This introductory chapter of my new book on the nature of programming is aimed at programmers and non-programmers alike. In this extract we look at what makes a language "big" enough to do the job.

You’ve successfully created an eCommerce store, and customers have begun to visit your website. However, despite the constant traffic, the site’s conversion rate isn’t great. 

A survey of cannabis use by programmers reveals that over a third had tried programming while using cannabis and almost one in five do so at least once a month, motivated by perceived enhancement to their ability to get into a programming zone. 

Micronaut, the JVM-based polyglot framework for building microservices applications in Java, Kotlin and Groovy has reached version 3. 2. Before we look at what's new, let's first take a look at what the framework does differently.

Ruby on Rails has been updated to version 7 with major improvements that the developers say is the fulfillment of a vision to present a truly full-stack approach to web development that tackles both the front- and back-end challenges with equal vigor.

Wing Python has been updated with improvements including better debug stepping & exception handling in async coroutines & generators and better debugging, analysis and project creation for Django.

The first preview of Go 1.18 has been released with new support for generic code using parameterized types. The developers say generics are the most significant change to Go since the release of Go 1, and the largest single language change they’ve ever made.

Apple has released Swift Playgrounds 4. Playgrounds is an app for iPad and Mac designed to help people learn to code and build iOS apps using Swift, Apple's language that was originally developed as an alternative language to Objective C.

Not really random. Not even pseudo random, more stuff that caught my attention and that I, for one, would like to be given. And, yes, if I'm not given them, I'd probably buy some of these.

Deno, the company behind the JavaScript and TypeScript runtime developed by the creator of Node.js, has joined the TC39 group of EMCA International, the standards organization that is responsible for the JavaScript standard.

Kubernetes provides an efficient, robust, and feature-rich platform to orchestrate containers at any scale. However, if not managed properly, Kubernetes can easily become unwieldy regardless of whether you are using a managed or a self-hosted Kubernetes cluster. We look at some of the tools and services that are available for Kubernetes monitoring.

The OSS Good Governance Handbook is intended as guide for enterprises that fosters proper use of open source software as well as safeguarding businesses from technical, legal and IP threats.

Microsoft has announced new modules for the Azure SDK Resource Management Libraries for JavaScript and Go. The modules are designed to provide an improved developer experience, and are grouped into management and client modules.