News

Win A PhoneGap Book   Wednesday 15 May

Packt Publishing is giving I Programmer readers five copies of Kerri Shotts' new book on PhoneGap Mobile App. For a chance to win just correctly identify what Phone Gap is. And as you subscribe to the newsletter all you have to do is log in and enter - its really easy.

Massive Online Master's Degree in Computer Science   Wednesday 15 May

Georgia Tech and Udacity are joining forces to offer an MSc in Computer Science to be delivered as a massive open online course with enhanced support services for students enrolled in the degree program.

New Google Apps Script Features   Wednesday 15 May

Ahead of  I/O 2013, which starts later today, Google has announced a handful of useful enhancements to Apps Script.

PyPy 2.0 Released   Wednesday 15 May

The team behind Python interpreter PyPy has released version 2.0, and has also announced an alpha version of PyPy 2.0 for ARM processors.

Firefox 21 Available For Download   Tuesday 14 May

For anyone who wants to get ahead of the pack, Firefox 21 for Windows, Mac, and Linux can now be downloaded. The official launch will take place shortly and the new version will then be automatically pushed out to current users.

DRM In HTML - The Programmer's View   Tuesday 14 May

There has been a lot of debate surrounding the idea that W3C was going to produce a standard that seemed to introduce DRM into HTML. Most of this has been about the desirability of DRM and issues such as the freedom of the web - but what about the technology?

US Appeals Court Divided Over Software Patent Eligibility   Tuesday 14 May

It had been hoped that a Federal Circuit judgment would shed light on what makes software eligible to be patented. But, while the court confirmed the patent ineligibility of the specific computerized method it was considering, it was divided on why.

Dr Who To Host Imagine Cup Awards Ceremony   Monday 13 May

This year's Imagine Cup Worldwide Finals take place in St. Petersburg Russia and Microsoft has recruited Matt Smith, aka Dr Who, to host the awards ceremony which will be streamed live online.

AWS SDK for Node.js Released   Monday 13 May

Amazon has released the AWS SDK for Node.js for creating server-side apps in JavaScript to run on Amazon’s cloud.

Robots Create Jobs   Sunday 12 May

We are still looking forward to the time when robots will take over all the dangerous, unpleasant and boring jobs. But in a time of high unemployment some feel threatened by the prospect. Should we be worried?

Computer Model Explains High Blood Pressure   Sunday 12 May

If you are not a medic then presumably you, like me, thought that we knew most of the basics of what causes high blood pressure as we age. It turns out that we really didn't and now a new computer model casts light on the real reason for high blood pressure.

Robot Soccer Gets Exciting!   Saturday 11 May

Former world champions B-Human recently beat Nao-Team HTWK in a tense final of the Standard Platform League of the RoboCup German Open. With the size of the pitch more than doubled, the standard of play seemed similarly increased. 

Reimagining The Carnival   Saturday 11 May

Two Bit Circus hopes to create a STEAM - that's Science Technology Engineering Art and Math - Carnival. The basic idea is to take traditional midway attractions and bring them up-to-date using robot/computer tech - plus a little chemistry, physics, math and art thrown in. 

Scratch 2.0 Released - Use It In A Browser   Friday 10 May

Nokia Asha A New Mobile SDK   Friday 10 May

Nokia may have committed to Windows Phone 8, but it has just announced its new, less than $100, Asha phone plus a new SDK so that you can develop apps for it. 

An App for Google I/O 2013   Friday 10 May

With less that a week to go before the start of Google I/O on May 15, excitement about the event is mounting and Google has produced an Android app to help you follow all the action for those attending in person or virtually.

Open Source Has As Good Code Quality As Proprietary Code   Thursday 09 May

The recently released  2012 Coverity Scan Report shows that open source and proprietary code vie for top spot when it comes to reducing detected defects. 

The Red and the Blue - Azure SDK for Ruby   Thursday 09 May

Microsoft has released an Azure SDK for Ruby, adding to the list of languages you can use with Azure - so how does red mix with blue?

Professional Programmer

Why Do We Try To Make Programming Like Something Else?   Friday 10 May

There has been a long tendency in the development of programming to try to turn it into something else - mathematics, logic, engineering - anything as long as we can get away from programming. Why, when what makes software different from all of the above is clearly its strength and not its weakness?

The Core

Getting Started With Firefox OS And Geeksphone Keon   Monday 13 May

Firefox OS looks promising and now we have the first standard hardware that runs it from Geeksphone. Creating a new app for the Keon is easy, getting it run is also easy, once you know how. In this first of a series of articles on Firefox OS app development, we start with getting a development environment set up and deploying apps to the Keon. We also provide a shortcut to getting the drivers you need to make it all work.

Babbage's Bag

How Memory Works   Wednesday 15 May

Exactly how does computer memory work? What is surprising is that  it still works in more or less the same way as when Babbage designed his Analytical Engine or the IBM 360 accessed core memory. So where do all our programs live?