application development - News, Features, and Slideshows

News

• Wanted: heroic programmers or high-level APIs

  Multicore computing is progressing so fast that it's difficult to forecast "what tomorrow may bring", says Barbara Chapman of the University of Houston, Texas.

• Xamarin 2.0 lets you develop Android and iOS apps in Visual Studio

  Companies can create software in either C# or Visual Basic and translate it into native Android or iOS, with the new version 2.0 of Xamarin's multi-platform development kit.

• Programming ability is the new digital divide: Berners-Lee

  Web inventor Sir Tim Berners-Lee says all school students should be given some hands-on experience of programming, to provide a critical mass of enthusiastic and competent programmers to stem the current shortage of developers.

• Computer science leader Jim Horning dies at 70

  James "Jim" Horning, described by the Association for Computing Machinery (ACM) as "a leading figure in the evolution of computer science as a discipline and a profession, " has died at the age of 70 in Palo Alto.

• HTML5 is now feature-complete; here's what comes next

  The World Wide Web Consortium has a roster of proposed enhancements, including better forms, spell checking, and video captioning

• Juniper buys SDN startup for $176M

  Juniper Networks this week acquired Contrail Systems, a startup that makes controllers for software-defined networks, for $176 million in cash and stock.

• VMware makes a play for developers with Pivotal Initiative

  Pivotal Initiative lumps multiple app dev, big data, and cloud efforts under a single umbrella

• RIM preps developers for BlackBerry 10 QWERTY smartphone

  Research In Motion has introduced the BlackBerry Dev Alpha C, a smartphone developers can use to test their applications and get ready for the launch of the BlackBerry 10 QWERTY device next year. The company also said developers will be able to trade their Alpha devices for a fully functional limited edition BlackBerry 10 smartphone.

• Microsoft releases Windows Phone 8 SDK

  One day after the launch of its next generation mobile operating system, Windows Phone 8, Microsoft has released the SDK (software development kit) that will allow programmers to write applications for the new platform.

• Oracle demands January trial in Google-Android case

  Google and Oracle continue to differ over when their lawsuit over alleged Java intellectual property violations in the Android mobile OS should begin, according to a joint filing the companies made late Monday in U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California.

• Microsoft ships Silverlight 5

  Even as questions remain about Microsoft's commitment to its Silverlight rich Internet plug-in platform, the company made available on Friday version 5 of the technology, featuring a variety of new capabilities.

• IT's most wanted: Mainframe programmers

  Before tablets, smartphones, and PCs became prominent, "big iron" mainframes led down the path to computing, becoming a staple of enterprise business worldwide several decades ago.

• Google Translate glitch opens security hole

  Developers moving to the upcoming paid version of <a href="http://www.networkworld.com/community/blog/google-uncorks-iphone-language-translation-ap">Google Translate</a> need to follow the documentation so their implementation of the package doesn't lead them to paying for someone else's use of the platform.

• Touch-oriented apps: A developer's guide

  It's no secret that more and more people are opting for touch-based smartphones and tablets as their computers of choice: iPads, iPhones, Androids, now BlackBerrys, and soon <a href="http://www.infoworld.com/d/mobile-technology/watch-out-apple-windows-8-could-trump-the-ipad-172971">Windows 8 PCs and tablets</a>. For developers, touch-based systems means grasping a whole new set of guidelines, including understanding their audience's new context and careful interface design, say prominent developers in the touch space.

• iPhone apps: A DIY skill that's in big demand

  <a href="https://www.networkworld.com/slideshows/2010/120101-iphone-quiz.html">iPhone</a> developers are in demand across the United States and Canada, causing salaries to skyrocket for those with experience creating complex, mobile <a href="http://www.networkworld.com/topics/applications.html">applications</a> on <a href="http://www.networkworld.com/slideshows/2009/060309-apple-quiz.html">Apple</a>'s iOS platform.