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
- USA Not a Place for Free Speech
- In America, as in the US, the attacks seem more enhanced or advanced these days
- "Use Wayland" Isn't a Bugfix for X (X11 is Still Necessary)
- They tell us X is "dead" and we must all be herded into Wayland ASAP
- The New Head of OSI is an "Hey Hi" (AI) Obsessed Person
- when Bryant says "AI" that doesn't mean AI
- "Governments, local authorities, schools and hospitals can lead by example by procuring only Free Software"
- Crossposted from Tux Machines
- Cindy Cohn Leaving the Electronic Frontier Foundation While Its Co-founder John Gilmore, Whom She Apparently Helped Oust, Will Celebrate 40 Years of the Free Software Foundation, Inc.
- EFF has been busy hoarding GAFAM money, whereas the latter is where all the real activism is done
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- There Are Red Hat (IBM) Layoffs, But Google News is Infested With Slopfarms
- It contributes a lot to misinformation and it encourages plagiarism
- Tomorrow, Microsoft's Tim Anderson's 'The Register MS' Offshoot Will Have Been Inactive for 2 Months (There's Also a Slop Problem)
- We've already caught The Register MS using LLM slop for articles
- Microsoft's Chief Legal Officer Leaves Microsoft After Nearly 30 Years
- And not retiring
- Even Windows Users Are Having Problems With "Secure Boot"
- When it comes to security - Microsoft strives for the very opposite
- Another Competition Crime of Microsoft, Long Facilitated and Advocated by a Bad Actor, Who is Funded by a Third Party to Commit Extortion Against People Who Have Correctly and Repeatedly Warned About It for Over 13 Year
- We must always go back to the core issues
- 3 More Reasons to Replace Mozilla Firefox With LibreWolf
- Thankfully there are de-enshittified versions of Firefox
- Over at Tux Machines...
- GNU/Linux news for the past day
- IRC Proceedings: Tuesday, September 16, 2025
- IRC logs for Tuesday, September 16, 2025
- Links 17/09/2025: Google Layoffs in "Hey Hi" (AI), Perplexity Hit With More "Hey Hi" (Plagiarism) Lawsuits
- Links for the day
- Gemini Links 17/09/2025: Reclaiming Things in a Digital Age and Moon Phases in CGI
- Links for the day
- Slopwatch: Google News is Slop, Google News is Plagiarism, Google News is Dying
- Google is off the rails
- Links 16/09/2025: "The Censorship Alarm Is Ringing in the Wrong Direction" and ASRock Does Microsoft E.E.E. on GNU/Linux
- Links for the day
- Serious "Breach of Confidentiality of Personal Data" in Europe's Second-Largest Institution, the EPO
- Yes, the same EPO that routinely uses "data protection" and "GDPR" as a pretext for hiding or covering up its corruption and white-collar crimes (it even uses that as an excuse for refusing to obey courts' orders)
- Adrienne Rockenhaus Says Her Husband Was Arrested for Running Tor and Denied Basic Rights in the United States
- the US seems to be getting "russified" in its approach towards Tor
- This is What Happens When Microsoft Canonical Lets Decisions on Ubuntu be Made by a Youngster From the British Army (Where He Did Mass Surveillance)
- "Is Ubuntu Compromised?"
- Back Doored Windows Giving GNU/Linux a Hard Time (Under the Guise of 'Security')
- Is this complication intentional? Most likely, yes
- Links 16/09/2025: Science, Security, and Conflicts
- Links for the day
- Gemini Links 16/09/2025: Command-line Options in POSIX Shell and Introducing Acre 0.9
- Links for the day
- Microsoft 'Secure' Boot Versus Dual Boot With GNU/Linux
- they're meant to assume everything is OK
- Links 16/09/2025: While Oracle Pretends to be Rich It's Firing About 70 MySQL Workers, "Oracle's Revenge" (Faking Demand With "AI")
- Links for the day
- Microsoft Has Just Published a New Web Page About "Secure Boot Update Process" (Microsoft Also Admits Issues; PCs Can Stop Booting)
- Why was this page issued and published only hours ago?
- Microsoft Lunduke: I Spread Hate and Then I Receive Hate
- Cry us a river, Microsoft Lunduke
- "Disable Secure Boot and Fast Boot. Wipe and Start Over."
- At least they didn't say, buy a new computer...
- The Oracle Ponzi Scheme
- Oracle isn't doing well, but it's nowadays fashionable to say "clown" and "hey hi" to prop up one's stock, even based on nothing at all
- Taking Out the Battery, Opening Up Your Computer, Just Like a "Normie" Would
- At this stage, any person who still says "enable Secure Boot" is misguided or persuaded by companies that sell rootkits
- Slopwatch: Serial Sloppers and Slopfarms Still Infesting Google News (Fake 'Articles' About "Linux" Spreading FUD)
- searching for "Linux" today yields a lot of FUD
- The Reach of Techrights Has Broadened
- We nowadays cover a broader range of issues
- "Google is Googlebombing KDE's Project Banana"
- So is Google googlebombing KDE's Project Banana? You decide.
- Complicating Things for No Actual Benefit, Just Added Risk and More Difficulties Adding GNU/Linux and BSDs
- Watch what it's like for people who wish to use BSDs
- Some Very Large IRC Networks Are Growing
- IRC will turn 38 next year
- Over at Tux Machines...
- GNU/Linux news for the past day
- IRC Proceedings: Monday, September 15, 2025
- IRC logs for Monday, September 15, 2025
- Links 16/09/2025: Autumn Party, RPG Planet, and Optical ROOPHLOCH
- Links for the day
- Geminispace Growing at Pace of Over 10% Per Year
- Contrary to what some pessimists try to claim
- Linux Mint Forums Today: Disable 'Secure Boot', It Doesn't Improve Security, It's Just a Microsoft Obstacle to GNU/Linux Users
- They also mention MOK
- What Ruben Amorim and Stefano Maffulli Have in Common
- Censors Wikipedia and Social Control Media
- Microsoft Won't Cooperate in Trying to Tackle EPO Corruption (Microsoft Profits From This Corruption)
- Use something like BigBlueButton, Jami, Ring, and Jitsi instead
- Solved Less Than an Hour Ago: Trying to Escape Windows, 'Secure Boot' Gets in the Way
- 'Secure Boot' wasn't meant to even exist in the first place
- Stefano Maffulli, Executive Director of the Open Source Initiative, Resigns or Gets Removed (We'll Continue Covering OSI Scandals)
- A dozen mentions of "AI", not much about "Open Source"
- Andy Has Just Nailed It (Regarding Complexity and Failure, a la UEFI)
- The users no longer own or control what they buy
- Compatibility Support Module (CSM) Versus GNU/Linux Simplicity
- what Andy recently called "solutionism"
- Links 15/09/2025: "Postal Traffic to US Down by Over 80%" and 'Smart' Spinozacampus Laundry Room Goes AWOL
- Links for the day
- Gemini Links 15/09/2025: Dungeon Hustle and Deleting Oneself From the Net
- Links for the day
- Breach of EPO's Duty of Care or Cigna Reimbursement Issues
- This is the sort of thing that motivated Luigi Mangione to assassinate a CEO
- Ask Ubuntu About "Secure Boot" Violation and Laptops That Don't Boot GNU/Linux
- Does anyone still believe that "Secure Boot" has anything at all to do with security?
- We Are Sad to Hear the Story of Jonathan Riddell, Champion of KDE and GNU/Linux on Desktops/Laptops
- I have enormous respect for Jonathan and everything he has done
- Talking About the Problem vs Talking to the Problem
- Wanting an audience is never a good excuse for compromising one's values and principles
- Focusing on Patents
- The reason we cover the EPO so much is that it's close to home
- "Secure Boot Violation": The 'Joys' of Fake Security Gone Wrong
- Not everyone reboots every day
- Links 15/09/2025: Russia Invades Romanian Airspace, Penske Media Sues Google Over LLM Slop
- Links for the day
- Links 15/09/2025: Bitcoin ATMs Scam and "Conservative Cryptography" (Backdoors Fantasies)
- Links for the day
- EPO Imitates Microsoft: "Three Days or More Per Week" Inside the Office to Get a Desk to Work on; "the Office Breaches Its Promise Towards Staff and Acts in Breach of Its Duty of Care"
- The EPO serves no actual function in Europe
- Links 15/09/2025: Political Affairs, Censorship, and Copyrights
- Links for the day
- Gemini Links 15/09/2025: Music Genres, Invisible Networks, and Akademy 2025
- Links for the day
- Over at Tux Machines...
- GNU/Linux news for the past day
- IRC Proceedings: Sunday, September 14, 2025
- IRC logs for Sunday, September 14, 2025