News

Bayou - AI To Help You Code   Wednesday 02 May

Programmers tend to imagine that we will be last to be displaced by AI - after all we are part of the team actually making this stuff! In fact, we are likely to see AI programming assistants sooner than you might expect. Bayou is a case in point and you can try it out now.

Change Blindness A Concern For UI   Wednesday 02 May

We already touch and speak to our phones, but new research presented at the 2018 CHI Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems shows how the distance to a user’s face can be a new input that could mitigate "change blindness" - missing vital information shown on a mobile device. 

Top AI Researchers Rebel Against Nature   Tuesday 01 May

It's a good headline, but the truth is that more than 2000 people working in AI have decided to boycott Nature's new paid for journal on AI. This is an important step, but there are some missing names.

Eclipse IoT Developer Survey   Tuesday 01 May

The Eclipse Foundation’s Eclipse IoT Working Group has released the results of its IoT Developer Survey 2018, which surveyed 502 Eclipse developers between January and March. Its findings confirm that Linux rules in Internet of Things development and that Amazon Web Services (AWS) is the leading cloud service for IoT.

Microsoft Asks For Help On The Future Of .NET - Where Do We Start?   Monday 30 April

.NET was a revolution and even the Microsoft haters have to give it some credit in this direction. Today Microsoft's vision is to do what everyone else is doing and innovation is long gone. Microsoft has gone from leader to follower, but now we can fill in a survey to help plan the future of .NET. A bit late, I say.

Courses On Mathematical Thinking Now Underway   Monday 30 April

Two courses related to mathematical thinking, both on the Coursera platform, start on April 30th. One at intermediate level is 10 weeks long. The other aimed at beginners is 6 weeks long and is part of a 5-course specialization designed for computer scientists.

Robot Art 2018 $100,000 To Win   Sunday 29 April

A competition called "Robot Art" begs the question can a robot create art? That is very much the point of the competition. It is the third of a series of five annual competitions spanning 2016 to 2020 devised by Andrew Conru as a way to merge two of his passions – technology and art. 

Programming Droplets   Saturday 28 April

Perhaps the Programmable Droplets system showcased in this video is a solution in search of a problem, or perhaps it is just a solution. Whatever, it is really fun to watch and programming it to play games would be even more fun.

Go Drops The Gopher - The End is in Sight   Friday 27 April

You know a language is done for when it drops its long term mascot in favour of a glitzy makeover that is simply embarrassing.

Eclipse Introduces Cloud Native Future With Jakarta EE   Friday 27 April

The Eclipse Foundation has announced a “cloud native Java” path forward for Jakarta EE, the new community-led platform created from the contribution of Java EE.

Linux Apps On Chromebooks   Thursday 26 April

Sometime you have got to think that we are working in the maddest of subjects. Chromebooks are about to get the ability to run Linux apps. The fact that ChromeOS is Linux is the part that is mad.

Internet Pioneers Awarded Franklin Medal   Thursday 26 April

Vint Cerf and Bob Khan have been presented with Franklin Institute Awards for the part they played in the creation of the Internet. 

The Core

Just JavaScript - Functions Scope, Lifetime
and Closure  Monday 30 April

When you first meet it closure seems like the craziest of ideas. However, once you realize that JavaScript functions are objects and what this implies, it seems a natural consequence. This is an extract from Ian Elliot's latest book which was published this week.

Babbage's Bag

Computational Complexity  
Thursday 26 April

A lightning guide to the basic ideas of computational complexity without the maths or the proofs. It's almost more fun than programming! From Mike James' forthcoming book covering great ideas of computer science.