You can’t help having encountered the mysterious void data type. It sounds like something from SciFi and, along with the semi-colon, accounts for a C program’s intimidating look to the beginner. As time ticks on, however, we get used to the void and eventually hardly notice it. But why “void” and what exactly does it mean? Find out in this extract from my latest book Deep C Dives

This C# puzzle shouldn't be difficult as long as you are secure in your understanding of class and structs. See if you can spot the danger as soon as you read it.

The June 2024 TIOBE Index is out and its headline comes as a bit of a shock: C++ surpasses C for the first time in history. Lower down the ranks both Go and Rust have achieved their highest positions ever at #7 and #17 respectively.

The 2024 Docker State of Application Development Report is intended to provide a "deep-focus snapshot of the rapidly evolving world of software development today".

TypeScript 5.5 is now available as a release candidate. This version adds support for the proposed ECMAScript Set methods, as well as inferred type predicates and the ability to narrow expressions for flow of control for constant indexed accesses.

There's a self-paced. YouTube-based course by Mycelial on
the ins and outs of SQLite. It's short, succinct and free and a must watch for anybody wanting to get started with  SQLite.

Microsoft has released Visual Studio 2022 v17.11 Preview 1, the first preview of the next update for Visual Studio 2022. The developers say this update focuses on quality of life improvements for developers. Meanwhile, Microsoft has also released an updated version of new Extension Manager as an on-by-default preview feature starting with Visual Studio 17.10.

The first release of SQL was in June 1974. Designed at IBM by Donald D. Chamberlin and Raymond F. Boyce, it was based on the relational model proposed by E.F. Codd. SQL became the most widely used database language with many dialects, the most recent being SQL 2023.

To celebrate the 80th anniversary of D-Day there's a new addition to the line up of cryptographic machines on Martin Gillow's VirtualColossus website - a 3D simulation of the Hagelin M-209 cipher machine, used by the US military primarily in World War II, though it remained in active use through the Korean War.

Today, June 7th 2024 is the 70th anniversary of the untimely death of Alan Turing. While we now commemorate him for his contributions to code-breaking computer science and artificial intelligence, seventy years ago his wartime contributions were still cloaked in secrecy and his homosexuality was considered, and treated as, a crime.

Google has created the Google Developer Program "to help developers build, learn and grow". The program will give developers access to a range of new tools and benefits such as technical assistance from Gemini. The program is open to developers worldwide and is free to join.

Deno 1.44 has been released with support for private npm registries and for gRPC connections.

GitHub has added Arm-based Linux and Windows runners for GitHub Actions. The developers say the addition provides power, performance and sustainability improvements for all your GitHub Actions jobs.

Author: Michael Hartl
Publisher: Addison-Wesley
Date: June 2023
Pages: 448
ISBN: 978-0138050955
Rating: 2
Reviewer: Ian Elliot
Learning Python is a great idea but "enough to be dangerous"?

In this book Mike James provides in-depth exploration of the essence of C, identifying the strengths of its distinctive traits. This reveals that C has a very special place among the programming languages of today as a powerful and versatile option for low-level programming, something that is often overlooked in books written by programmers who would really rather be using a higher-level language.

This book shows how to implement stream processing on Apache Kafka using Kafka Streams and the kqsIDB event streaming database. Bill Bejeck also covers the entire toolbox you'll need for effective streaming, from the components of the Kafka ecosystem, to Producer and Consumer clients, Connect, and Schema Registry.

This book shows how to develop for the Godot 4 game engine and GDScript 2.0 by building a game. Sander Vanhove shows how to use the features of the open-source GDScript 2.0 to develop your ideas, from simple platformers to complex RPGs.  Starting with a primer on the fundamentals of programming, and including topics from data to logic, the book includes information on Godot's built-in tools such as the physics engine, navigation, and cameras.