Articles about Developer

The use of AI tools for mobile app development and testing is growing, and developers and testers are keen to further expand the use of these tools, according to a new report.

The study from Kobiton finds 60 of respondents say they are currently using generative AI tools in their QA cycles to update scripts or code, 55 percent are using these tools to analyze test results, and 47 percent are using them to generate test scripts.

Continue reading →

In Software Architect, veteran enterprise and solution architect Michael Bell delivers a hands-on playbook of best practices for aspiring and practicing software architects, seeking to improve their software design, integration, communication, presentation, and knowledge acquisition skills.

The book explores the career enablement, career planning, self-training, and self-improvement topics you’ll need to increase your ability to offer powerful and effective business and technological solutions.

Continue reading →

A new global study of over 1,600 software testers reveals that 78 percent have already adopted some form of AI to improve productivity.

The report from LambdaTest also shows companies are working to respond to the need for greater software reliability with 72 percent of organizations involving testers in 'sprint' planning sessions, signaling a substantial shift towards software quality being considered earlier in the software development lifecycle.

Continue reading →

Despite difficult economic conditions, software development and quality assurance skills remain a priority for businesses, according to a new study.

Research from the Qt Group looks at the number of vacancies for 'software development', 'software testing', 'software engineering', and 'quality assurance' positions at 30 tech companies which have made the most redundancies this year.

Continue reading →

Mozilla has announced the availability of a limited number of browser extensions for the Android version of its Firefox web browser. The news comes several weeks after the company advised extension developers of the imminent launch of "support for an open ecosystem of extensions" for Firefox on Android.

Now testers who are running the Beta or Nightly builds of Firefox Android are being invited to try out dozens of extensions. At the moment, this is low-key launch as Mozilla is seeking feedback so the system can be tweaked and optimized ahead of a full launch further down the line.

Continue reading →

Having recently reaffirmed its commitment to PowerShell and Windows Terminal, Microsoft has shown that it is good to its word. The company has released new versions of Windows Terminal, and for those who like to play it safe, there is Windows Terminal v1.18.2681.0 which includes various new features such as the ability to pull tabs out of Terminal windows.

But for those who prefer to live on the edge, Windows Terminal Preview v1.19.2682.0 is a much more exciting release. The development team warns users to buckle up as this "might be a little more Preview than you've come to expect". And there is indeed an awful lot to explore in this preview channel version, including the fact that Windows Terminal is now able to browse the internet!

Continue reading →

According to 800 developer (DevOps) and application security (SecOps) leaders surveyed, 97 percent are using GenAI technology today, with 74 percent saying they feel pressured to use it despite identified security risks.

The research from software supply chain management company Sonatype shows 45 percent of SecOps leads have already implemented generative AI into the software development process, compared to only 31 percent for DevOps.

Continue reading →

Mozilla has issued a notice to developers, saying that it is preparing to launch support for an open ecosystem of extensions on Firefox for Android.

Pointing out that the move will make Firefox the only major Android browser to support such an ecosystem for extensions, Mozilla says everything sound be in place before the end of the year. The change means that it should not be long before Firefox users with Android handsets are able to use more than just the handful of extensions that are currently available.

Continue reading →

Microsoft has updated the free virtual machines it makes available for download as Windows 11 development environments.

In addition to Windows 11, the virtual machines also include various other developer-centric tools such as Visual Studio 2022 Community Edition and Ubuntu pre-installed in Windows Subsystem for Linux 2. In a nod to the fact that people work with different virtualization platforms, Microsoft has produced VMWare, Hyper-V (Gen2), VirtualBox and Parallels versions of the free VMs.

Continue reading →

Building products quickly to meet customer needs is more important than ever, especially as customer expectations continue to evolve. According to a recent study from Zendesk, 70 percent of consumers spend more with companies that offer fluid, personalized, and seamless customer experiences. For IT leaders, it’s not sufficient to focus on building things as required, their first focus needs to be on building the right thing. This means establishing a customer-centric product development process that supports discovering what customers really need and bringing a valuable product to market that meets their needs.

The most effective way to bring customer-centric products to market is to develop them incrementally and iteratively, with experimentation to discover how to best fulfill customer needs and with fast feedback to improve the quality of the product.

Continue reading →

Putting together a technical team from scratch isn’t quite as simple as setting up a few interviews and hiring the candidates that seem like they might be up to the job. Hasty decision-making often leads to unbalanced and misaligned teams, which is why research, planning and patience are all essential when developing a new branch of a business.

When the person responsible for constructing the team is new themselves, this introduces an array of potential stumbling blocks, as they will begin work on the project with a lack of understanding of organizational culture and the overall business structure.

Continue reading →

A new study from O'Reilly Media looks at how developer enablement tools including GitHub Copilot and ChatGPT are impacting productivity within the workplace.

And the news isn't all positive; almost half of all respondents (46 percent) say they are struggling with AI-assisted low and no-code tools that have steep learning curves and barriers to entry.

Continue reading →

Despite the concerns of many programmers about ChatGPT and other generative AI making our profession irrelevant, the software industry will always need skilled human developers to solve hard problems. I’m certainly not ignoring ChatGPT’s ability to generate solid code. It definitely can. But, it’s not anywhere near ready to produce code without human supervision. Its developers are working to improve its accuracy, but ChatGPT currently has a hallucination problem, where it creates content -- including code -- that may look good at a cursory glance but isn’t actually correct.

That said, in the hands of an experienced programmer, ChatGPT can be a powerful development tool that significantly reduces the amount of time it takes to develop a solution. Note, "experienced" is not a throwaway adjective here. For code generation, ChatGPT is a tool that novice developers should employ carefully. You need good instincts for discerning what’s well-formed code and what isn’t, and those skills grow with  years of development experience.

Continue reading →

UK businesses are inadvertently wasting over £10.4 billion ($12.97 billion) each year as developers manually carry out routine operations tasks that could be automated.

Software delivery platform Harness calculates the figure based on the fact that developers spend only around 52 minutes a day on actual coding.

Continue reading →

Among governance, risk, and compliance (GRC) professionals responding to a new survey, 69 percent say that deploying a GRC platform that doesn't need developer support would improve their role.

The study from Onspring finds that a worrying 73 percent of respondents still needed a developer to update and administer their GRC programs, indicating a clear need for technologies that don't require developer input.

Continue reading →