State of Software Security v12: Don’t become complacent, but we’ve come a long way

Veracode’s latest State of Software Security report highlights that applications are, on average, more secure than ever.

Getting the negatives out the way first, the report warns about the devastating “domino effect” that one vulnerability can have on software across the globe.

One clear example of this in action was the SolarWinds attack in which hackers inserted malicious code into the company’s Orion software. Every company and organisation using Orion was...

8 February 2022 | Developer

Déjà vu: Python wins TIOBE Programming Language of the Year

According to TIOBE, Python was the programming language that stole developers’ hearts in 2021.

It’s the second time in a row that Python has been crowned the TIOBE Programming Language of the Year.

Last month, TIOBE Software CEO Paul Jansen floated the possibility that C# may take the crown for the first time after posting the highest rating growth (+2.21%) in the top 20 of the TIOBE Index in December.

"It is interesting to note that C# has never won the...

4 January 2022 | Languages

2021 Stack Overflow Survey: React.js takes the web framework crown, Python is in-demand, and devs still love Rust

The 2021 edition of Stack Overflow’s developer survey features both substantial changes in the landscape while other elements have remained stubbornly resilient.

In a blog post, Stack Overflow’s Ben Popper and David Gibson wrote:

“This year’s survey was a little different than ones in years past. We opened our 2020 survey in February, and by the time we got around to publishing the results, the reality of work and daily life had shifted dramatically for people...

3 August 2021 | Development Tools

Google announces raft of Play Store security policy updates

Google has announced a number of changes to its Play Store security policies that will come into effect over the coming year.

Starting in September, a new section will be added to Google’s Enforcement policy that will mean inactive or otherwise abandoned developer accounts will be closed after one year of dormancy.

October will see various policies introduced on different dates.

On 15 October, the Device and Network Abuse policy will be clarified to prohibit...

30 July 2021 | Android

Python’s creator shares his thoughts on Rust, Go, Julia, and TypeScript

Python creator Guido van Rossum has shared his thoughts on some of those other programming languages making the rounds.

The “benevolent dictator” himself shared his views in an hour-long interview with Microsoft Principal Cloud Advocate Manager Francesca Lazzeri.

“I love languages, at least in theory,” says Van Rossum. “I always read language tutorials but I’m very bad at actually sort of downloading a language implementation and try to code something because...

24 May 2021 | Go

IBM brings Python data science platform Anaconda to Linux

IBM is bringing the Python data science platform Anaconda to the company’s LinuxONE and IBM Z customers.

Anaconda is the world's most popular Python distribution platform and boasts over 25 million users worldwide. Today’s announcement is the latest part of IBM’s effort to bring popular data science frameworks and libraries to its enterprise platforms.

Barry Baker, VP of Product Management for IBM Z & LinuxONE, wrote in a blog post:

“Data scientists...

18 May 2021 | Artificial Intelligence

SlashData: JavaScript and Python boast largest developer communities

A new report from SlashData highlights the huge growth in the global developer community over the past six months.

The developer economy research specialists estimate there are now 24.3 million global developers, as of Q1 2021. This has increased by around 14 percent from 21.3 million in October 2020.

JavaScript continues to attract new developers with around 1.4 million more than six months ago. The language also has, by some distance, the largest developer community at...

27 April 2021 | Java

Happy 30th birthday Python: Why the language is a favourite to so many

February 20 2021 marks 30 years since the Python programming language was launched by its creator, Guido von Rossum. It is known as an incredibly versatile language, used in developing some of the most popular web applications, from Instagram to Dropbox. At the same time, it is a gateway language for many who are first being introduced to the world of software development. It is frequently taught to schoolchildren and people worldwide who lack any prior programming...

22 February 2021 | Development Tools

O’Reilly: Python leads languages, React for web development, and ML/AI interest grows

Education giant O’Reilly has released data about its online platform which highlights some interesting software development trends.

The headline finding is that Python continues to be the programming language with the most interest.

Given the growth in topics relating to Python such as AI – and the language often considered the best to pick up for new developers – it’ll perhaps come of little surprise to hear of its popularity.

O’Reilly highlights...

27 January 2021 | JavaScript

Brain activity while coding differs from processing language or doing maths

Neuroscientists from MIT have discovered that brain activity while coding differs from processing language or doing mathematics.

Coding is often likened to learning a new foreign language—and there are certainly many similarities. To the brain itself, however, it seems to be quite different.

The researchers took fMRI brain scans of young adults taking part in a small coding challenge using both Python and visual programming language ScratchJr to see what parts of their...

4 January 2021 | Languages