News

TIOBE Index - Top 10 Languages Slump   Wednesday 09 August

This month's TIOBE Index shows a downward trend for every language in the Top 10 except two - but on further inspection they too are in decline when you focus on recent months. 

Real World Adversarial Images   Wednesday 09 August

Just when you thought the the adversarial image flaw in neural networks couldn't get any worse someone comes along and shows how to build such images in the real world. Yes, a stop sign can be changed to a speed limit sign simply by adding some carefully crafted stickers or even some graffiti. This converts a lab curiosity into something potentially dangerous. 

Apache Curator Adds Support For TTL Nodes   Wednesday 09 August

There's a new version of Apache Curator, the Java/JVM client library for Apache ZooKeeper. Zookeeper is a distributed  coordination service. The new release of Curator adds support for TTL Nodes, and a strongly typed DSL. 

SQLite 3.20 Improves Query Planner   Tuesday 08 August

There's a major upgrade to SQLite, the embeddable SQL database library that is found in many memory constrained gadgets such as cellphones, PDAs, and MP3 players. The new release has an improved query planner, and an extension that suggest tab-completions for interactive user interfaces. 

Supercomputing MOOC Restarts This Month   Tuesday 08 August

A Supercomputing MOOC designed for anyone interested in leading-edge computing technology or the role that computer simulation takes in modern science and engineering is about to begin its second presentation on Future Learn. 

DeepCoder Learns To Write Programs   Monday 07 August

Deep Neural Networks are solving many difficult problems, but programming? Microsoft Research and Cambridge University think that it is entirely possible and are having some success - enough for us to panic? At the moment it looks as if our jobs are safe but ... 

Google Data Studio Adds Filters   Monday 07 August

Google has added a number of features to Data Studio, the reporting and dashboarding element of its Analytics suite. 

RoboCup In Its 21st Year   Sunday 06 August

RoboCup 2017 took place last month in Nagoya, Japan 20 years after its beginnings there in 1997. A four-minute video gives an overview of how it has evolved and continues to be at the cutting edge for human/robot interaction. 

New Robotics Badges for Girl Scouts   Saturday 05 August

What you do as a Girl Scout stays with you for life. So it's great to see that Think Like a Programmer Awards are being introduced for Girl Scout Daisies, Brownies and Juniors, along with badges for robotics.

Closing Stack Overflow Documentation   Friday 04 August

Barely a year after the launch of the Stack Overflow Documentation website, the decision has been taken to close it with almost immediate effect. It turns out that this ambitious project was simply financially nonviable. 

Google Play Algorithm Now Ranks By Quality   Friday 04 August

Google is rolling out an update to the Play Store that will penalize poorly performing apps, making them less discoverable. 

Three New Experiments for Firefox Test Pilot   Thursday 03 August

Audio Super Resolution   Thursday 03 August

You may have heard of super seeing or super resolution implemented using a neural network. Convolutional neural networks were invented to tackle computer vision but what about sound? It turns out that a neural network can learn enough about sound to take a low resolution recording and turn it into hi fi.

Professional Programmer

C# Books - Pick of the Shelf Revisited   Thursday 03 August

If you are looking for a book on C# you are likely to be overwhelmed by the sheer number of titles on offer. In Programmer's Bookshelf we trawl through our reviews, to find ones you might find helpful at specific stages and for different purposes.

The Core

The Programmers Guide To Kotlin - Inheritance   Monday 07 August

Inheritance it once was the whole point of object-oriented programming. It was the big advantage and it promised easy code reuse. The reality wasn't so good, but it is still amazingly valuable as long as you use it correctly. Kotlin has facilities to help you control and work with both inheritance and, one alternative, composition.