August Week 1
Written by Editor   
Saturday, 10 August 2019

Every day for over 10 years I Programmer has had new material written by programmers, for programmers. Each week our digest gives a handy summary of the latest content. While you are on the site there's plenty more to explore, whatever topics  you are interested in.

To receive this digest automatically by email, sign up for our weekly newsletter. 

IP2

August 1 -7, 2019 

The Core

Android Programming In Kotlin: A First App  
Monday 05 August

coverKotlinsmallAs an example of building a simple app using the ConstraintLayout and the Layout Editor, let's build a Calculator App. Here's how to do it in Kotlin, in an extract from my published book  Android Programming in Kotlin: Starting With An App.

 

Creating The Python UI With Tkinter  
Thursday 01 August

buttonsPython has a standard GUI framework - Tkinter - but most Python programmers don't really get to grips with it because they tend to use the command line. In this article we take a look at how a Tkinter program differs from a standard Python program and how to organize things around a GUI. 

 

Book Review of the Week 

  • SQL Queries for Mere Mortals 4th Ed

    Kay Ewbank gave this updated version of a classic book teaching SQL a full 5-star rating, writing:
    It's an excellent choice if you don't know SQL and need to get to grips with it. 

New Listings in Book Watch  

Banner
 

News

Is Your Language Doomed?  
Wednesday 07 August

ripEmployment company Dice has been trying to be helpful. They have made a list of five languages that they predict are headed for extinction. We agree with three of them and suggest substitutes for the other two.  

MSDN Magazine Bows Out  
Wednesday 07 August

msdnfebsqThe August edition of MSDN Magazine carries an announcement that will come as a blow not only to its current subscribers, but to all those who have read its articles online. It is ceasing publication and  the very final issue will be published in November. 

What Skills Do Data Scientists Need  
Tuesday 06 August

dsskillsThere is currently a huge demand for data scientists, which is a top-trending job with attractive salaries. But what knowledge and skills are employers looking for? 

AI Helps Map A Brain  
Tuesday 06 August

flybrainiconIt is ironic that our best hope of understanding natural intelligence might be to enlist the help of artificial intelligence. Google has just reported mapping the entire brain of a fruit fly using neural networks to do the processing. This is a big leap for fly kind. 

Electron Increases Promisification  
Monday 05 August

electronlogoBetter support for promisification is one of the improvements to the latest release of Electron, the open source framework for creating native applications with web technologies like JavaScript, HTML, and CSS 

Coursera TensorFlow Specialization Fully Available   Monday 05 August

aiforeveryoneThe fourth and final course of Coursera's TensorFlow Specialization is now available, with  modules on sequences, time series and prediction. Coursera also has two other new Specializations in related areas. 

GauGAN Will Draw Your Landscape For You  
Sunday 04 August

gauganiconGauGAN - yes it's an artistic Generative Adversarial Network with a cute name - can draw a landscape that you specify in very general terms. It is so good it just won two awards at this year's SIGGRAPH. Is this where art is heading? 

$100,000 On Offer To Invent Block Chain Algorithm   Saturday 03 August

vdficonThe challenge is specified as a calculation that you have to implement. It is easy to understand and, if it can be done in a reasonable time, it will make blockchains much more efficient. 

C++ 20 Feature List Finalized  
Friday 02 August

cplusThe ISO C++ Committee has decided what features will be included in the next C++ standard, with many improvements and new features including modules, concepts and coroutines. C++ 20 is due to be published by February 2020. 

PayPal Open Sources Hera  
Friday 02 August

heraPayPal has made HERA, its H igh E fficiency R eliable A ccess to data stores, open source. Hera is a data access gateway that PayPal uses to scale database access for hundreds of billions of SQL queries per day. 

Facebook Updates Graph and Marketing APIs  
Thursday 01 August

fbFacebook has announced updated versions of two APIs for developers - Graph and Marketing. Changes to the new versions include improvements to managing business assets, ad creation, and Facebook Ad Insights. 

Plotly Adds Offline Only Mode  
Thursday 01 August

plotlyPlotly.py has been updated with improvements including an offline only mode and the inclusion of Plotly Express. Plotly.py is a Python data visualization framework best known for being used for the graphs and maps for the Dash analytical web applications framework. 

Banner

If you want to delve into I Programmer's coverage of the news over the years, you can access I Programmer Weekly back to January 2012. 

To keep up with the latest news and receive this digest automatically by email, sign up for our weekly newsletter and follow us on Twitter, Facebook, Google+, and LinkedIn, where you are welcome to share all our stories. 

You can also subscribe to our RSS Feeds - we have one for Full Contents, another for  News and also one for Books with details of reviews and additions to Book Watch. 

IP2

<ASIN:1871962544>

<ASIN:B07S5CT71C>

<ASIN:0134858336>

<ASIN:1119526817>

<ASIN:3030221016>

<ASIN:1789800986> 

Last Updated ( Saturday, 10 August 2019 )