In our continuing look back at the highlights of 2018, we come to March. Apparently we are supposed to beware the Ides - does that mean IDEs? Perhaps so, given the release of Android Studio 3.1 during the month.

The two big compilers for C++ are GCC, the old guard, and Clang. Early in the year we had news that Google was taking Clang seriously, the surprise was that so were Microsoft. What can this all be about? It was no clearer at the end of the year.

Clang Now Compiles Chrome For Windows   Wednesday 07 March

This is simple story until you start looking just below the surface. The simple part is that Google has manged to use the Clang compiler to compile Chrome targeting Windows. The real question is why?

Oracle still can't really make up its mind what it wants to do with Java. Making money out of it seems to be hard but it doesn't seem willing to give anything up easily. Yes they open source things but they still want to keep control:

Java EE Is Renamed Jakarta EE   Friday 02 March

The results are in for the vote on the new name for Java Enterprise Edition, and unsurprisingly the voters have chosen Jakarta EE. The renaming has to happen because Oracle refused to let the name Java be used.

I don't think there is much surprise at the top 3 languages for big data are R, Python and Scala - well maybe Scala is a bit of a surprise:

Top 3 Languages For Big Data Programming   Monday 12 March

R, Python, and Scala are the three major languages for data science and data mining. Here you’ll find out about their respective popularity, ease of use, and some pros and cons. Before all that, however, an important link between data warehousing and Big Data needs discussing.

The new Pi 3 was announced on Pi day. Later in the year the model A joined it. These are the last iteration of the Pi archecture. Next time the Pi will need a new processor and surrounding chips:

A New Raspberry Pi For Pi Day   Wednesday 14 March

Pi day is supposed to be celebrated by eating pie but why not have a piece of a different pie? A Raspberry P? The new model B+ to be precise.

JavaScript is number one according to Stack Overflow - of course it is. JavaScript is taking over the universe and we really don't need a survey to tell us. Even so the results are interesting.

Stack Overflow Publishes Largest Ever Survey   Thursday 15 March

JavaScript remains the most widely used programming language according to Stack Overflow's Annual Developer Survey, which analyzed the responses of over 100,000 developers from 183 countries made in January 2018.

AI is getting so sucessful it is difficult to be impressed anymore but this particular demo was very impressive. With the adoption of smart speakers everywhere it is only a matter of time before translation becomes common place.

Microsoft Research Achieves Human Parity For Chinese English Translation   Wednesday 21 March

Researchers in Microsoft's labs in Beijing and in Redmond and Washington have developed an AI machine translation system that can translate with the same accuracy as a human from Chinese to English.

Android Studio doesn't please every programmer. Its messy, slow and upgrades are generally a pain. Version 3.1 also demonstrated that the team aren't really listening. Some fundamental widgets had dropped out of the tool pallete and guess what? At the end of the year they are still missing with no word from the development team despite bug reports being filed.

Android Studio 3.1 Released - Widgets Lost  Wednesday 28 March

Android Studio 3.1 is a minor upgrade but it still has the power to cause problems for its users. In this case why have familiar pickers and other widgets disappeared?

And finally to return to Oracle. We tend to forget that the battle between Oracle and Google is ongoing with no clear indication of who might win. This is the big one that matters for the longer term and not just for Android - but its all rumbling on without much input from us. 

Appeals Court Rules In Favor of Oracle   Wednesday 28 March

The Federal Appeals Court has ruled in Oracle's favour in yet another round of the seemingly never ending wrangle about whether Google infringed its copyright in the Android operating system. And we can't let it stop there as the decision that would negatively impact every developer and every piece of software.

Related Articles

March Week 1

March Week 2

March Week 3

March Week 4 

The 12 News Days of Xmas

01 January

02 February

03 March

04 April

05 May

06 June

07 July

08 August

09 September

10 October

11 November

12 December

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