behavior on your app. After all your web app just wants to do whatever you programmed it to but the browser wants to get on with browsing.

Babbage's Bag

The Heart Of A Compiler   Wednesday 20 February

Compilers are an essential part of using a computer - but there was a time when they simply didn't exist. First we had to realize that we needed such a thing and then we had to figure out how to build it. If you have ever looked at the theory of building a compiler you might feel that it is a difficult task. The real for this is that compiling arithmetic is surprisingly difficult.