Loops are a fundamental part of programming and they go deep. This is an extract from my book Trick of the Mind which explores what it is to be a programmer.

As its name suggests, Python Dotenv is an open-source software library that allows software developers to specify the environment in which their code runs.  We have five tips that can help you make more effective use of it.

Apple is under pressure to open up its closed eco system, but it still has the power to resist. It is difficult to force a horse to drink and it is turning out very difficult to make Apple comply with the spirit of the law. But why should we expect any different?

In an announcement last week Mitchell Baker publicised her decision to step down from the role of CEO of Mozilla Corporation in order devote herself to overseeing Mozilla's broader vision. Now comes news of layoffs of around 5 percent of its workforce as Mozilla refocuses on Firefox and AI.

Microsoft has released a short series of video tutorials on using Git and Github from within Visual Studio. Given that Git is nowadays the defacto version control tool with most code hosted on GitHub, learning about them in combination does make sense.

GitHub has been explaining the work of its Engineering Fundamentals Program and how this is being used to ensure GitHub's 100 million users across the world have "uninterrupted access to GitHub's products and services on a platform that is always available, secure, and accessible."

Google Bard will from now on be known as Gemini, and Google is launching a paid subscription tier that will be based on yet another new AI model from Google. The move to a paid subscription follows the news that Microsoft is introducing a paid-for Pro version for Copilot.

The January update to Visual Studio Code has been released, with the headline improvement of a "Hey Code" voice command that starts a voice session with Copilot Chat.

The Vesuvius Challenge has ended with $700,000 awarded to a trio of students who successfully deciphered text on a physically impenetrable 2,000-year-old papyrus scroll that had been buried under mud and ash during the volcanic eruption that engulfed Herculaneum in 79 AD.

This weekly digest is an extended version of the newsletter emailed to subscribers every Wednesday. As well as listing the week's news items, it also includes the latest Book Review and additions to Book Watch.This week's featured articles are on how every JavaScript object can be regarded as an anonymous singleton and how XDR represents a significant evolution in cybersecurity.

To celebrate Valentine's Day, Udacity has a one-week promotion for new subscribers with 40% of the first month's payment. This seems like a good incentive for trying it out. Here we look at four courses that you could realistically finish within 4 weeks that enable you to experience the Udacity Difference for yourself.

This is just for fun and education, but it suggests that there might be other games waiting to be thought up along the same lines.

Author: Maarten Dalmijn
Publisher: Addison-Wesley
Pages: 256
Audience: Scrum developers
Rating: 5
Reviewer: Kay Ewbank

Over the years I've read a lot of books about agile development and Scrum, and most concentrate on the methodology rather than what you're trying to achieve. This book is a refreshing change because it concentrates on the end result and how to use Scrum to achieve it.

This Pickaxe Book, named for the tool on the cover, is the definitive reference on Ruby. Noel Rappin and Dave Thomas provide a description of the most important standard library modules, built-in classes, and modules. This updated edition is a comprehensive reference on the language itself, with a tutorial on the most important features of Ruby - including pattern matching and Ractors - and describes the language through Ruby 3.3 including all the new and changed syntax and semantics including pattern matching and Ractors.

This collection of smaller books is aimed at would-be developers who need guidance on the languages and steps used to build websites and applications. Paul McFedries covers the basics of web development, structuring a page, and building and processing web forms. Going beyond this, the books cover how to build a website or create an app. This edition expands JavaScript and CSS coverage while providing new content on server-side coding and the development stack.

Written by Clinton L Jeffery, the creator of the Unicon programming language, this book will show you how to implement domain-specific programming languages to reduce the time and cost of creating applications for new or specialized areas of computing. Jeffrey starts with implementing the frontend of a compiler for your language, including a lexical analyzer and parser, including the handling of parse errors.