Language/library updates

Google releases a new language: Go

Google has released its own programming language called Go. While I’m usually quite dubious of most development-related things that come from Google (the company has a bad habit of never-ending betas and stick to AJAX widgets for public consumption), I’m quite impressed by Go. It is open source with a BSD license (good choice, Google!), and it can be compiled with its own compiler or a GCC-based compiler. The language itself is fascinating, combining elements from dynamic languages and static languages and taking influences from things like CSP (which spawned Erlang), Pascal, and more.

CNET’s Stephen Shankland has more details about Go.

Facebook API 3.0 released

The .NET API to work with Facebook has just had its third release. If you’re looking to write an application about retired mobsters who have their own farm and trade zoo animals with each other, I suppose this is the download for you.

Microsoft demoing new visualization language at PDC

ZDNet blogger Mary Jo Foley reports that Microsoft is going to present a new visualization language at PDC. It will be interesting to see where this leads — possibly a way to ease software models into working software?

Tools and products

LinqLite makes it easier to write LINQ providers

LinqLite has been released. This library is designed to take much of the pain out of writing a basic LINQ provider.

Subversion moves to Apache

The Subversion version control system is being transferred from CollabNet to the Apache Software Foundation’s Apache Incubator. This should be a good move for expanding the base of developers working on Subversion.

Mono Tools for Visual Studio 1.0 is available

The Mono Project has released version 1 of the Mono Tools for Visual Studio, allowing Visual Studio users to work with Mono (and vice versa).

Web development improvements in Visual Studio 2010

Somasegar has a summary of the changes to Web development using ASP.NET 4 and Visual Studio 2010.

Help file disaster in Visual Studio 2010

I started tinkering with Visual Studio 2010. Much to my horror and dismay, someone decided to replace the perfectly functional help system with a local Web server! Now, you can’t access Help without having Visual Studio running, and your work in “Help” is mixed with all of your other Web browsing activities. Oh, and I’ve already had to submit a bug report because “Help” stopped working. I have never needed to debug a regular Help File.

Oracle Berkeley DB Java Edition 4.0 released

Oracle released the latest version of Berkeley DB, Java Edition. For those not familiar with it, it is a high-speed database written 100% in Java that can be used as an embedded database.

Gear6 launches Web Cache Universal Distro

Gear6 has announced the availability of its software-only Memcached solution. You can learn more and register for a demo at the Gear site.

Microsoft acquires Teamprise, Eclipse TFS tools

Teamprise, makers of tools to allow Eclipse users to work with TFS, has been purchase by Microsoft. This will allow shops working with Eclipse and Visual Studio to settle on TFS instead of using different tools for the different environments.

Coverity 5 expands static analysis into change management

Coverity, who makes static analysis products, has released Coverity 5. This new release adds the ability to see how a problem in one piece of code affects multiple products and to combine defect reports from a variety of languages into one management interface.

Medallia announces developer network, API

Medallia has announced a new developer network and API for its enterprise feedback management platform. This platform is used to integrate customer feedback into applications as actionable data.

New predictive heatmapping tool

Feng-GUI released the next version of its predictive heatmapping tool. By using a number of advanced algorithms, the Feng-GUI tool can put together a pretty good guess at what an eye-tracking heatmap of an image (or, screenshot of a Web page) would look like. This is a great tool, because eye-tracking studies involve testing experts and special equipment, and Feng-GUI doesn’t need any of that.

Lunascape 6 goes into beta

Lunascape has just put version 6 of its “triple engine browser” into beta. This version looks especially intriguing — it can now use add-ons from Firefox and IE, as well as its own add-on system. In addition, it supports side-by-side browsing of the same page for easy comparison. This will further increase its appeal to developers and designers looking to easily compare their pages across browser platforms.

Editorial and commentary

Stack Overflow opens a jobs system

Stack Overflow is looking to change the way top developers find jobs with its new career center. A big part of the change is that hiring companies search through resumes instead of programmers looking through jobs. Your resumes are tied to your Stack Overflow account, so potential hirers can see your involvement and the quality of your involvement in the community. Joel Spolksky has more details.

Designing a useful standard

Adam Bosworth has written a really good article about how to write a useful standard. It’s worth a read if you’re curious about how some standards seem to survive and others do not.

How is Mozilla’s contribution system doing?

After four months, a whopping total of $20,000 has been donated to Mozilla’s contribution system. The most donated to project has pulled in about $2,000. If you’re looking to get rich off of writing Mozilla plug-ins, it’s time to get a new business plan.

Interesting perspective on DBs in the cloud

Brent Ozar has a good summary on the business case behind using Amazon’s new MySQL in the cloud offering. While he still doesn’t touch on the usual concerns of cloud computing (security, reliability, on-the-wire latency), he definitely makes it clear why businesses are taking a good look at these kinds of services.

Tips and tricks

Excellent article on “usable security”

The ACM has a must-read article about the challenges of making systems secure and that work the way users work.

The relationship between Agile and UX

Jakob Nielsen wrote a useful report on how to integrate user experience (UX) into Agile projects.

How to find and eliminate .NET memory leaks

Fabrice Marguerie has a good article on MSDN about how to find and plug memory leaks in .NET applications. The article is oriented around WinForms applications, but the techniques and issues described are pertinent to any .NET application.

Parallel programming patterns in .NET 4

Stephen Toub, of the Parallel Computing Platform team at Microsoft, has put together a paper detailing common parallel programming patterns and how to implement them in .NET 4 using the new parallel components.

RedGate’s ANTS Memory Profiler looks quite interesting

I recently saw a short demo of RedGate Software’s ANTS Memory Profiler, and it looked very good. The demo showed how to track down a memory leak. I hope to be able to take a closer look at ANTS in a few months and offer a complete report.

.NET 4 to replace Code Access Security (CAS)

And not a moment too soon — the CAS system was positively arcane, awful, and frustrating. InfoQ has the details, as well as information on the replacement.

Events and education

EclipseCon 2010 calls for speakers

EclipseCon 2010 is looking for speakers on the following topics:

  • Making with Eclipse
  • Making at Eclipse
  • Making community

Python Software Foundation announces community service awards

The Python Software Foundation recognized Noufal Ibrahim and Barry Warsaw for their contributions to the Python community. Good job, guys!

ACM names its 2009 Distinguished Members

The ACM added 84 distinguished members to its rolls.

J.Ja

Disclosure of Justin’s industry affiliations: Justin James has a contract with Spiceworks to write product buying guides. He is also under contract to OpenAmplify, which is owned by Hapax, to write a series of blogs, tutorials, and other articles.

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