News

Stack Overflow An Old Programmers Home   Wednesday 05 July

Some new research suggests that old, sorry, senior programmers should find happiness and fulfillment by building rep on Stack Overflow. 

Modular Java Finally Approved   Wednesday 05 July

The  long-awaited Java 9 Standard Edition now looks like it will meet its September deadline following yes votes by the members of the JCP Executive Committee. 

Windows 10 and Edge A Status Update   Wednesday 05 July

It is almost a year since the free upgrade to Windows 10 came to an end. What affect has this had on the uptake of the operating system, and on its default browser, Edge? 

SharePoint Unite 2017   Tuesday 04 July

There's a Super Early Bird discount offer for the SharePoint Unite conference taking place in Haarlem, Netherlands, in October. This year's event is focusing entirely on SharePoint, with a strong developer track. 

TypeScript adds Dynamic Import Expressions   Tuesday 04 July

There's a new version of TypeScript with support for dynamic import expressions, string enums, and weak type detection.  

Rubik's Cube Is Hard - NP Hard   Monday 03 July

If you find solving Rubik's cube difficult you will be pleased to learn that it really is. It has now been proved that working out if a random cube is solvable in exactly n moves is NP complete.  

SharePoint PowerApps Adds Flow Integration   Monday 03 July

There's an updated version of PowerApps for SharePoint developers that adds Flow integration. 

Alexa Skills Contest Winners   Sunday 02 July

Amazon has announced the winners of its latest Alexa Skills Challenge. It attracted over 4.500 participants who added over 200 new entries to the Amazon's Alexa Skills catalog. We take a look at the prize-winning submissions. 

Chip Hall of Fame - A Walk Down Memory Lane   Saturday 01 July

IEEE Spectrum has founded a Hall of Fame for Chips - the integrated circuits without which we would still be back in age of steam, or perhaps vacuum tubes. 

Microsoft Dream Build Play 2017 Challenge   Friday 30 June

Registration has opened for $250,000 Microsoft contest to create playable UWP games. Although similar to previous student-only competitions this one isn't restricted to students, although it is for over 18s, and even professional game developers are eligible. 

Top 10 From Around The Web: More Ruby On Rails Resources   Friday 30 June

This round up of interesting posts from external sites has resources for those working with Ruby and the Rails framework, both beginners and expereinced developers. 

Breaking Fitness Records Without Even Moving - Spoofing The Fitbit   Thursday 29 June

Some new results indicate that it might be easy to falsify data gathered by even the best protected biometric device. Researchers have found two distinct ways of compromising a Fitbit.  

Updates to Alexa Skills Kit for Echo Show   Thursday 29 June

As the Echo show starts to ship in the US, Amazon has updated the Alexa Skills Kit to build skills for the display and video interfaces on Echo Show. Alexa can already control the display of live video feed from smart home cameras using the Smart Home Skill API. 

Developers Edition Of HTML Makes Comeback   Thursday 29 June

The developer edition of HTML has been synchronized with the mainstream specification, has a new website and an increase in work being done on it.

Professional Programmer

Insider's Guide To Udacity Android Developer Nanodegree Part 3 - Making the Baking App   Monday 03 July

Continuing to chart my experience of Udacity's Android Developer Nanodegree we step up in level, embarking on the advanced part of the super-course.

History

Vannevar Bush - The Man Who Didn't Invent The Computer   Thursday 29 June

As well as being the founder of defense company Raytheon and heading the Office of Scientific Research and Development during World War II, Vannevar Bush is remembered for his Differential Analyser, an early analog computers, and for introducing a concept that we now consider the hyperlink. He died on June 28, 1974 at the age of 84.