Articles about Developer

The following is an exclusive excerpt from Project to Product: How to Survive and Thrive in the Age of Digital Disruption with the Flow Framework by Dr. Mik Kersten:

Entering the BMW Group Leipzig plant in Germany is an awe-inspiring experience. My hosts are Rene Te-Strote and Frank Schäfer. Frank is a plant manager responsible for overall vehicle integration. The enormous Central Building was designed by architect Zaha Hadid, who designed some of the most unique buildings of our time. The unapologetically sci-fi architecture invokes the feeling of walking into the future. The most prominent sight upon entering is an elevated and exposed section of the production line that towers high above eye level. Car bodies move across a suspended conveyor and then slowly disappear out of view as they glide over a sea of desks. The production line is visible to anyone who enters the building and to all the staff, and the entire building is designed around it. Every part of the building has some practical aspect related to manufacturing and value delivery. Everything embodies the maturity and scale of one of the masters of the Age of Mass Production.

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A survey of over 70,000 developers from around the world reveals that 73 percent say they are proficient in JavaScript.

The study from hiring platform HackerRank shows JavaScript has replaced Java which took the top spot last year.

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While 64-bit software is pretty much the norm on the desktop, the same cannot -- yet -- be said on mobile platforms. There is a steady movement away from 32-bit apps, and Google wants to accelerate things.

The company is encouraging Android developers to concentrate on 64-bit versions of their apps as it sets out its timetable for the end of 32-bit software.

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Google has reminded developers that their apps will be removed from the Play Store if they request SMS or Call Log permissions. The policy change was announced last year, and over the next few weeks the app removal process begins.

While these particular permissions have been used to give Android users a choice of dialers and messaging apps, Google says there have also been instances of abuse. The company is introducing far stricter restrictions in the name of privacy and protecting user data.

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Since Microsoft bought GitHub last year there have been a few changes here and there, but the company has just announced something pretty major. While it previously cost $7 per month to create a private repository, now it is possible to create an unlimited number free of charge.

There is a slight caveat, of course. Private projects are limited to up to three collaborators before a charge is applicable. Microsoft has also announced a new service, GitHub Enterprise, which brings together Enterprise Cloud (previously known as GitHub Business Cloud) and Enterprise Server (previously, and confusingly, known as GitHub Enterprise).

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If you want to be part of the in-crowd, adding a dark mode to your software is essential. Google has already shown a lot of love for gothic hues, and it looks set to continue this with Android Q -- or Android 10, if you prefer.

Over on the Chromium Bug Tracker, Google worker Lukasz Zbylut appears to confirm that Android Q will feature a system-wide dark mode, with all preloaded apps offering the option natively.

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Microsoft has a new open source project -- Project Mu. This is the company's open-source release of the Unified Extensible Firmware Interface (UEFI) core which is currently used by Surface devices and Hyper-V.

With the project, Microsoft hopes to make it easier to build scalable and serviceable firmware, and it embraces the idea of Firmware as a Service (FaaS). This allows for fast and efficient updating of firmware after release, with both security patches and performance-enhancing updates.

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Google Chrome Labs has released a new online image conversion app by the name of Squoosh. The open source tool is essentially a simple browser-based image editor, and the focus is very much on speed.

Showcased at the Chrome Dev Summit, Squoosh is not limited to working only in Chrome -- other browsers are also supported. While the conversion options are useful to many people, Squoosh is really an opportunity for Google to show off new web technologies.

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There has been a spate of adding dark modes to apps, websites and operating systems in recent times. Many people simply prefer the look, while others say a darker theme is easier on the eye. But there is also the school of thought that says dark mode saves battery life.

And this is very much the message that Google is sending to Android developers. At the Android Dev Summit this week Google highlighted the massive difference Dark Mode makes, seemingly in a bid to encourage more developers to embrace the idea and add the option to their apps.

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After taking some time out from the Linux community to "change some of [his] behavior", Linux Torvalds is back. In a post to the Linux Kernel Mailing List announcing the release of Linux kernel 4.19, Greg Kroah-Hartman -- his temporary replacement -- handed back the reins.

After writing about the changes to be found in the latest release, Kroah-Hartman signed off by saying: "Linus, I'm handing the kernel tree back to you. You can have the joy of dealing with the merge window :)".

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In the US and across European countries, 50 percent of all new app development requests end in failure -- either by not being delivered at all, or being delivered without meeting the original business need.

According to research carried out by IDG for low-code development platform Appian, 16 percent of new development projects requested by EMEA enterprises never even get started.

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Google is well known for hiding Easter eggs in its software and tools, and a new little treat has just been discovered. Hidden in Google Chrome's developer console is a text adventure game.

While this is not exactly The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy, and it's unlikely to draw you away from Fortnite or Assassin's Creed, the game is a simple delight like Chrome's jumping dinosaur. Here's how to access it.

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Microsoft has confirmed that it is no longer developing the touch-friendly versions of Office apps for Windows

The Word Mobile, Excel Mobile, and PowerPoint Mobile apps found in the Microsoft Store first appeared for Windows 8.1, and development has continued with the release of Windows 10. But now this is changing, with Microsoft saying it wants to focus on the Win32, web, iOS and Android versions instead.

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Developers rate security as their top concern when dealing with open source components, above integration and functionality, according to a new study.

The report from open source security and license compliance management company WhiteSource reveals that an average developer invests 15 hours a month dealing with open source security vulnerabilities, but only a small fraction of that time (25 percent) is devoted to actual remediation.

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Use of known vulnerable open source components has increased by 120 percent over the last year and 62 percent of organizations say they have no meaningful control over OSS components, according to a new study.

Sonatype's fourth annual State of the Software Supply Chain Report shows that open source continues to be a key driver of innovation -- with software developers downloading more than 300 billion open source components in the past 12 months. However, hackers are exploiting this growing trend, and even beginning to inject vulnerabilities directly into open source projects.

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