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
- Social Control Media and GAFAM as National Security Threats (Domestically and More So Abroad)
- "Algorithms control messages, swayed 2024 presidential election"
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- Links 09/05/2026: "Grand Theft Oil Futures" and Mass Layoffs at Verizon
- Links for the day
- Gemini Links 09/05/2026: Inkscape "Copy Text Style" and NomadNet
- Links for the day
- The Corrupt Lecture the Non-Corrupt - Part XVII - European Patent Office (EPO) Management Not Sharing Responsibility for Financial Resources
- For those who wonder, EPO strikes are still going on
- Over at Tux Machines...
- GNU/Linux news for the past day
- IRC Proceedings: Friday, May 08, 2026
- IRC logs for Friday, May 08, 2026
- Gemini Links 08/05/2026: Slop Falsely Marketed to Greedy Administrators and New Official Maintainer of Antenna Confirmed
- Links for the day
- Links 08/05/2026: French Prosecutors Seek Charges Against MElon, Europe Wants Young People Without Skinnerboxes (Smartphones)
- Links for the day
- 2,000-4,000 More Layoffs Expected at IBM's Kyndryl, Some Say Over 10,000 Layoffs
- They use euphemisms like "restructuring" or "rebalancing"
- Gemini Links 08/05/2026: Dissociated Pride and Prejudice, Smallnet Protocols Roundup
- Links for the day
- Links 08/05/2026: Slop Profiteer NVIDIA (and Circular Financing/Accounting Fraud Leader) May Be Liable for Mass Copyright Infringement, Kyndryl (IBM) Layoffs
- Links for the day
- Outgoing OSI Chief Was Paid by Microsoft to Advocate for GPL Violations (Using the OSI's Name). Now, Inside OIN, He Says GPL Violations Are 'Freedom'.
- It seems like only compromised people can be "allowed" to run today's OSI
- SLAPP Censorship - Part 70 Out of 200: Microsoft's Graveley Injunction Request 100% the Same as Garrett's (Pure 'Copy-paste', Not Even a Word or Single Character Changed!)
- Not so funny at all
- Over 97% of the 'Linux' Foundation's Budget Goes Not to Linux
- There is a term for this: mission creep
- Cloudflare is a Giant Pile of Debt, Now There Are Mass Layoffs and Media Coverage About This is Churnalism, Sometimes by Slopfarms (False Excuses)
- If Cloudflare goes under, it'll be great news
- NDAs as a Price Tag on Criticism (or Honest Expressions of Opinion)
- What ever happened to accountability? Suppressed by reverse bribes (via NDAs)?
- Internal Microsoft Communications Confirm: "Buyout" Offer Worse Than a Year's Salary and Microsoft Offers "Retirement" to Young People Who Cannot Retire
- Does that sound like a good offer or marching orders?
- It's Not a GAFAM World Anymore and There Are Far More Operating Systems Than Google's, Apple's, and Microsoft's
- we're not getting the full picture of what's happening
- Site Overhauls at Cybershow and at analognowhere.com (Less is More!)
- They seem to be replacing the heavy PHP backend with static HTML pages
- Microsoft's XBox is Going Away Like Microsoft's Skype (Slowly But Surely, Then All at Once)
- XBox is dying rapidly
- Codecs and Software Patents - Part IV - Things Got So Bad That Some Laptop Sales Got Banned in the EU (Over Software Patents!)
- If software patents lead to such severe outcomes, shouldn't the media pay closer attention to the problem?
- The Corrupt Lecture the Non-Corrupt - Part XVI - EPO Had Data Breaches, Covered Them Up, Now Lectures Staff That Didn't Do It and Didn't Cover It Up
- Imagine what would happen to staff if (non-anonymously) blowing the whistle on management leaking and then covering up EPO data breaches
- Over at Tux Machines...
- GNU/Linux news for the past day
- IRC Proceedings: Thursday, May 07, 2026
- IRC logs for Thursday, May 07, 2026
- Mass Layoffs at IBM's Kyndryl, Slop Won't Save Kyndryl
- Kyndryl is a "done deal". It's done. It's finished.
- Kyndryl Holdings Inc Falls Almost 15% in 2 Days, What Does That Tell Us About IBM?
- The "Big Blue" 'shell game' isn't working
- Companies That Say They Are "Hey Hi" (AI) Leaders Don't Really Do Well, They Have Mass Layoffs Because Hype and Storytelling Won't Live Up to Shareholders' Expectations
- Microsoft's investment in slop is not going well
- Gemini Links 07/05/2026: Unicode and "RSS 4 Noobs (Getting Started)"
- Links for the day
- During IBM's Annual Event/Bash IBM's Stock Fell to (Almost) Lowest Level in a Year, Insiders Explain "IBM is on the Brink of Collapse."
- Anthropic - like IBM - pays the media for puff pieces, exaggerations, and obvious vapourware
- Servers Became "Cloud", VR Became "Metaverse", Now Bots Become "Agents" (of Slop)
- Changing the name of things won't prevent rejection, only delay the negative reaction some more
- Links 07/05/2026: "The ‘Perfect Storm’ Hanging Over Britain’s Public Debt" and "Internet Shutdowns Spread in Africa"
- Links for the day
- OSI Partners With Microsoft to Help Pretend Proprietary (GitHub) 'Celebrates' Open Source
- And a Microsoft operative announced this as well
- Links 07/05/2026: "Most Vibe-coded (Slop) Tools Are Not for You" and "Prepare for the PCB Shortage"
- Links for the day
- SLAPP Censorship - Part 69 Out of 200: Microsoft's Graveley Strangles, Gets Arrested, Charged, Then Asks for Apology From Those Who Reported It by Recycling Garrett's Plea for Apology
- Garrett realised that his "funny" lawsuit wasn't so funny anymore
- Codecs and Software Patents - Part III - AOMedia Video 1 (AV1) and Antitrust Issues
- As we'll show in later parts, this already results in bans of some hardware sales in Europe
- The Corrupt Lecture the Non-Corrupt - Part XV - Talking About Responsibility and Accountability While Failing to Hold Themselves Accountable
- what outlet is there for justice or for the Rule of Law?
- Over at Tux Machines...
- GNU/Linux news for the past day
- IRC Proceedings: Wednesday, May 06, 2026
- IRC logs for Wednesday, May 06, 2026
- Gemini Links 07/05/2026: Dissociated Jekyll And Hyde, New Antenna 2.0.0
- Links for the day