Technology

Visual Studio Code 1.89, the April 2024 release of Microsoft’s popular code editor, has arrived with capabilities including enhanced branch switching and middle-click paste support.

The update, downloadable from the project website, was announced May 2. Enhanced branch switching addressed a long-standing feature request to save and restore editors when switching between source control branches. Developers can use the scm.workingSets.enabled setting to enable this capability.

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Rust 1.78, just released as the latest version of the popular, memory-safe programming language, adds backing for a #[diagnostic] attribute namespace to influence compiler messages.

These messages are treated as hints that the compiler is not required to use, the Rust team said. Also it is not an error to provide a diagnostic that the compiler does not recognize. The feature is designed to allow source code to provide diagnostics even when they are not supported by all compilers.

Announced May 2, Rust 1.78 can be installed via rustup:

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As a seasoned advocate and expert in cloud computing and generative AI, I’ve observed the immense transformative potential these technologies offer. Yet, we’re doing things just as stupidly as we did in the early days of cloud computing.

If you have not noticed lately, enterprises are running around in circles to fix mistakes they made 10 years ago in migrating and building new cloud-based systems. Repatriation is shorthand for “whoops!” The lack of planning and understanding has led to huge bills that nobody expected, and CIOs are attempting to mitigate. This means instead of focusing on innovation, we’re looping back to fix things after the fact.

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ASP.NET Core offers a simplified hosting model, called minimal APIs, that allows us to build lightweight APIs with minimal dependencies. However, “minimal” doesn’t mean minimal security. Minimal APIs need authentication too.

We’ve explored JWT authentication in an earlier post here. In this article we’ll examine how we can build a basic authentication handler for minimal APIs in ASP.NET Core. Below we’ll implement a basic authentication handler that will identify and authenticate the user. Because we will validate the user’s identity using credentials stored in a database, we will make use of Entity Framework Core. 

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Microsoft has introduced TypeSpec, a language for API-centric development.

Unveiled April 25, TypeSpec is designed to meet the needs of API developers, managers, and architects in an environment where delivering high-quality APIs and related experiences has become increasingly critical and complex, Microsoft said. The company described TypeSpec as a lightweight language that describes APIs using any protocol or serialization format and encapsulates common data types, API patterns, and API guidelines into high level, reusable components. It can define complex data and API shapes with minimal types. 

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MongoDB has made Atlas Stream Processing, a new capability it trailed last June, generally available, it announced at its MongoDB.local event in New York City.

It added  Atlas Stream processing to its NoSQL Atlas database-as-a-service (DBaaS) in order to help enterprises manage real-time streaming data from multiple sources in a single interface.

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Oracle is making the latest long-term support release version of its database offering — Database 23c — generally available for enterprises under the name Oracle Database 23ai.

The change in nomenclature can be attributed to the addition of new features to the database that are expected to help with AI-based application development among other tasks, the company said.

Database 23c, showcased for the first time at the company’s annual event in 2022, was released to developers in early 2023 before being released to enterprises, marking a shift in the company’s tradition for the first time.

Stiff competition from database rivals forced Oracle to shift its strategy for its databases business in favor of developers, who could offer the company a much-needed impetus for growth.

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Responsible AI (RAI) is needed now more than ever. It is the key to driving everything from trust and adoption, to managing LLM hallucinations and eliminating toxic generative AI content. With effective RAI, companies can innovate faster, transform more parts of the business, comply with future AI regulation, and prevent fines, reputational damage, and competitive stagnation. 

Unfortunately, confusion reigns as to what RAI actually is, what it delivers, and how to achieve it, with potentially catastrophic effects. Done poorly, RAI initiatives stymie innovation, creating hurdles that add delays and costs without actually improving safety. Well-meaning, but misguided, myths abound regarding the very definition and purpose of RAI. Organizations must shatter these myths if we are to turn RAI into a force for AI-driven value creation, instead of a costly, ineffectual time sink.

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How do we ensure that the code we’re installing is, at the very least, the code that a vendor shipped? The generally accepted solution is code signing, adding a digital signature to binaries that can be used to ensure authorship. At the same time, the signature includes a hash that can be used to show that the code you’ve received hasn’t been altered after it’s been signed.

Code signing is increasingly important as part of ensuring software bills of materials and reducing the risks associated with malware hijacking legitimate binaries. Signing is necessary if you’re planning on using services like the Microsoft Store or the Windows Package Manager to distribute your applications, allowing the repository to verify software sources.

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Developers often need to perform programming operations such as retrieving the current date, manipulating dates, and formatting dates in their applications. While Java's traditional java.util.Calendar class had its day, the newer LocalDate class does more with significantly fewer lines of code. This article introduces you to LocalDate and the java.time API for using dates, times, and durations in your programs.

Note: Introduced in Java 8, java.time standardizes many elements of the popular Joda-Time library. Concepts introduced here can be applied to either library but the JDK standard is generally recommended.

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Svelte 5, a planned update to the reactive UI framework, has reached the release candidate phase. No breaking changes are anticipated between now and the stable release.

The release candidate was announced on April 30. It features a rewrite of Svelte to be faster, easier to use, and more robust. Runes, a signal-powered reactivity API, is a highlight of this release. Runes promises to unlock universal, fine-grained reactivity, the Svelte team said.

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Along with releasing Python specialists, Google also has laid off Flutter and Dart teams according to various reports.

Google did not respond this morning to InfoWorld's inquiry about Flutter and Dart layoffs. But comments were circulating online about staff reductions at Google. Flutter is an open source framework for building multi-platform applications from a single codebase. Dart, a language leveraged by Flutter, was once positioned as a rival to JavaScript.

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Java 17, a Long Term Support (LTS) version of the Java language released in September 2021, has become the most-used Java LTS version, according to New Relic’s 2024 State of the Java Ecosystem report, published April 30. Java 21, an LTS version released in 2023, also is seeing higher adoption.

More than 35% of applications are using Java 17 in production this year, compared to 9.1% in 2023, observability provider New Relic reported. Java 17, also known as JDK 17, has overtaken Java 11, from September 2018, as the most-used LTS version. The adoption rate of Java 21, though, was 287% higher in the first six months after its release than that of Java 17, New Relic said.

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MongoDB has introduced the MongoDB AI Applications Program, or MAAP, to help enterprises jumpstart their development of generative AI applications.

MAAP, according to the company, will offer enterprises strategic advice, professional services, and an integrated end-to-end technology stack from MongoDB and its partners.

These partners include consultancies, foundation model (FM) providers, cloud infrastructure providers, and generative AI framework and model hosting providers including Anthropic, Anyscale, Amazon Web Services (AWS), Cohere, Credal.ai, Fireworks.ai, Google Cloud, gravity9, LangChain, LlamaIndex, Microsoft Azure, Nomic, PeerIslands, Pureinsights, and Together AI.

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Rust offers programmers a way to write memory-safe software without garbage collection, running at machine-native speed. It's also a complex language to master, with a fairly steep initial learning curve. Here are five gotchas, snags, and traps to watch for when you're getting your footing with Rust—and for more seasoned Rust developers, too.

• You can't 'toggle off' the borrow checker
• Don't use '_' for variables you want to bind
• Closures don't have the same lifetime rules as functions
• Destructors don't always run when a borrow expires
• Beware of unsafe things and unbounded lifetimes
• .unwrap() surrenders error-handling control

Ownership, borrowing, and lifetimes are baked into Rust. They're an integral part of how the language maintains memory safety without garbage collection.

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JavaScript statements control the overall flow of JavaScript programs. Statements are used to declare variables and manage iterative processes, and they can also be used to declare classes and functions.

Unlike properties, methods, and events, which are inseparable from the object that owns them, statements work independently. That means you can use a statement in any context, whether you're programming a client-side or server-side application. As a language, JavaScript supports relatively few statements—just enough to construct functional applications.

An earlier version of this article was written by Gordon McComb and published on JavaWorld. Matthew Tyson updated the article with newer syntax and code examples in May 2024.

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• GCHQ: No more default passwords for consumer IoT devices!
• What happened with Chrome and 3rd-party cookies?
• Race conditions and multi-threading
• GM "accidentally" enrolled millions into "OnStar Smart Driver +" program
• Steve recommends Ryk Brown's "Frontiers Saga"
• SpinRite update
• Passkeys: A Shattered Dream?

Show Notes - https://www.grc.com/sn/SN-972-Notes.pdf

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Userware has released OpenSilver 2.2, an update to the company’s open-source replacement for Microsoft’s Silverlight rich internet application framework. This release lets legacy Visual Studio LightSwitch applications run on modern browsers via a compatibility pack.

OpenSilver 2.2 and the LightSwitch Compatibility Pack were announced April 30. Developers can download OpenSilver 2.2 and sign up for a trial of LightSwitch Compatibility Pack. With the Userware updates, Lightswitch applications can be ported without rewriting them.

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Amazon Web Services (AWS) on Tuesday said that it was making its generative AI-powered coding assistant Amazon Q Developer generally available.

Introduced as the evolution of Amazon CodeWhisperer at AWS re:Invent in November, Amazon Q will compete with rival offerings such as GitHub Copilot, Gemini Code Assist, and IBM’s Watsonx Code Assistant, AWS said.

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Data has the potential to provide transformative business insights across various industries, yet harnessing that data presents significant challenges. Many businesses struggle with data overload, with vast amounts of data that are siloed and underutilized. How can organizations deal with large and growing volumes of data without sacrificing performance and operational efficiency? Another challenge is extracting insights from complex data. Traditionally, this work has required significant technical expertise, restricting access to specialized data scientists and analysts. 

Recent AI breakthroughs in natural language processing are democratizing data access, enabling a wider range of users to query and interpret complex data sets. This broadened access helps organizations make informed decisions swiftly, capitalizing on the capability of AI copilots to process and analyze large-scale data in real time. AI copilots can also curb the high costs associated with managing large data sets by automating complex data processes and empowering less technical staff to undertake sophisticated data analysis, thus optimizing overall resource allocation.

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