Programming News Picks: Focus on Free Software
- Dr. Roy Schestowitz
- 2014-02-16 23:26:19 UTC
- Modified: 2014-02-16 23:26:19 UTC
Summary: 2014 news picks that focus on programming and development, especially of Free software or using Free software tools
Demise of Proprietary
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HTML5 developers queried recently by tools vendor Sencha remain dedicated to building apps via Web technologies, even as doubts have been cast on how effective HTML5 is vis à vis native development. Many of those same developers, however, have dropped support for the classic Microsoft Windows platform.
Surveying 2,128 business application developers from the HTML5 development community, including users of its own tools, Sencha found that 70-plus percent of developers planned to do more with HTML5 in the 2013 timeframe than they had done the previous year. And 75 percent will work further with HTML5 in 2014. More than 60 percent of developers have migrated to HTML5 and hybrid development for primary applications. For the coming year, just 4 percent of HTML5 developers plan to cut back on HTML5.
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I still remember IBM's provocative announcement in 2001 that it was putting $1 billion toward the development and promotion of Linux. While such billion-dollar commitments from IBM are now so routine as to be unremarkable, back then a billion dollars meant a lot. I was working for an embedded Linux vendor at the time, and most of our sales cycle was spent explaining why GPL-licensed Linux wasn't the technology equivalent of terminal cancer. (Thanks in part to Microsoft's contribution.)
Google
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The second video features Jason Hibbets's full interview with Chris DiBona Open Source Director at Google. Find out how DiBona measures his performance, why he once called open source "brutal," and more on working for Google and the future of open source.
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Over 280 attendees representing 177 mentoring organizations gathered for a two-day, code-munity extravaganza celebrating the conclusion of Google Summer of Code with the annual Mentor Summit held at Google in Mountain View, California.
GitHub
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GitHub's position as the repository of choice for open source community projects is today one of dominance, most would argue.
Officially often referred to as a "web-based revision control service" (rather than simply a software code repository), this classification is an obvious nod to the site's inherent level of active community involvement as open projects are continuously developed, refined and augmented.
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So, what’s the problem? Well, that’s simple. It seems that Fox News’ technology department –run by a motley crew of half-witted quick-study-types– failed to explain GitHub, and also disregarded both spelling and punctuation in favor of adopting what I would describe as a rogue journalistic style; a style that exists far beyond the confines of traditional English language rules. It is now with great pleasure that I flog the holy-hell out of the following screen capture in an attempt to make them cry.
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I have an open source script for a specific site (I'm trying not to call anything by name here) that a few other developers and I recently moved to GitHub. We've been joined by several new developers since we moved to the new system, including one very active one in particular. However, this active one has started changing a lot of the project.
First of all, he deleted our versioning system (not like Git, but like that—we called it versions v4.1.16) and said it would be better to simply push the code to the site when we think it's ready. Now there's no centralized place to put release notes, which has become annoying.
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GitHub has become the de facto repository for open source projects. So, we were excited for the opportunity to sit down with GitHub's co-founder and CIO Scott Chacon during the All Things Open Conference in Raleigh, NC.
Python
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One year ago the Puerto Rico Python Interest Group (prPIG) was founded on one purpose; to create a sustainable user community based on software development in Puerto Rico. On February 20, 2014 we will celebrate our first anniversary with an open format meeting with lightning talks from the community.
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Programming languages are crucial to a programmer as they boosts their productivity. Keeping in mind the fact that programmers may not be comfortable with all the coding languages around, we thought of compiling a list of programming languages set to make it big in 2014.
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Python community, friends, fellow developers, we need to talk. On December 3rd, 2008 Python 3.0 was first released. At the time it was widely said that Python 3 adoption was going to be a long process, it was referred to as a five year process. We've just passed the five year mark.
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In an article entitled “Python Displacing R As The Programming Language For Data Science,” MongoDB’s Matt Asay made an argument that has been circulating for some time now. As Python has steadily improved its data science credentials, from Numpy to Pandas, with even R’s dominant ggplot2 charting library having been ported, its viability as a real data science platform improves daily. More than any other language in fact, save perhaps Java, Python is rapidly becoming a lingua franca, with footholds in every technology arena from the desktop to the server.
Git
LLVM
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It looks like there's finally going to be stable point releases of the LLVM compiler infrastructure for pushing out bug-fixes quicker, whether you're using the Clang C/C++ compiler or depending upon LLVM for your GPU driver compiler back-end.
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It's nearly one month late but the LLVM 3.4 compiler infrastructure is now available with the updated Clang C/C++ compiler front-end, the usual LLVM sub-projects, and also some new compiler tools.
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The release of LLVM 3.4 is imminent and with the major compiler infrastructure upgrade comes update to the Clang C/C++ compiler front-end, LLDB debugger, and other LLVM sub-projects. LLVM 3.4 is a very righteous release and in celebration of its forthcoming release, it's back into compiler benchmarking season at Phoronix.
Ruby
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Ruby 2.1 has many improvements including speedup without severe incompatibilities.
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The Ruby project has done a new major release on Christmas for their popular programming language. Ruby offers performance speed-ups but without severe incompatibilities, according to the release announcement.
Misc.
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Regular readers of this column won't be surprised to hear that I love both Ruby on Rails and PostgreSQL. Rails has been my primary server-side Web development framework for about eight years, and it has managed to provide solutions for a large number of consulting and personal projects. As for PostgreSQL, I've been using it for about 15 years, and I continue to be amazed by the functionality it has gained in that time. PostgreSQL is no longer just a relational database. It's also a platform supporting the storage and retrieval of many types of data, built on a rock-solid, ACID-compliant, transactional core.
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In the sometimes dark and mysterious world of computers, I see open source programming and community around it as a force of good. Open source sparks and kindles a connection between people that I think is hard to find elsewhere in programming. Working with open source, a programmer builds important and powerful collaboration skills. This is significant because many of us (programmers and self-proclaimed nerds) are rather antisocial. Open source programming helps us cultivate social behaviors like sharing, improved communication, and collaborating towards a common goal.
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So by the mid-1980s, programming in schools was surging...
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The Checkpoint-Restore Tool has reached version 1.0 as part of the CRIU project. Checkpoint/Restore In Userspace allows for users to freeze running applications and checkpoint it to the hard drive as a file and that checkpoint can then be restored to a running process later on. CRIU is different from suspend-and-resume with the Linux kernel in that this is a tool for handling individual programs and it is implemented in user-space.
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The development team behind the Clutter software, a library for creating compelling, portable, dynamic and fast graphical user interfaces (GUI), has announced a few days ago that the second maintenance release of the stable Clutter 1.16 branch is available for download.
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Jim Kukunas of Intel OTC published the set of 13 patches on Monday that include medium and quick deflate strategies, a faster hash function with SSE 4.2 support, PCLMULQDQ-optimized CRC folding, SSE2 hash shifting, and other changes/tuning.
Recent Techrights' Posts
- "Today's [Red Hat] is run by a cabal of vultures."
- it seems safe to assume Red Hat too will languish away
- Microsoft Layoffs in 2026 Can be Bigger Than 2025 Microsoft Layoffs (30,000+ Workers Laid Off)
- "Is there going to be any reorg or Microsoft layoffs?"
- The Free Software Foundation (FSF) Represents People, Not Corporations
- FSF isn't in the "business" of appeasing oligarchs
- IBM: We Can't Make 'AI' (Voice Recognition) Do the Work of a McDonald's Teenager, So Let's Try the Same on Saudi Planes
- IBM is lost. It's truly lost.
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- GAFAM Deeply Connected to Jeffrey Epstein, Richard Stallman (RMS) in No Way Connected to Jeffrey Epstein
- people who hoarded all the capital get to decide what people think and say
- Linus Torvalds Has a Birthday This Coming Weekend, Thankfully He Still Controls His Main Project
- GNU and Linux should remain under their control as long as they live
- Mozilla is Getting Attention for All the Wrong Reasons, Take a Look at LibreWolf
- Just last week Mozilla added a new top-level manager who (as usual) came from a "tech giant"
- When Conformism Means Capitulation and Defeat
- In an age of injustices like these, we all have some kind of moral obligation not to be conformist.
- Text is Still King
- But the so-called 'industry' insists that we should download 10 MB of objects from multiple domains... even just to read 5-10 paragraphs of text
- Links 22/12/2025: Facebook "Testing $14.99 Monthly Subscription Fee to Post Links" and "Middle East Petrostates as American Media Owners"
- Links for the day
- Beyond the World Wide Web (WWW)
- We continue to treat Gemini Protocol as a first-class citizen
- Serbia: GNU/Linux Rises, Windows Down to All-Time Lows
- According to statCounter
- "Wrestling With Pigs"
- "Never wrestle with a pig. You both get dirty, and the pig likes it."
- Productive Year and Better Access to Techrights' Archives Going Back to 2006
- we've long needed and wanted native, local, independent search facilities
- Linux Abandoned by Linux Foundation
- It speaks for Microsoft and for so-called 'AI' companies
- Microsoft Has Practically Given Up on XBox Already
- Expect many XBox related layoffs when 2026 starts (Q1)
- Over at Tux Machines...
- GNU/Linux news for the past day
- IRC Proceedings: Sunday, December 21, 2025
- IRC logs for Sunday, December 21, 2025
- Gemini Links 21/12/2025: Solstice, Chaos of CSS, and Program Interpreter Fun
- Links for the day
- Why?
- Why write articles?
- Microsoft-Connected Publisher Spinning XBox's Death Spiral (It's Dying Fast) as a Strength and Something Deliberate
- "Microsoft’s big gaming pivot"
- Slop is Rare by Now
- A year ago slop was so abundant that we did a whole series about it, and it was daily
- Links 21/12/2025: U.S. Strikes in Syria, "Epstein Files Photos Disappear From Government Website"
- Links for the day
- Gemini Links 21/12/2025: Labrador Retriever of Lagrange's Developer Dies From Cancer, Political Philosophy, and "Getting to Inbox Zero"
- Links for the day
- Microsoft is Becoming Irrelevant: The Case of Georgia
- Not Georgia Tech
- Sirius Open Source is Now Imminently Dead (Struck Off)
- compulsory strike-off
- Dr. Richard Stallman, Invited by LibreTech Collective, is Giving a Public Talk in Georgia Tech Next Month (Scheller College of Business)
- They can probably squeeze about 400 people into this room
- 25 Years of Activism for GNU/Linux
- My passion for GNU/Linux brought a lot of contentment
- Africa, Where Microsoft Used De Facto Slaves to Pretend to be "AI", Chatbots Usage is 0.2% of Measured Online Traffic
- Judging by recent trends in Africa, many "Windows PCs" are being converted into GNU/Linux computers
- New Drone Footage Shows IBM is Dead (Parts of It)
- The people who participated in IBM when IBM actually mattered probably have boasting rights, unlike people who work for IBM today
- Michael Larabel Adds Slop Category to Phoronix, Quickly Realises That It's Worthless
- Phoronix nowadays gets carried away; it made a new category to talk about slop and it decided to call it "intelligence" with some caricature of a brain (that's misleading)Phoronix nowadays gets carried away; it made a new category to talk about slop and it decided to call it "intelligence" with some caricature of a brain (that's misleading)
- After 35 Years the World Wide Web, HTML, and HTTP Are Proprietary
- HTTP/2 added a lot of complexity (it's just a Google protocol, based on SPDY originally), many image formats are proprietary and patented, HTML got 'replaced' by Java-Scripts [sic], and many URLs (the URL system was created in the early 90s) are just long strings for proprietary 'webapps'
- The General Public License (GPL) Inspired the Web's Original Openness/Freedom, According to Tim Berners-Lee
- "During the preceding year I had been trying to get CERN to release the intellectual property rights to the Web code under the General Public License (GPL) so that others could use it."
- Over at Tux Machines...
- GNU/Linux news for the past day
- IRC Proceedings: Saturday, December 20, 2025
- IRC logs for Saturday, December 20, 2025
- The Register MS Has Lowered Its Standards Considerably
- Incidentally, we've only just noticed that "US editor for The Register since July 2025" has not been active for 4 weeks already
- Scamfarms, Spamfarms, and Slopfarms in "Linux" Clothing
- Today, Linux searches in Google News produced no slop at all. That's an improvement.
- Did Bill Gates Lobby to Blur the Face of the Young Woman He Openly Braces (and Who Isn't His Wife)?
- "This photo of of Microsoft co-founder Bill Gates with a woman whose face is blurred out is just one of 68 more photos and documents released today."
- Links 20/12/2025: Microsoft Ruins Televisions, 'Epstein Files' Deeply Sanitised (to Protect Particular Culprits)
- Links for the day
- Gemini Links 20/12/2025: Merry Christmas 2025 and Running a Factorio Headless Server on FreeBSD with the Linuxulato
- Links for the day
- With 10 Days Left, the Free Software Foundation (FSF) Has Already Raised Close to $300,000 This Winter
- they're besieged by despicable corporations and very despicable people
- The Real Problem With Rust is Not "Wokeness" (It Never Was)
- Don't feed the trolls who attack "Rust People" on political grounds
- 2025 in Numbers
- What was very good about this year is that we truly got "into the rhythm" of publishing
- More Microsoft Layoffs Coming Soon
- When I spoke about Microsoft layoffs (routinely) I got very viciously attacked by Microsoft boosters
- My Humble Assessment of the Future of Red Hat, A Company That IBM is Flushing Down the Loo
- GNU/Linux will be OK without Red Hat, but shaping the future of it matters because we don't want companies like Valve (DRM) to set the agenda
- Probably the Least Useful Gadgets, Ever
- as if a "smart" thing worn on the wrist is the "new Rolex"
- Former Manager at IBM Research (Yorktown) Says Why IBM is Doomed and the Anonymous Tipline (Speak Up) is a Trap
- IBM isn't willing to change or to address internal issues
- Links 20/12/2025: Fentanylware Becomes CheeTok and "Why Roomba Died"
- Links for the day
- Linux Foundation: Richard Stallman Developed Only a Software Licence
- We already criticised this report several times last night
- Impulsive Writing, Quotas, and Keeping Things as Concise as Feasible
- A 10-word sentence being read by a million people can have the same impact or magnitude (exposure-wise) as a million-word book being read by just 10 people
- Gemini Links 20/12/2025: Christmas Songs, Storms, and Old Web
- Links for the day
- Coming to Grips With a Lack of Future at IBM
- Red Hat's future doesn't look bright under the auspices as they seem right now
- Over at Tux Machines...
- GNU/Linux news for the past day
- IRC Proceedings: Friday, December 19, 2025
- IRC logs for Friday, December 19, 2025
- Links 20/12/2025: Media Layoffs, a Third of Online Traffic is Bots
- Links for the day