Once you move beyond simple shapes like rectangles, circles and ellipses, the first thing you are likely to encounter is the Bezier curve. In this extract from my book on JavaScript Graphics, we look at what makes a Bezier curve.

When it comes to the early days of the personal computer revolution, what happened in the UK was very different from what happened in the US. So don't imagine that the well- publicized stories of what happened around Silicon Valley tell you what happened in Britain. Oh no, it was much more interesting than that!

Last month Nvidia unveiled plans to build a supercomputer intended for AI research in health care. This prompts us to look at AI's potential role in health care and how it is already being used.

The majority of US schools still do not teach Computer Science, despite the concerted efforts of Code.org Advocacy Coalition. On the other hand, a lot of progress has been made and the number of students taking the AP Computer Science exams has "skyrocketed".

Python, of course. What comes as a surprise is the size of the margin between Python and the rest of the pack. The other unexpected finding is that JavaScript doesn't even make it into the top 10. So, what going on?

Angular 11 has been released with updates across the platform including the framework, the CLI and components. More specifically, the new version enforces stricter types and has automatic inlining of fonts.

Modern Android Development (MAD) Skills is a free series of videos and articles by Google that teaches the modern ways of doing development on the Android platform.

Microsoft has released a preview version of Playwright Test Runner, a zero config cross-browser tool providing end-to-end testing for web apps. Features include browser automation for Playwright, Jest-like assertions and built-in support for TypeScript.

This is a good story - a new app allows easier monitoring of diabetes. It is the way that it has been achieved that should give us cause for thought. It reads data from a glucose meter but you can forget bluetooth or wifi - it uses computer vision to read the display just like a human.

Creator of Python, Guido van Rossum, has joined Microsoft as a Distinguished Engineer in the Developer Division. His stated aim is to make Python better. We can't wait to find out what that results in. 

IBM has announced the Code Spot Challenge on Wildfires. The objective will be to forecast wildfires in Australia during February 2021, with the aim of improving and gaining better understanding of how machine learning techniques can be used for this type of problem.

Microsoft has released C# 9 and F# 5 as part of the .NET 5 release this week. Visual Basic is also included in the 5.0 SDK. It does not include language changes, but has improvements to support the Visual Basic Application Framework on .NET Core.

Amazon Web Services has announced additions to its range of training options. Two free self-paced courses, one on AWS IAM, Identity and Access Management, and the other on AWS IoT, using Amazon Web Services for the Internet of Things, are now available from both edX and Coursera.