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
-
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.
-
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
-
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.
-
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
-
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.
-
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.
-
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.
-
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
-
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.
-
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.
-
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.
-
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
-
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.
-
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.
-
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
-
Ruby 2.1 has many improvements including speedup without severe incompatibilities.
-
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.
-
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.
-
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.
-
So by the mid-1980s, programming in schools was surging...
-
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.
-
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.
-
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
- SUEPO Munich Informs/Contacts the German Government About the Situation at the European Patent Office (EPO)
- Salary Erosion Procedure: Two letters to Germany
-
- The "Official" Numbers That Say "Microsoft Layoffs" Will be Misleading
- The scale of the layoffs in gaming will be unprecedented
- SLAPP Censorship - Part 109 Out of 200: When You Drag Family Members Into a Case Unrelated to Them Because Their Relative Published Something
- This did not exactly surprise us given what we had already encountered
- Gemini Links 17/06/2026: Feeling "Useful"; PISA Pen-and-Paper Cipher
- Links for the day
- Trajectory of O'Reilly: From Publisher of Books to Microsoft Advertiser
- The state of the media is not good and when prolific book publishers start running ads as 'articles' or videos (never mind the disclosure) it is rather tasteless
- Links 17/06/2026: Slop's “Crack Cocaine” Approach to Pricing, Microsoft's Rapid Shrinking of Gaming Business
- Links for the day
- Links 17/06/2026: "How Developers React to Slop-Scented Blog Posts", Police Caught Fabricating Evidence Using Slop
- Links for the day
- More Than 90% in European Patent Office (EPO) Ballot Vote for Continuation of Industrial Actions/Strikes, About Half Wish to Further Intensify These
- Ballot results on intensification of actions
- If Not Now, Then When?
- If you are not part of the solution/s, then you're merely a vessel or passive participant
- Microsoft Offers People 'Retirements' (Again) to Fake (Artificially Lower) Number of Layoffs, Those People Are Nowhere Near Retirement Age
- Microsoft implicitly affirms huge cuts are coming
- Gemini Links 17/06/2026: 10 Years in Canada, Wild Flower Explorations, and Microslop
- Links for the day
- European Patent Office (EPO) Series: The Portuguese Prodigy
- In this part we will present some additional background information about Mendonça's activities before he joined the EPO
- Over at Tux Machines...
- GNU/Linux news for the past day
- IRC Proceedings: Tuesday, June 16, 2026
- IRC logs for Tuesday, June 16, 2026
- Microsoft Will "DOOM" id Software and Others, Claim Observers
- As the worst predictions trickle in and out Microsoft loses control of the narrative
- Austria Shows Rapid Demise of Windows in the EU
- Expect many Microsoft layoffs soon, and not just in XBox/gaming
- Links 16/06/2026: Mainstream Media Affirms Microsoft Studio Closures Planned, Anthropic’s Latest Marketing Hype Debunked by Experts
- Links for the day
- This Morning The Register MS Published Page With "AI" 42 Times in It. It Was Paid SPAM.
- The Register MS is propping up a pyramid scheme
- Microsoft XBox is Having Its 1990s Apple Moment (Near Bankruptcy), Says Respected Insider
- Microsoft's CEO has already admitted that XBox is having serious financial problems [...] They already try to reuse the brand "XBox" to refer to Vista 11
- OECD Carries Water for Microsoft, Targets Schools and Children With Slop Agenda
- Peel off a layer or two to find GAFAM
- Microsoft "Xbox braces for sweeping studio closures before June 30."
- Microsoft's control of the damage-limiting narrative has clearly slipped
- In Africa's Largest Nation Windows Has Fallen From 100% to a Lot Less, Now All-Time Lows
- Let's see what happens or will happen in Algeria in 2027
- Richard Stallman's Talk Due in One Hour, Here's What People Say
- To Stallman, what matters is control by users and collective control
- SLAPP Censorship - Part 108 Out of 200: Moving On and Moving Up
- an explanation of our rich history and commitment to courageous whistleblowers
- Links 16/06/2026: UK to Restrict Access to Social Control Media; The FCC Wants to Eliminate Burner Phones
- Links for the day
- Why We Call Him Dr. Stallman
- He got at least 15 such titles
- United States of America: GNU/Linux Hovering Around 5% (It Started There)
- GNU/Linux is turning 43 this year (in a few months), Linux will turn 35
- Microsoft Promises Made to be Broken
- It's a real problem and it is not limited to XBox
- IBM Down $61 in Two Weeks, The Lies About Quantum Computers Didn't Last Long
- IBM is an unsafe employer, not a good place to work
- You Probably Don't Want to "Go Viral" in Toxic Social Control Media
- Good news sites do not strive to go "viral" but to be consistently good, irrespective of "traffic"
- New 'Article' in The Register MS Has Mentioned "AI" 44 Times. The Register MS Got Paid to Publish It.
- Bear this in mind when seeing "hey hi" all over the news
- 18-Year Anniversary of Our IRC Community
- As noted some months ago, trolling and abuse in our IRC network is very rare these days
- Microsoft - Like IBM - is Leaving a Legacy is Emptied/Abandoned Buildings
- Microsoft's LinkedIn had many layoffs recently
- Richard Stallman's (RMS) Speaking Tour in Europe Coincides With Abandonment of Microsoft Windows
- The message applies to all governments
- Gemini Links 16/06/2026: Nazi Law of Mental Abuse and Lewis Aburrow's 3D-Printed Slider
- Links for the day
- Links 16/06/2026: Windows TCO and Fedora Finding Serious 20-Year-Old Holes in Microsoft Outlook
- Links for the day
- European Patent Office (EPO) Series: An Advisor to the President
- he had recently advanced to membership of the "inner circle" of Team Campinos.
- Two Weeks Ahead of July Three Studios Microsoft Plans to Shut Down Already Named
- This is what happens when companies try to establish themselves on a mountain of promises and false assumptions, kicking the can down the road until payroll becomes hard to complete
- Over at Tux Machines...
- GNU/Linux news for the past day
- IRC Proceedings: Monday, June 15, 2026
- IRC logs for Monday, June 15, 2026
- IBM Works for Microsoft
- Hours ago in IBM.com
- Microsoft May Already Be Shutting Down More Gaming Studios
- the writings are on the wall: XBox is in disarray.
- European Patent Office (EPO) Series: The EPO's Brussels Liaison Officer
- It would appear that in January 2020, Pellegrino was induced by Campinos to jump ship from the EUIPO and take up his current position as Brussels Liaison Officer for the EPO
- European Patent Office (EPO) Receiving Section (RS) and Elimination of Many Roles
- Open letter to Mr Rowan (VP1) and Mr Aledo Lopez (COO) [...] Does the EU leadership intend to tolerate this?
- Microsoft's XBox is Disintegrating, Executives Are Quitting
- We're basically witnessing the slow-motion "end of XBox"
- Gemini Links 15/06/2026: Slop Code Benchmarked, Wireguard on NixOS and Guix
- Links for the day
- Links 15/06/2026: More Own Goals for the Slop Industry, Palantir Trouble in UK
- Links for the day
- Apple Wants Everybody to Forget About "Vision Pro" Because It Was a Giant Flop
- worthless gadgets with no obvious use case/s
- The Cyber Show is Adopting 'Book Form' (or Long Form Publications)
- Andy and Helen nowadays invest more time in making their site faster
- Richard Stallman's Software Freedom/Digital Sovereignty Tour in Europe
- As things stand at present, the vast majority of people have their interactions controlled/policed by GAFAM
- Estimates of Scale of Microsoft Layoffs, Will Likely Happen "in Batches"
- "Heard 10 to 15 percent eventually but idk date."
- IBM Has Put Red Hat on a Poor Diet of Slop, Now Fedora and Red Hat Suffocate or Choke on It
- Over the weekend we saw more people leaving the company
- Estimates of Microsoft Layoffs: 3,000 Staff to be Culled Just in Gaming, How Many in Other Divisions?
- Now the XBox division has its own "fall guy", but it is a woman
- Straw Man Arguments Against Rust
- If anything, it teaches the importance of auditing packages
- Tesla Debt Rose Sharply, Sales Declined, Wall Street's Claim of Tesla "Value" is Merely a Fairytale (and Not Just Tesla)
- We would gladly sell land on Mars to anyone who honestly believes a company that loses money is somehow "worth" trillions in Wall Street
- Stop Calling Losses "Investment"
- XBox is losing money, it is a sinkhole
- For Justice We Need More Speech, Not Less Speech
- When you attack something you are just giving that something a bigger platform
- SLAPP Censorship - Part 107 Out of 200: Keeping Law Accessible to Everybody
- We'll have stories related to this in the future
- Links 15/06/2026: Slop "Beg Bounties", Wall Street Fakes 'Worth', and Arkansans Saved PBS
- Links for the day
- Gemini Links 15/06/2026: Dating Oaks, Simulation, and Theremin
- Links for the day
- Over at Tux Machines...
- GNU/Linux news for the past day
- IRC Proceedings: Sunday, June 14, 2026
- IRC logs for Sunday, June 14, 2026