News (46)

Getting ready for the Python breakage

If Google starts behaving oddly later this year, it might not be due to too many YouTube videos of Britney Spears losing it or a stealth attack by Microsoft's minions, but because of a forthcoming change to the Python programming language. Read more »

Perl language gets a revamp

The Perl Foundation last week released the latest version of the programming language, Perl 5.10. Read more »

Spinning mass stores datacentre energy

Storing energy in moving objects could be the next big thing for datacentres looking to renewable energy. Read more »

Online Photoshop beta due this year

Adobe Systems has announced that it will ship a beta version of its Photoshop Express online editing tool by the end of this year, with the full product to be complete sometime in 2008. Read more »

Intel to build flash drives into servers

Intel will begin building flash-memory drives into servers in 2008, starting with 32GB models that the company promises will boost system performance. Read more »

Windows Vista SP1 weighs in at 1GB

Microsoft will release the first service pack for Windows Vista in Q1 2008 and the company has revealed that test versions of the update are currently 1GB; Redmond also admitted it is working on Windows XP SP3. Read more »

Ubuntu prepares Gutsy Gibbon

Latest alpha release of the Linux distribution shows off some major enhancements planned for the launch in October Read more »

Microsoft DRM cracked, Zune freed

The digital rights management (DRM) software used by Microsoft to 'protect' music files so they can only be played using Windows Media Player, has once again been broken. Read more »

Europa eclipses Callisto in Friday's overhaul

The Eclipse framework and 20 of its applications will be updated at the end of this week when Europa replaces Callisto. Read more »

Linux coders join green revolution

Programmers have begun serious work to cut consumption, extend PC Linux battery life and ease server costs. Read more »

Features (423)

Analyse your managed .NET code with FxCop

Check your .NET code for bugs and compare it against Microsoft's design guidelines via the freely available FxCop. Learn more about this code analysis tool. Read more »

Choose your own version of serialisation in Java

When you attempt to recreate an object from serialised data, if the current class's version doesn't match the version number found in the serialised data, then an InvalidClassException will be thrown. Read this Java tip to discover how you can prevent this error. Read more »

Mono 2.0: .NET goes non-Windows

We interview Miguel de Icaza, VP of Development Platforms and a founder of Mono to find out what is and is not included in the latest release. Read more »

Build an AIR application for your website

Adobe AIR brings web technologies to the desktop through the integration of the Webkit rendering engine in a Flash-style desktop-based runtime. AIR applications running on HTML, CSS and Javascript can interact with the local file system, manipulate local SQL databases and even use AJAX on any domain. Read more »

First impressions of ASP.NET's MVC framework

Find out why you may want to use Microsoft's Model View Controller (MVC) framework instead of Web Forms. Read more »

Parse mathematical expressions with JEP

JEP is a Java mathematical expression parser. This means that you can pass JEP a string of mathematical operations (which may also contain variables) to perform and get back an answer. Read more »

Try command-line looping for added efficiency

Using loops, you can take often-used commands that would normally be executed in sequence manually, and have them done automatically. This article tells you what you need to know about getting started with loops. Read more »

How do I ... convert images to greyscale and sepia tone using C#?

The Microsoft .NET Framework provides developers with many different libraries that enable them to create and modify images. This article demonstrates two methods for converting an image to grayscale and sepia-tone using built-in .NET Framework functionality from C#. Read more »

Unit testing options for JavaScript

Unit testing is different from traditional testing because it is performed by the developer and not a tester. This article provides an overview of several options for unit testing client-side JavaScript code. Read more »

Print on all Java platforms with JPS

Java Print Service (JPS) allows you to print even on very size-limited platforms such as J2ME; it also supports standard Java 2D graphics. Learn how to organise printing with this API. Read more »

Blog (5)

Install usability practices in your shop with Silverback

Brendon Chase [blogs:codemonkeybusiness] -- Getting started with usability testing doesn't require an expensive lab full of equipment and science nerds in white coats to poke and prod your users. Cheap and accessible software is readily available to help your team create better software for end-users. Read more »

Bloated code is bad for working families

Staff [blogs:syslog] -- It's hard to argue with large and bloated as adjectives, but streamlined is debatable. MinWin comes in at a hefty 25MB and for that price you don't even get graphical output. Read more »

Try… Catch… Win!

David McAmis [blogs:theneteffect] -- As a .NET developer, there are a few “best practices” that you should always consider. And one of the biggest is that every application you write should include error trapping to trap critical and non-critical errors that may occur. And the .NET framework makes it easy to use “Try… Catch” statements to intercept any errors that occur and allow you to handle the exception. Read more »

Google destroys Security Through Obscurity

Chris Duckett [blogs:betaliving] -- Google Labs' new Code Search makes it easier for hackers to find database username and password details by entering strings that are commonly used within configuration files. Read more »

Data dumps are the dumps

David McAmis [blogs:theneteffect] -- I have recently spend a considerable amount of time on a project replacing an old mainframe system with a new web-based application. Read more »

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  • Staff Crying, mooning and leaving

    In this week's roundup we see that continuous whining can get results, Linux users get 64-bit Flash and Moonlight previews, the latest in the Yahoo/Microsoft relationship and Senator Conroy ducks and weave in Senate Question Time. Read more »

    -- posted by Staff

  • Brendon Chase Sun eye Web developers with Netbeans 6.5

    Despite the recent employment axe hitting Sun the company has pushed out a new release of its Netbeans open source IDE with an eye to appeal more to Web developers. Read more »

    -- posted by Brendon Chase

  • Renai LeMay BarCamp buzz: Let the hacking continue

    Attending last weekend's BarCamp in Sydney, it was hard to escape the conclusion that a certain "dot-com bust" flavour had seeped into the kool aid previously being drunk by Australia's web 2.0 and early stage start-up sector. Read more »

    -- posted by Renai LeMay

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