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WebAssembly was created to build applications for browsers, but it's increasingly finding a home in cloud computing centers. FOR PROGRAMMERS, BUILDING   a new application is never as simple as writing the code. That's because most software depends on other software, such as database management systems, to work. Just because an application works on your laptop doesn't mean it will work well on your company's data center, which might lack some of the software it depends on. Investors have poured hundreds of millions of dollars into startups like  HashiCorp  and GitLab that try to streamline the process of getting applications ready to run in data centers. One of the most prominent of these is  Docker , which popularized "containers," a technology that makes it easier to bundle up software to run in the cloud. But Docker cofounder Solomon Hykes believes the technology he built the company around will soon be eclipsed by a newer technology for building portable ap

A  software programmer  is expected to practice good coding habits to ensure every code is optimized, error-free, readable and self-explanatory. Just like mathematics, programming also has certain formulas which escort to productive results. Therefore, some practices in coding, if approached correctly, can give a common ground to programmers for creating understandable codes. Mentioned below are some suggestions for good  coding practices  that the community of developers should follow- 1. Follow naming conventions Under naming conventions, style of writing has importance. The code-writing style must incorporate features such as capitalization, punctuation, identifiers and symbols. For better understanding, compare how “Variable Name” can be written in both camel case and snake case writing styles. Camel case - variableName Snake case – variable_name In essence, naming conventions set boundaries that enable coders to write and understand codes effectively. 2. Keep the code simple Devel

The long-awaited new version of Ethereum’s decentralised platform is close, with its deposit contract expected to launch this week. Ben Edgington, a developer at Ethereum-focused software company ConsenSys, posted  a blog post  this week in which he said: “As I understand it, we are good to go: deposit contract in the next few days; beacon chain genesis 6-8 weeks later.” Edgington adds the disclaimer that it’s not an official statement. Ethereum 2.0 is well overdue after originally being slated for release back in January. The update is also becoming increasingly needed due to an explosion in DeFi (Decentralised Finance) causing rocketing fees and slow transaction speeds. A concerning setback occurred just weeks ago after an Ethereum 2.0 testnet failed to launch following consensus issue related to client bugs. Those bugs have now been squashed and the launch of Ethereum 2.0 should now be close. Edgington highlights in his post that the Medalla testnet is suffering from low participati

Dojo Toolkit version 7 is now available. The widely used, mature JavaScript framework favored by enterprise shops gains more features for developer productivity. The team behind the Dojo Toolkit JavaScript framework has released Dojo 7, marking the 16th year of the venerable toolkit's existence. Dojo 7 targets developers building modern web apps using  TypeScript , the open source superset of JavaScript. The framework helps developers build simple static websites as well as enterprise-scale reactive web applications, said Dylan Schiemann, co-creator of Dojo and CEO of Living Specification, a startup that offers a SaaS platform for writing software specifications. Dojo is an  OpenJS Foundation  Impact Project, putting it among the largest and most mature ones hosted there. The Dojo 7 release adds more than 20 new widgets, including data-aware widgets, widgets for building column layouts and widgets for such things as cards, forms and passwords to help developers build applications f

  Kotlin , the JetBrains-developed, statically typed language for JVM, Android, and web development, is due for a compiler rewrite, multiplatform mobile improvements, and a Kotlin-to-WebAssembly compiler back end, according to a public roadmap for the platform. Unveiled October 5, the  roadmap  covers priorities for the language, which received a strategic boost in 2017 when  Google backed it for building Android mobile apps , alongside Java and C++. The compiler rewrite, noted on the roadmap as a key priority, would emphasize speed, parallelism, unification, and, ultimately, pluggability. Plans also call for having the  new compiler compile itself . The current compiler would continue to be  maintained for bug-fixing . The roadmap addresses primary areas the team is working on, without committing to delivering features or fixes in specific versions. It spans a six-month time frame and will be updated every three months. Another priority, Kotlin multiplatform mobile, calls for improvin

As any JavaScript framework community grows, it becomes difficult to navigate which avenues developers have to look for solutions to problems they have encountered.   FeathersJS   has continually been at the forefront of JavaScript discussions since its inception, as illustrated in the annual   State of JS   survey. We created   FeathersJS Resources   as a hub, or rather a starting point, to assist people in the Feathers community find what they may be searching for. There are many resource lists available, however, we noticed a lacking of curated examples. Our goal with this list is to provide  an up-to-date account of which libraries are maintained, projects are active, and examples of FeathersJS in the wild . Our general rules for curation are as follows: projects on  npm  must have been published in the past two years; projects on  GitHub  must have been updated in the past two years; projects should be well documented; articles and tutorials should be topical to the FeathersJS com

First empirical study on how users pay visual attention to mobile app designs shows larger and brighter elements don't catch our eyes after all. As part of an international collaboration, Aalto University researchers have shown that our common understanding of what attracts visual attention to screens, in fact, does not transfer to mobile applications. Despite the widespread use of mobile phones and tablets in our everyday lives, this is the first study to empirically test how users' eyes follow commonly used mobile app elements. Previous work on what attracts visual attention, or visual saliency, has centered on desktop and web-interfaces. 'Apps appear differently on a phone than on a desktop computer or browser: they're on a smaller screen which simply fits fewer elements and, instead of a horizontal view, mobile devices typically use a vertical layout. Until now it was unclear how these factors would affect how apps actually attract our eyes,' explains Aalto Univ