We all know that binary arithmetic doesn't always give the answer that a human would get. If you want to do arithmetic like a human you have to use decimal. This is what BCD is all about and it is explained in this extract is from my  book on using C in an IoT context.

One of the delights of C++ is how often you can discover a new use for something. In this case it is the ability to redefine operators that can be "repurposed" to create function objects or functors.

Over recent days, Microsoft has announced both the official OpenAI library for .NET and the AI Toolkit for Visual Studio Code.

htmx seems to have crept up on us programmers - perhaps because we are programmers. Is this the next big thing and it is a JavaScript killer?

Siren is a new mailing list by the OpenSSF which aims to monitor the threat landscape of open-source project vulnerabilities in order to provide real time alerts to anyone subscribed.

JetBrains has integrated Google DeepMind's Gemini language model into its AI-powered coding tool, AI Assistant. AI Assistant will now use the combined power of Gemini and several of JetBrains' proprietary models.

The Microsoft Semantic Kernel (SK) is an open source lightweight framework that lets you easily mix conventional programming languages with AI "prompts". After a year of work since the initial release, version 1 of the SDK is now generally available. So what's new?

Microsoft has announced that .NET MAUI VS Code extension is out of preview, and that it includes long-awaited new features – including XAML IntelliSense and Hot Reload.

Tetris, the classic and addictive puzzle game where you rotate and position falling blocks, has been played by at least a billion people. It was invented 40 years ago and to mark the occasion the BBC News in Russian website reveals the story of how Tetris crossed the Iron Curtain and discloses how it was finally "won" this year.

Apple's Swift Student Challenge is an annual competition  designed to encourage software coding among young people.This year 50 "Distinguished Winners" were invited to attend WWDC24 where, to their surprise, some got to meet Tim Cook.

A range of free self-paced courses on GenAI, have been released on AWS SkillBuilder, Amazon's online learning center where you can learn from AWS experts to build cloud skills online.

Apple has released details of what developers can expect in Swift 6, due to be released this year. The team says Swift 6 makes it easier to write concurrent code correctly with a new, optional language mode that analyzes your code at compile-time and diagnoses possible data races.

Pulumi has announced Pulumi Copilot, an AI tool for general cloud infrastructure management. Copilot uses large language models with semantic understanding of the cloud to provide insights and controls over managing cloud infrastructure.

Author: Joe Emison
Publisher: Addison-Wesley
Pages: 224
ISBN: 978-0137392629
Audience: Executives considering moving to a cloud environment
Rating: 4
Reviewer: Kay Ewbank

This book is subtitled 'how to get the most out of the cloud', and it sets out the decisions that need to be made by companies thinking about a move to running their business on cloud environments.

F# lets you keep your code simple even in the most complex applications—and it’s the perfect language for taking your first steps in functional programming. In this practical, example-driven guide,  Isaac Abraham shows you how to build professional applications the F# way. The book upgrades .NET development skills with the core principles of functional programming, and shows how F#’s functional-first approach helps learn the paradigm.

This book aims to bridge the gap between learning C++ and being able to use it in a professional setting. Rafał Świdziński looks at topics such as the automation of complex tasks, including building, testing, and packaging software. This second edition is updated to the latest version of the CMake tooling suite, featuring three new chapters and an additional appendix dedicated to CMake presets.

This book, subtitled "How to Put the World in a Machine", explores the history of computer simulation by chronicling SimCity. Chaim Gingold explains that SimCity was created in part to learn about cities, appropriating ideas from traditions in which computers are used as tools for modeling and thinking about the world as a complex system.