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What does the phrase "a manager" really mean anyway? This phrase means different things to different people and is often overused for the position which nearly matches an analyst-level profile! This term, although common, is worth defining what it really means, especially in the context of software development. This article is an excerpt from the book The Successful Software Manager written by an internationally experienced IT manager, Herman Fung. This book is a comprehensive and practical guide to managing software developers, software customers, and explores the process of deciding what software needs to be built, not how to build it. In this article, we’ll look into aspects you must be aware of before making the move to become a manager in the software industry. A simple distinction I once used to illustrate the difference between an analyst and a manager is that while an analyst identifies, collects, and analyzes information, a manager uses this analysis and makes decisions, or more accurately, is responsible and accountable for the decisions they make. The structure of software companies is now enormously diverse and varies a lot from one to another, which has an obvious impact on how the manager’s role and their responsibilities are defined, which will be unique to each company. Even within the same company, it's subject to change from time to time, as the company itself changes. Broadly speaking, a manager within software development can be classified into three categories, as we will now discuss: Team Leader/Manager This role is often a lead developer who also doubles up as the team spokesperson and single point of contact. They'll typically be the most senior and knowledgeable member of a small group of developers, who work on the same project, product, and technology. There is often a direct link between each developer in the team and their code, which means the team manager has a direct responsibility to ensure the product as a whole works. Usually, the team manager is also asked to fulfill the people management duties, such as performance reviews and appraisals, and day-to-day HR responsibilities. Development/Delivery Manager This person could be either a techie or a non-techie. They will have a good understanding of the requirements, design, code, and end product. They will manage running workshops and huddles to facilitate better overall team working and delivery. This role may include setting up visual aids, such as team/project charts or boards. In a matrix management model, where developers and other experts are temporarily asked to work in project teams, the development manager will not be responsible for HR and people management duties. Project Manager This person is most probably a non-techie, but there are exceptions, and this could be a distinct advantage on certain projects. Most importantly, a project manager will be process-focused and output-driven and will focus on distributing tasks to individuals. They are not expected to jump in to solve technical problems, but they are responsible for ensuring that the proper resources are available, while managing expectations. Specifically, they take part in managing the project budget, timeline, and risks. They should also be aware of the political landscape and management agenda within the organization to be able to navigate through them. The project manager ensures the project follows the required methodology or process framework mandated by the Project Management Office (PMO). They will not have people-management responsibilities for project team members. Agile practitioner As with all roles in today's world of tech, these categories will vary and overlap. They can even be held by the same person, which is becoming an increasingly common trait. They are also constantly evolving, which exemplifies the need to learn and grow continually, regardless of your role or position. If you are a true Agile practitioner, you may have issues in choosing these generalized categories, (Team Leader, Development Manager and Project Manager)  and you'd be right to do so! These categories are most applicable to an organization that practises the traditional Waterfall model. Without diving into the everlasting Waterfall vs Agile debate, let's just say that these are the categories that transcend any methodologies. Even if they're not referred to by these names, they are the roles that need to be performed, to varying degrees, at various times. For completeness, it is worth noting one role specific to Agile, that is being a scrum master. Scrum master A scrum master is a role often compared – rightly or wrongly – with that of the project manager. The key difference is that their focus is on facilitation and coaching, instead of organizing and control. This difference is as much of a mindset as it is a strict practice, and is often referred to as being attributes of Servant Leadership. I believe a good scrum master will show traits of a good project manager at various times, and vice versa. This is especially true in ensuring that there is clear communication at all times and the team stays focused on delivering together. Yet, as we look back at all these roles, it's worth remembering that with the advent of new disciplines such as big data, blockchain, artificial intelligence, and machine learning, there are new categories and opportunities to move from a developer role into a management position, for example, as an algorithm manager or data manager. Transitioning, growing, progressing, or simply changing from a developer to a manager is a wonderfully rewarding journey that is unique to everyone. After clarifying what being a “modern manager" really means, and the broad categories applicable in software development (Team / Development / Project / Agile), the overarching and often key consideration for developers is whether it means they will be managing people and writing less code. In this article, we looked into different leadership roles that are available for developers for their career progression plan. Develop crucial skills to enhance your performance and advance your career with The Successful Software Manager written by Herman Fung. “Developers don’t belong on a pedestal, they’re doing a job like everyone else” – April Wensel on toxic tech culture and Compassionate Coding [Interview] Curl’s lead developer announces Google’s “plan to reimplement curl in Libcrurl” ‘I code in my dreams too’, say developers in Jetbrains State of Developer Ecosystem 2019 Survey

The internet was ablaze when Evan You, creator of Vue, published an RFC to introduce a function-based component API earlier this month. This followed a huge discussion in the Vue community on whether such an API is really needed. https://twitter.com/youyuxi/status/1137567675356291072 This proposal came after Evan You previewed an experimental Hooks API back in November at Vue Conf Toronto 2018. Why Vue needs a function-based component API Components help you to abstract your code into smaller pieces. This gives your web applications a better structure, makes the code more readable and understandable and most importantly enables you to reuse logic across multiple components. According to the RFC, the components API in Vue 2.x has some drawbacks in terms of reusability. The three common patterns that are generally used to achieve reusability in Vue are mixins, high-order components, and renderless components. Each of these come with their share of drawbacks: Mixins bring implicit dependencies in code, causes name clashes, and make your code harder to understand. HOCs can often be verbose, involve lots of passing props and hoisting statics, and can cause name conflicts. Renderless components require extra stateful component instances that come at the cost of performance. This function-based component API aims to address all these drawbacks. Inspired by React Hooks, its objective is to provide developers a “clean and flexible way” to compose logic and share it between components. The team plans to achieve this by moving the logic code to a "composition function" and returning reactive state. Another motivation behind this proposed change is to provide better built-in TypeScript type inference support as function-based APIs are naturally type-friendly. Also, code written with function-based APIs compresses better than an object or class-based code. What Vue developers think about this RFC? The Vue community was a little taken aback with this proposal that will essentially change the way they used to write Vue. They were concerned that this will take away the most desirable property of Vue, which is its simplicity. Vue’s class-based API made it easy to understand and get started with. However, bringing function-based API to Vue will complex things in exchange for very fewer advantages. Some argued that this change will make it another React. “Like a lot of others here, I chose Vue vs React for the simplicity and readability of code. The class-based API was easy to understand and pick up. If I wanted React, I would have just chosen React from the beginning. I get that there are some technical advantages to doing this, but Vue 3 is starting to really turn me off of staying with Vue going forward,” a developer shared on a Reddit thread. Developers were concerned that the time they have invested in learning Vue will go to waste as everything is about to change. A Vue developer commented on Reddit, “You learn to do something one way and then they change it up on you. Might as well just switch to react at this point.” Many compared this scenario to that of Angular 1->2 or Python 2->3 and suggested switching to Svelte to avoid the mess. Some, however, liked the syntax and are looking forward to playing around with the API.  A developer shared, “But I read through, checked out the new (simpler) example, read Evan's arguments about logical task grouping, and on a second read with a more open mind, I actually kind of like the new syntax and am now looking forward to trying it out. I'm glad they agreed to keep the object syntax around though.” How the Vue team responded When the RFC was first published it implied that the current API will be deprecated in a future major release. Also, there was a lot of confusion around the "compatibility" and "stable" build.  Many developers felt that this RFC is already “set in stone” from the way it was communicated. They felt that the core team has already decided to bring this API to Vue without community consultation. So, one of the reasons behind this confusion was how the change was communicated. The team acknowledged this and asked for suggestions from the community to improve their communication. https://twitter.com/N_Tepluhina/status/1142715703558103040 The core team clarified that the update will be additive and the team has no plans to remove the Object API in a future major release. Evan You, the creator of Vue, said in a thread, “feel free to stay with the current API for as long as you wish. As long as the community feels there's a need for the old API to stay, it will stay. The only one that can make the decision to switch to the new API is yourself.” He also addressed the concerns on a Hacker News thread: There is a lot of FUD in this thread so we need to clarify a bit: - This API is purely additive to 2.x and doesn't break anything. - 3.0 will have a standard build which adds this API on top of 2.x API, and an opt-in "lean build" which drops a number of 2.x APIs for a smaller and faster runtime. - This is an open RFC, which means it's not set in stone. The whole point of having an RFC is so that users can voice their opinions. It's not like we are shipping this tomorrow. After listening to various perspectives shared by developers, the core team revised the RFC accordingly putting everybody finally at ease. Guillaume Chau, a member of the Vue core team, put out a clear and concise plan of action on Twitter to which people are responding positively. This plan reassured that the Object API will not be deprecated until the community stops using it and the proposed API will be first offered as a standalone plugin for Vue 2.x. https://twitter.com/Akryum/status/1143114880960126976 Some developers have also started to try out the new API: https://twitter.com/igor_randj/status/1143302939496370177 https://twitter.com/cmsalvado/status/1143230023089786880 Closing thoughts Open source programmers put their time and efforts in building software that helps the community and an RFC (request for comments) is a way for the community to get involved in building high quality software at scale. Through RFC you can share your constructive feedback on why a change is necessary or is not necessary. And, all this can be done in a respectful way. This showed us a very good example of how an RFC should really work. Publishing an RFC, discussing with the community, listening to the community, and deciding collectively what to do next. Despite some hiccups in communication, the Vue core team did a good job in engaging with the community to develop the roadmap for the function-based component API in Vue. Read the RFC for function-based component API for more details. Vue 2.6 is now out with a new unified syntax for slots, and more Learning Vue in 2019 with Anthony Gore’s developer knowledge map Evan You shares Vue 3.0 updates at VueConf Toronto 2018

Last month, This Dot Labs, a framework-agnostic JavaScript consultancy, conducted its biannual online live streaming event, This.JavaScript - State of Browsers. In this live stream, representatives of popular browsers talk about the amazing features users can look forward to, next releases, and much more. This time Firefox was missing. However, in attendance were: Stephanie Drescher ,  Program Manager, Microsoft Edge Brian Kardell ,  Developer Advocate, Igalia, an active contributor to WebKit Rijubrata Bhaumik , Software Engineer, Intel, who talked about Intel’s contribution towards web Jonathan Sampson ,  Developer Relations, Brave Paul Kinlan , Sr. Developer Advocate, Google Diego Gonzalez, Product Manager, Samsung Internet The event was moderated by Tracy Lee , who is the  founder of This Dot Labs. Following are some of the updates shared by the browser representatives: What’s new with Edge In December last year, Microsoft announced that it will be adopting Chromium in the development of Microsoft Edge for desktop. And, beginning this year we saw its decision coming to fruition. The tech giant made the first preview builds of the Chromium-based Edge available to both macOS and Windows 10 users. These preview builds are available for testing from the Microsoft Edge Insider site. This Chromium-powered Edge is available for iOS and Android users too. Stephanie Drescher shared what has changed for the Edge team after switching to Chromium. This is enabling them to deliver and update the Edge browser across all supported versions of Windows. This is also allowing them to update the browser more frequently as they are no longer tied to the operating system. The Edge team is not just using Chromium but also contributing all the web platform enhancements back to Chromium by default. The team has already made 400+ commits into the Chromium project. Edge comes with support for cross-platform and installable progressive web apps directly from the browser. The team’s next focus area is to improve Windows experience in terms of accessibility, localization, scrolling, and touch. At Build 2019, Microsoft also announced its new WebView that will be available for Win32 and UWP apps. She said this “will give you the option of an evergreen Chromium platform via edge or the option to bring your own version for AppCompat via a model that's similar to Electron.” Moving on to dev tools, the browser has several new dev tools that are visually aligned with VS Code. The updates in dev tools include dark mode on by default, control inputs, and the team is further exploring “more ways to align the experience between your browser dev tools and VS Code.” The browser’s built-in tools can now inspect and debug any Microsoft-Edge powered web content including PWAs, WebView, etc. No doubt these are some amazing features to be excited for. Edge has come to iOS and macOS, however, the question of whether it will support Linux in the future remains unanswered. Drescher said that the team has no plans right now to support Linux, however looking at the number of user requests for Linux support they are starting to think about it. What’s new with Chrome At I/O 2019, Google shared its vision for Chrome, which is making it "instant, powerful, and safe" to help improve the overall browsing experience. To make Chrome faster and lighter, a bunch of improvements to V8, Chrome’s JavaScript engine has been made. Now, JavaScript memory usage is down by 20% for real-world apps. After addressing the startup bottlenecks, Chrome's loading speed has now become 50% better on low-end devices and 10 percent across devices. The scrolling performance has also improved by 18%. Along with these speed gains, the team has also introduced a few features in the web platform that aim to take the burden away from the developers: The lazy loading mechanism reduces the initial payload to improve load time. You just need to add “loading=lazy" in the image or iframe elements. The idea is simple, the web browser will not download an image or iframe that has the loading attribute until the user scrolls near to it. The Portals API, first showcased at I/O this year, aims to make navigation between sites and web pages smoother. Portals is very similar to iframe in that it allows web developers to embed remote content in their pages. The difference is that with Portals you will able to navigate inside the content you are embedding. As a part of making Chrome more powerful, Google is actively working on bridging the capabilities gap between native and web under Project Fugu. It has already introduced two APIs: Web Share and Web Share Target and plans to bring more capabilities like writable file API, event alarms, user idle detection, and more. As the name suggests, the Web Share API allows websites to invoke the native sharing capabilities of the host platform. Users will be able to easily share either a URL or text on pretty much any platform they want to. Till date, we were restricted to share content on native apps that have registered as a share target. With Web Share Target API, installed web apps can also register with the underlying OS as a target to receive shared content. Talking about the safety aspect, Chrome now comes with support for WebAuthn, a new authentication standard by W3C, starting from its 67 version. This API allows servers to integrate strong authenticators that are built into devices, for instance, Windows Hello or Apple’s Touch ID. What's new with Brave Edge, Chrome, and Brave share one common thing and that is they all are Chromium-based. But, what sets Brave apart is the Basic Attention Token (BAT). Jonathan Sampson, who was representing Brave, said that we have seen a “Cambrian Explosion” of cryptocurrencies utility tokens or blockchain assets like Bitcoin, Litecoin, Etherium. Partnership with Coinbase Previously, if we wanted to acquire these assets there was only one way to do it “mining”, which meant a huge investment on expensive GPUs and power bill. Brave believes that the next step to earn these assets is primarily by your “attention”. Brave’s goal is to take users from mining to earning blockchain assets. As a part of this goal, it has partnered with Coinbase, one of the prominent companies in the blockchain space. Users will get 10 dollars in the form of BAT just for learning the state of digital advertising and what Brave and attention tokens are doing in that space. Through BAT, Brave is providing its consumers with a direct way to support their content creators. These content creators can customize and personalize this entire experience by navigating to the signing up on Brave’s creators page. Implementation changes in how BAT is sent to creators The Brave team has also made some implementation changes in terms of how this whole thing works. Previously, consumers could send these tokens to anyone. The token then used to go into an omnibus settlement wallet and stays there until that creator verifies with the program and demonstrates ownership over their web property. Finally, after all this, they get access to these tokens for use. Unfortunately, this could mean that some tokens have to “sit in a state of limbo” for an indefinite amount of time. Now, the team has re-engineered this process to hold these tokens inside your wallet for up to 90 days. If and when that property is verified the tokens are transmitted out. And, if the property is never verified then the tokens are released back inside your wallet. You can send them to another creator instead of letting them sit in that omnibus settlement wallet. Sampson further added, “of course the entire process goes through the anonymize protocol so that brave nor anybody else has any idea which websites you're visiting or to whom you are contributing support.” Inner working of Brave ads To better the ads recommendation Brave comes with a machine learning model integrated. This feature is opt-in so the user gets to decide when and how many ads they want to see in order to earn BAT from their attention. The ML model can study the user and learn about them each day. Every day a catalog is downloaded to each users’ device. Then the individual machines would churn away on that catalog to figure out which ads are relevant to an individual. Once, the relevant ads are found out users will see a small operating system notification. Brave sends 70% of the revenue made from the users’ attention to the user in the form of BAT. Brave Sync (Beta) The beta version of Brave Sync is available across platforms from Windows, macOS, Linux to Android, and iOS. Similar to Brave Ads, this is also an opt-in feature that allows you to automatically sync browsing data across devices. Right now it is in beta and supports syncing only bookmarks. In the future releases, we can expect support for tabs, history, passwords, autofill, as well as Brave Rewards. Once you enable it on one device, you just need to scan a QR code or enter a secret phrase to register another device for syncing. Canary builds available Like all the other browsers, Brave has also started to share their nightly and dev builds to give developers an “earlier insight” into the work they are doing. You can access them through their download page. These were some of the major updates discussed in the live stream. There was also Intel and Samsung who talked about their contributions to the web. Igalia’s developer Brian Kardell talked about the dark mode, pointer events, and more in WebKit. Watch the full event on YouTube for more details. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=olSQai4EUD8 Elvis Pranskevichus on limitations in SQL and how EdgeQL can help Microsoft makes the first preview builds of Chromium-based Edge available for testing Brave introduces Brave Ads that share 70% revenue with users for viewing ads

At the ongoing Shopify Unite 2019 conference, Shopify has announced a number of new products like Fulfillment network, video and 3D model assets, custom storefront tools, new online store design experience and others. Most of these products will be launched later this year. Here are the major highlights: Shopify Fulfillment Network Shopify Fulfillment Network, will be a dispersed network of fulfillment centers which uses machine learning to automatically select the optimal inventory quantities per location, as well as the closest fulfillment option for each of the customers’ shipments. Once available, it will be possible to simply install the app, select the products, get a quote, and begin selling the products. Entrepreneurs will be able to provide fast, low-cost delivery to their customers while maintaining ownership of customer data and a branded shipping experience. A single back office A merchants order, inventory, and customer data will stay synced and up-to-date across all warehouse locations and channels. Recommended warehouse locations To save costs on shipping, it will be possible to find the best locations, based on where the sales are coming from. Low stock alerts When inventory runs low, merchants will know when to replenish to continue meeting demands. 99.5% order accuracy The correct package will be chosen and out the door on time, with good accuracy. Hands-on warehouse help A dedicated account manager will assist the merchant in finding the best path, to reach their customers so the costs can be kept low. Shopify Fulfillment Network is currently available in the United States, and interested merchants can apply for early access. https://twitter.com/treklightgear/status/1141406217815724034 Native support to video and 3D model assets Shopify’s product will natively support video and 3D model assets, thus adding a new dimension to products and providing a richer purchase experience for customers. This feature is expected to be released later this year. Manage media through a single location It will now be possible to upload, access, and store video and 3D models from the same place where the images are being managed currently. Deploy through the new Shopify video player Users can use, one of the 10 starter themes, to easily display video 3D models using the new Shopify player for video or the viewer for Shopify AR. New editor apps Shopify is inviting partners and developers to create additional apps and custom integrations to open up new ways, to create and modify images, videos, and AR experiences. https://twitter.com/Scobleizer/status/1141456478496161797 https://twitter.com/thewakdesigns/status/1141607172670926848 New Online Store Design Experience The new online store design will provide entrepreneurs, with more options for customization. This will give them more control over the layout and aesthetic of their store. This feature is expected to be released later this year. Easier customization at the page and store level Any page can now be customized by using sections, just like the homepage. It is also now possible for users to save time by setting content on multiple pages, using master pages. Portable content that moves with you From now on, users will not have to make a duplicate of their theme or move content over manually. The shop’s content will follow the owner so that they are able to make changes, like downloading a new version or trying out a new one. A new workspace to update your store It will now be possible to edit and preview updates before publishing. Any minor tweak or major changes can be done in a new space to draft changes. Custom storefront tools Shopify’s Storefront API allows customers to use the custom storefront tools to free their storefront from certain back-end dependencies. This gives customers the flexibility to sell anywhere and in any way they want. This feature is more exciting for more complex or niche businesses that use the web, mobile, gaming, and other interactive mediums as storefronts to reach their customers. Shopify merchants have already started to use the Storefront API’s. For example, NTWRK hosted a live stream shopping show using Shopify’s Storefront API. Connect microservices to create personalized experiences Third-party shipping services can be used for blogs, storefront, and product pages or accurate shipment alerts Turn the world into your storefront Entrepreneurs can engage with their customers through vending machines, live streams, smart mirrors, voice shopping, and more. Speedy and scalable to have development teams work in parallel The flexible architecture will enable the development teams to create the experiences and storefronts, according to their vision. Interested merchants can create custom experiences on the customer storefront tools website. https://twitter.com/CarloTeran/status/1141475420904157185 Customer loyalty with retail shoppers With the new Shopify Point of Sale cart app extensions, users can apply and edit loyalty and promotional details directly from the customer cart. Apply discounts lightning-quick The number of clicks needed to apply a discount has been reduced to one, thus saving users 10 seconds for each sale on average. Important information at your fingertips Key customer details, from birthdays to reward milestones will surface automatically and in-context, so the merchants or their staff won’t have to navigate to the apps to get alerts. More flexibility Shopify’s app partners will give merchants the flexibility to pick a program that works best for their customer experience, like rewarding a long-time customer, online or in-store. Interested merchants can learn more about the apps on the POS Loyalty and Promotion Apps website. https://twitter.com/ShawnBouchard/status/1141483355252199425 Shopify Payments in multiple currencies and languages From this year onwards, merchants can run their business in their own preferred language. Shopify is already available in French, German, Japanese, Italian, Brazilian Portuguese, and Spanish. Additionally, Shopify will be available in 11 additional languages like Dutch, Simplified Chinese, and more. Also, Shopify Payments will enable selling in multiple currencies and will be globally available to all Shopify merchants later this year. The displayed prices will use simple rounding rules and automatically adjust based on current foreign -exchange rates. Soon shoppers will be able to convert between nine major currencies -GBP, AUD, CAD, EUR, HKD, JPY, NZD, SGD, and USD, thus using their preferred way to pay. https://twitter.com/anthonycook/status/1141392464818900996 Users of Shopify are obviously quite elated with all the announcements. People also touted this as Shopify’s way to combat Amazon, its main competitor in the market. https://twitter.com/tomfgoodwin/status/1141434508257964032 Visit the Shopify blog, for more details. Read More Why Retailers need to prioritize eCommerce Automation in 2019 5 things to consider when developing an eCommerce website Through the customer’s eyes: 4 ways Artificial Intelligence is transforming ecommerce

Angular 8.0 was released yesterday as a major version of the popular framework for building web, mobile, and desktop applications. This release spans across the framework, Angular Material, and the CLI.  Angular 8.0 improves application startup time on modern browsers, provides new APIs for tapping into the CLI, and aligns Angular to the ecosystem and more web standards. The team behind Angular has released a new Deprecation Guide. Public APIs will now support features for N+2 releases. This means that a feature that is deprecated in 8.1 will keep working in the following two major releases (9 and 10). The team will continue to maintain Semantic Versioning and a high degree of stability even across major versions. Angular 8.0 comes with Differential Loading by Default Differential loading is a process by which the browser chooses between modern or legacy JavaScript based on its own capabilities. The CLI looks at the target JS level in a user’s tsconfig.json form ng-update to determine whether or not to take advantage of Differential Loading. When target is set to es2015, CLI generates and label two bundles. At runtime, the browser uses attributes on the script tag to load the right bundle. <script type="module" src="…"> for Modern JS <script nomodule src="…"> for Legacy JS Angular’s Route Configurations now use Dynamic Imports Previously, lazily loading parts of an application using the router was accomplished by using the loadChildren key in the route configuration. The previous syntax was custom to Angular and built into its toolchain. With version 8, it is migrated to the industry standard dynamic imports. {path: `/admin`, loadChildren: () => import(`./admin/admin.module`).then(m => m.AdminModule)} This will improve the support from editors like VSCode and WebStorm who will now be able to understand and validate these imports. Angular 8.0 CLI updates Workspace APIs in the CLI Previously developers using Schematics had to manually open and modify their angular.json to make changes to the workspace configuration. Angular 8.0 has a new Workspace API to make it easier to read and modify this file. The workspaces API provides an abstraction of the underlying storage format of the workspace and provides support for both reading and writing. Currently, the only supported format is the JSON-based format used by the Angular CLI. New Builder APIs to run build and deployment processes Angular 8.0 has new builder APIs in the CLI that allows developers to tap into ng build, ng test, and ng run to perform processes like build and deployment. There is also an update to AngularFire, which adds a deploy command, making build and deployment to Firebase easier than ever. ng add @angular/fire ng run my-app:deploy Once installed, this deployment command will both build and deploy an application in the way recommended by AngularFire. Support for Web Worker Web workers speed up an application for cpu-intensive processing. Web workers allow developers to offload work to a background thread, such as image or video manipulation. With Angular 8.0, developers can now generate new web workers from the CLI. To add a worker to a project, run: ng generate webWorker my-worker Once added, web worker can be used normally in an application, and the CLI will be able to bundle and code split it correctly. const worker = new Worker(`./my-worker.worker`, { type: `module` }); AngularJS Improvements Unified Angular location service In AngularJS, the $location service handles all routing configuration and navigation, encoding, and decoding of URLS, redirects, and interactions with browser APIs. Angular uses its own underlying Location service for all of these tasks. Angular 8.0 now provides a LocationUpgradeModule that enables a unified location service that shifts responsibilities from the AngularJS $location service to the Angular Location Service. This should improve the lives of applications using ngUpgrade who need routing in both the AngularJS and Angular part of their application. Improvements to lazy load Angular JS As of Angular version 8, lazy loading code can be accomplished simply by using the dynamic import syntax import('...'). The team behind Angular have documented best practices around lazy loading parts of your AngularJS application from Angular, making it easier to migrate the most commonly used features first, and only loading AngularJS for a subset of your application. These are a select few updates. More information on the Angular Blog. 5 useful Visual Studio Code extensions for Angular developers Ionic Framework 4.0 has just been released, now backed by Web Components, not Angular The Angular 7.2.1 CLI release fixes a webpack-dev-server vulnerability

Motion graphics, animation, animated content, moving illustrations and the list of various terminologies goes on. All these terminologies are used for the most innovative and modern way of conveying information to the targeted audience and potential prospects. In modern-day’s content-saturated world, where written content is losing its appeal, integrating graphic content is one of the latest and probably the most innovative approaches for making online content better and more attention-capturing. The term motion graphics was coined almost 20 years ago when the world was first introduced to moving and flashy graphics. However, the reality of today sees it in a completely different perspective. Motion graphics is no longer restricted to the creation of animation; rather in this modernized world motion graphics is a worldwide phenomenon and content technique used in all forms and categories of online content. If implemented appropriately, motion graphics can augment the ease of communication of the message and content. In this internet-driven world, where ever you go you are bound to encounter some motion graphics content everywhere. Be it an animated explainer video on a marketing blog or a viral cat video on social media platforms. From hand-drawn flipbooks to celluloid animation, motion graphics have gone through loads of changes and some evolutionary shifts. Whether it’s about inducing a touch of reality to the dull economics stats or showcasing creativity through online logo maker tools to make own logos for free, motion graphics is one of the widely-practiced technique for making high-quality and eye-catchy content. Last year was all about discoveries and fresh starts whereas 2019 is all about innovations. Most of the trends from last year became mainstream, so this year we are assembling a great collection of some of the biggest and the born-to-rule trends of the motion graphics industry. Despite all the changes and shifts in the design industry, certain techniques and trends never fail to lose their appeal and significance in motion design. From the everlasting oldies to some latest discoveries, here is a list of all the trends that will be ruling the design industry this year: Kinetic typography From television advertisements to website content, movable and animated type of content is a great visual tool. One obvious reason behind the increased popularity of movable content type is its attention-grabbing characteristic. Kinetic typography uses simple animation to create words that move and shift across the screen. By leveraging the aspects of this typographic technique, the animator can manipulate letters in several ways. From letter expansion and shrinking to wriggling and taking off, kinetic typography pull off all types of letter and design manipulation. BASKETBALL FOREVER - REBRAND from Not Real on Vimeo. Broken text Another great addition in the typographic theme is breaking down of text. The concept might not be a new one, but the way it is implemented on typographic elements takes the whole content to a different level. It all about playing around with the words—they can either be deconstructed to spread across the whole screen, or they can appear one by one positioned at alternative levels. The broken text adds poetic touch and value to your content while making it easy to understand and visually appealing. Francis Mallmann on Growing Up from Daniel Luna on Vimeo. Seamless transitions One of the oldest techniques in the book, and this trend never actually left the design industry. Where modern approach has influenced every walk of life, the modern-day graphics designers are still using seamless transitions with a sleek addition of contemporary touch as this practice will never get old. A seamless transition is all about integrating fluidity in the content. The lack of cuts between scenes and  the smooth morphing of one scene into another makes the seamless transition an everlasting trend of the industry Tamara Qaddoumi - Flowers Will Rot (Official Music Video) from Pablo Lozano on Vimeo. Thin lines Lines are one of the most underrated design elements. Regardless of their simplicity, lines can be used for a wide array of purposes. From pointing out directions to defining the outlines of shapes and creating segregation between different elements, the potentials of a humble are still unexplored and untapped. However, with a change in time, the usage of thin line sin motion graphics is gradually becoming a common practice. Whether you want to give a vector touch or introduce a freestyle feel to the content, a simple line is enough to give a playful yet interesting look to your graphic content. TIFF: The Canadian Experiment from Polyester Studio on Vimeo. Grain Clean, crisp and concise—these three C’s are the fundamentals of the graphics design industry. However, adding an element of aesthetic to liven up your content is what breathes life to your dull content. That’s when grain comes into the play-- a motion graphics technique that not only adds visual appeal to your content but also makes your subtle content powerful. Whether it’s about transforming 2D figures into textured ones with a slight sense of depth or you want to visualize noise-- the proper use of grain can do just the job. Mumblephone - Special K from Allen Laseter on Vimeo. Liquid motion Just as grain adds a little texture to your content, liquid motion adds an organic feel to your content. From splashes of vibrant colors to the transformation of one shape into visual relishes, liquid motion makes your content flow across the screen in a seamless manner. Liquid motion is all about introducing a sense of movement while enhancing your content with a slightly  dramatic touch. Whether you want theatrical morphing one shape into another or you want to induce a celebratory mood to your content, liquid motion is all about making the content more appealing and keeping the views engaged. Creativity Top 5 Intro Video (Stop motion animation) from Kelly Warner on Vimeo. Amalgamation of 2D and 3D Now that technology has advanced to a greater extent, integrating 2D style with contemporary 3D techniques is one of the innovative ways of using motion graphics in your content. A slight touch of nostalgia coupled with depth and volume is what makes this technique a trend of 2019. Whether you want to introduce an element of surprise or you want to play around with the camera angles and movements, this combo of 2D with 3D is the ideal option for giving a nostalgic yet contemporary touch to your content. Mini - Rocketman Concept from PostPanic on Vimeo. Digital surrealism Surrealism is all about how a designer integrates the touch of reality into something as unreal as animation. Probably one of the most modern approaches to designing, this style illustrates the relation of virtual world element and crisp visuals. Surrealism is all about defying the reality while stretching the boundaries of materials and creating eye-catchy imagery and effects. Window Worlds - E4 Ident from Moth on Vimeo. Motion graphics trends will continue to evolve, the key to mastering the motion graphics techniques is to stay updated on the advanced tools and applications. Fill your animated visual content with all the relevant and important information, leverage your creativity and breathe life to your visual ideation with motion graphics. Author Bio Jessica Ervin is a professional UI UX designer & passionate tech blogger with enthusiastic writing skills. Jessica is a brand researcher as well, She is currently working with Design Iconic by which you can easily make your own logos & download it, having a good reader Jessica is contributing to the Technology, Artificial Intelligence, Augmented Reality, VR, Gadgets, Tech Trends and much more. Jessica’s experience has given her an insight of UI UX designing & writing skills and became a conventional contributor. You can follow her on twitter @jessikaervin The seven deadly sins of web design 7 Web design trends and predictions for 2019 Tips and tricks to optimize your responsive web design

Yesterday, Apple announced a new ad attribution model, which aims to hit the right balance between online user privacy and enabling advertisers to measure the effectiveness of their ad campaigns. This model, named Privacy Preserving Ad Click Attribution, is implemented in WebKit and is offered as an experimental feature in Safari Technology Preview 82+. Ad attribution model and its privacy concerns Online advertising is one of the most effective media for businesses to expand their reach and find new customers. And, ad click attribution model allows you to analyze which of your many advertising campaigns or marketing channels are leading to actual conversions. Generally, ad attribution is done through cookies and something called “tracking pixels”. Cookies are small data files stored by your browser to remember stateful information, for instance, items added in the shopping cart in an online store. A tracking pixel is basically a piece of HTML code which is loaded when a user visits a website or opens an email. If proper privacy protections are not employed, websites can use this data for user profiling. What is worse is that this data can also be sent to third parties like data brokers, affiliate networks, and advertising networks. This collection of browsing data across multiple websites is what is referred to as cross-site tracking. How Apple’s ad attribution aims to help Apple’s ad attribution model is built directly into the browser and runs on-device. This will ensure that the browser vendor will not be able to see what advertisements are being clicked or what purchases are being made. The ‘Privacy Preserving Ad Click Attribution model’ works in three steps: Storing ad clicks According to Apple's alternate Privacy Preserving Ad Click Attribution, the page hosting the ad will be responsible for storing the ad clicks. It will do this via two optional attributes: ‘adDestination’ and ‘adCampaignID’. The ‘adDestination’ attribute is the domain the ad click is navigating the user to, and ‘adCampaignID’ is the identifier of the ad campaign. Neither the browser vendor nor the website will be allowed to read the stored ad click data or detect that it exists. This data will be stored for a limited time and in the case of WebKit, it is 7 days. Matching the conversions against stored ad clicks The second step of matching the conversions against stored ad clicks will allow advertisers to understand which of their ad campaigns are the most effective ones. Conversion is basically getting the user to perform the desired action according to your advertisement, for instance, a customer adding an item to the shopping cart or signing up for a new service. In this model, tracking pixels are used as a way to determine what all actions are taken by the user benefitting the business. Data like the location of the user, time of day, the value of the conversion, or some other relevant data are passed to the browser through different parameters. Apple ensures that no sensitive data like names, addresses, or other are stored. Sending out ad click attribution data In the last step, the browser reports to the website or marketer the existence of the conversion. After the conversion is matched to an ad, the browser will set a timer at random between 24 to 48 hours to send a stateless POST request to the advertiser. And, within this time it will pass the ad campaign and other parameters to the advertiser. Apple is previewing this model in Safari Technology Preview 82+. It is also proposing this model as a standard through the W3C Web Platform Incubator Community Group (WICG). The model has received mixed reaction from users. Some think that this model can help in reducing online tracking. A Reddit user supporting the initiative said, “Ad companies are not having trouble attributing campaigns. The problem is that small, uncoordinated "privacy" features cause Ad Tech companies to become far more aggressive in how they track users. It's not the companies that lose here, it's you. A standardized, privacy-centric method for companies to accomplish attribution will help end the arms race and move back to a more consumer-friendly model. Small edges are worth a fortune in Ads. This is like the war on drugs. Clamping down and assuming ad companies will walk away is way too optimistic. Instead, they will move deeper into the shadows at whatever the cost.” Others think that it is not a browser’s responsibility to help online advertisement and should be on the users’ side. “I certainly have never wanted my browser to report ad click attribution,” another Redditor remarked. Read the full announcement by Apple for more details. Apple Pay will soon support NFC tags to trigger payments U.S. Supreme Court ruled 5-4 against Apple on its App Store monopoly case Apple plans to make notarization a default requirement in all future macOS updates

Visual Studio Code has quickly become one of the most popular text editors on the planet. While debate will continue to rage about the relative merits of every text editor, it’s nevertheless true that Visual Studio Code is unique in that it is incredibly customizable: it can be as lightweight as a text editor or as feature-rich as an IDE. This post is part of a series brought to you in conjunction with Microsoft. Download Learning Node.js Development for free from Microsoft here. Try Visual Studio Code yourself. Learn more here. This means the range of developers using Visual Studio Code are incredibly diverse. Each one faces a unique set of challenges alongside their personal preferences. I spoke to a few of them about why they use Visual Studio Code and how they make it work for them. “Visual Studio Code is streamlined and flexible” Ben Sibley is the Founder of Complete Themes. He likes Visual Studio Code because it is relatively lightweight while also offering considerable flexibility. “I love how streamlined and flexible Visual Studio Code is. Personally, I don’t need a ton of functionality from my IDE, so I appreciate how simple the default configuration is. There's a very concise set of features built-in like the Git integration. “I was using PHPStorm previously and while it was really feature-rich, it was also overwhelming at times. VSC is faster, lighter, and with the extension market you can pick and choose which additional tools you need. And it’s a popular enough editor that you can usually find a reliable and well-reviewed extension.” Read next: How Visual Studio Code can help bridge the gap between full-stack development and DevOps [Sponsored by Microsoft] “Visual Studio Code is the best in terms of extension ecosystem, language support and configuration” Libby Horacek is a developer at Position Development. She has worked with several different code editors but struggled to find one that allowed her to effectively move between languages. For Libby, Visual Studio Code offered the right level of flexibility. She also explained how the team at Position Development have used VSC’s Live Share feature which allows developers to directly share and collaborate on code inside their editor. “I currently use Visual Studio Code. I’ve tried a LOT of different editors. I’m a polyglot developer, so I need an editor that isn’t just for one language. RubyMine is great for Ruby, and PyCharm is good for Python, but I don’t want to switch editors every time I switch languages (sometimes multiple times a day). My main constraint is Haskell language support — there are plugins for most IDEs now, but some are better than others. “For a long time I used Emacs just because I was able to steal a great configuration setup for it from a coworker, but a few months back it stopped working due to updates and I didn’t want to acquire the Emacs expertise to fix it. So I tried IntelliJ, Visual Studio, Atom, Sublime Text, even Vim… but in the end I liked Visual Studio the best in terms of extension ecosystem, language support, and ease of use and configuration. “My team also uses Visual Studio’s Live Share for pairing. I haven’t tried it personally but it looks like a great option for remote pairing. The only thing my coworkers have cautioned is that they encountered a bug with the “undo” functionality that wiped out most of a file they were working on. Maybe that bug has been fixed by now, but as always, commit early and commit often!” “As a JavaScript dev shop, we love that VSC is written in JavaScript” Cody Swann is the CEO of Gunner Technology, a software development company that builds using JavaScript on AWS for both the public and private sector. “All our developers here [at Gunner Technology] use VSC. “We switched from Sublime about two years ago because Sublime started to feel slow and neglected. “Before that, we used TextMate and abandoned that for the same reasons. “As a JavaScript dev shop, we love that VSC is written in JavaScript. It makes it easier for us to write in-house extensions and such. “Additionally, we love that Microsoft releases monthly updates and keeps improving performance.” Read next: Microsoft Build 2019: Microsoft showcases new updates to MS 365 platform with focus on AI and developer productivity “The Visual Studio Code team pay close attention to the problems developers face” Ajeet Dhaliwal is a software developer at Tesults. He explains he has used several different IDEs and editors but came to Visual Studio Code after spending some time using Node.js and React on Brackets. “I have used Visual Studio Code almost exclusively for the last couple of years. “In years prior to making this switch, the nature of the development work that I did meant that I was broadly limited to using specific IDEs such as Visual Studio and Xcode. Then in 2014 I stated to get into Node.js and was looking for a code editor that would be more suitable. I tried out a few and ultimately settled on Brackets. “I used Brackets for a while but wasn’t always happy with it. The most annoying issue was the way text was rendered on my Mac. “Over time I started doing React work too and every time I revisited VSC the improvements were impressive, it seemed to me that the developers were closely paying attention to the problems developers face, they were creating features I had never even thought I would need and the extensions added highly useful features for Node.js and React dev work. The font rendering was not an issue either so it became an inevitable switch.” “I have to context switch regularly - I expect my brain to be the slowest element, not the IDE” Kyle Balnave is Senior Developer and Squad Manager at High Speed Training. Despite working with numerous editors and IDEs, he likes Visual Studio Code because it allows him to move between different contexts incredibly quickly. Put simply, it allows him to work faster than other IDEs do. "I've used several different editors over the years. They generally fall under two categories: Monolithic (I can do anything you'll ever want to do out of the box). Modular (I do the basics but allow extensions to be added to do most the rest). “The former are IDEs like Netbeans, IntelliJ and Visual Studio. In my experience they are slow to load and need a more powerful development machine to keep responsive. They have a huge range of functionality, but in everyday development I just need it to be an intelligent code editor. “The latter are IDEs like Eclipse, Visual Studio Code, Atom. They load quickly, respond fast and have a wide range of extensions that allow me to develop what I need. They sometimes fall short in their functionality, but I generally find this to be infrequent. “Why do I use VSCode? Because it doesn't slow me down when I code. I have to context switch regularly so I expect my own brain to be the slowest element, not the IDE. Learn how to develop with Node.js on Azure by downloading Learning Node.js with Azure for free, courtesy of Microsoft.

At the ongoing Microsoft Build 2019 conference, Microsoft has announced a ton of new features and tool releases with a focus on innovation using AI and mixed reality with the intelligent cloud and the intelligent edge. In his opening keynote, Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella outlined the company’s vision and developer opportunity across Microsoft Azure, Microsoft Dynamics 365 and IoT Platform, Microsoft 365, and Microsoft Gaming. “As computing becomes embedded in every aspect of our lives, the choices developers make will define the world we live in,” said Satya Nadella, CEO, Microsoft. “Microsoft is committed to providing developers with trusted tools and platforms spanning every layer of the modern technology stack to build magical experiences that create new opportunity for everyone.” https://youtu.be/rIJRFHDr1QE Increasing developer productivity in Microsoft 365 platform Microsoft Graph data connect Microsoft Graphs are now powered with data connectivity, a service that combines analytics data from the Microsoft Graph with customers’ business data. Microsoft Graph data connect will provide Office 365 data and Microsoft Azure resources to users via a toolset. The migration pipelines are deployed and managed through Azure Data Factory. Microsoft Graph data connect can be used to create new apps shared within enterprises or externally in the Microsoft Azure Marketplace. It is generally available as a feature in Workplace Analytics and also as a standalone SKU for ISVs. More information here. Microsoft Search Microsoft Search works as a unified search experience across all Microsoft apps-  Office, Outlook, SharePoint, OneDrive, Bing and Windows. It applies AI technology from Bing and deep personalized insights surfaced by the Microsoft Graph to personalized searches. Other features included in Microsoft Search are: Search box displacement Zero query typing and key-phrase suggestion feature Query history feature, and personal search query history Administrator access to the history of popular searches for their organizations, but not to search history for individual users Files/people/site/bookmark suggestions Microsoft Search will begin publicly rolling out to all Microsoft 365 and Office 365 commercial subscriptions worldwide at the end of May. Read more on MS Search here. Fluid Framework As the name suggests Microsoft's newly launched Fluid framework allows seamless editing and collaboration between different applications. Essentially, it is a web-based platform and componentized document model that allows users to, for example, edit a document in an application like Word and then share a table from that document in Microsoft Teams (or even a third-party application) with real-time syncing. Microsoft says Fluid can translate text, fetch content, suggest edits, perform compliance checks, and more. The company will launch the software developer kit and the first experiences powered by the Fluid Framework later this year on Microsoft Word, Teams, and Outlook. Read more about Fluid framework here. Microsoft Edge new features Microsoft Build 2019 paved way for a bundle of new features to Microsoft’s flagship web browser, Microsoft Edge. New features include: Internet Explorer mode: This mode integrates Internet Explorer directly into the new Microsoft Edge via a new tab. This allows businesses to run legacy Internet Explorer-based apps in a modern browser. Privacy Tools: Additional privacy controls which allow customers to choose from 3 levels of privacy in Microsoft Edge—Unrestricted, Balanced, and Strict. These options limit third parties to track users across the web.  “Unrestricted” allows all third-party trackers to work on the browser. “Balanced” prevents third-party trackers from sites the user has not visited before. And “Strict” blocks all third-party trackers. Collections: Collections allows users to collect, organize, share and export content more efficiently and with Office integration. Microsoft is also migrating Edge as a whole over to Chromium. This will make Edge easier to develop for by third parties. For more details, visit Microsoft’s developer blog. New toolkit enhancements in Microsoft 365 Platform Windows Terminal Windows Terminal is Microsoft’s new application for Windows command-line users. Top features include: User interface with emoji-rich fonts and graphics-processing-unit-accelerated text rendering Multiple tab support and theming and customization features Powerful command-line user experience for users of PowerShell, Cmd, Windows Subsystem for Linux (WSL) and all forms of command-line application Windows Terminal will arrive in mid-June and will be delivered via the Microsoft Store in Windows 10. Read more here. React Native for Windows Microsoft announced a new open-source project for React Native developers at Microsoft Build 2019. Developers who prefer to use the React/web ecosystem to write user-experience components can now leverage those skills and components on Windows by using “React Native for Windows” implementation. React for Windows is under the MIT License and will allow developers to target any Windows 10 device, including PCs, tablets, Xbox, mixed reality devices and more. The project is being developed on GitHub and is available for developers to test. More mature releases will follow soon. Windows Subsystem for Linux 2 Microsoft rolled out a new architecture for Windows Subsystem for Linux: WSL 2 at the MSBuild 2019. Microsoft will also be shipping a fully open-source Linux kernel with Windows specially tuned for WSL 2. New features include massive file system performance increases (twice as much speed for file-system heavy operations, such as Node Package Manager install). WSL also supports running Linux Docker containers. The next generation of WSL arrives for Insiders in mid-June. More information here. New releases in multiple Developer Tools .NET 5 arrives in 2020 .NET 5 is the next major version of the .NET Platform which will be available in 2020. .NET 5 will have all .NET Core features as well as more additions: One Base Class Library containing APIs for building any type of application More choice on runtime experiences Java interoperability will be available on all platforms. Objective-C and Swift interoperability will be supported on multiple operating systems .NET 5 will provide both Just-in-Time (JIT) and Ahead-of-Time (AOT) compilation models to support multiple compute and device scenarios. .NET 5 also will offer one unified toolchain supported by new SDK project types as well as a flexible deployment model (side-by-side and self-contained EXEs) Detailed information here. ML.NET 1.0 ML.NET is Microsoft’s open-source and cross-platform framework that runs on Windows, Linux, and macOS and makes machine learning accessible for .NET developers. Its new version, ML.NET 1.0, was released at the Microsoft Build Conference 2019 yesterday. Some new features in this release are: Automated Machine Learning Preview: Transforms input data by selecting the best performing ML algorithm with the right settings. AutoML support in ML.NET is in preview and currently supports Regression and Classification ML tasks. ML.NET Model Builder Preview: Model Builder is a simple UI tool for developers which uses AutoML to build ML models. It also generates model training and model consumption code for the best performing model. ML.NET CLI Preview: ML.NET CLI is a dotnet tool which generates ML.NET Models using AutoML and ML.NET. The ML.NET CLI quickly iterates through a dataset for a specific ML Task and produces the best model. Visual Studio IntelliCode, Microsoft’s tool for AI-assisted coding Visual Studio IntelliCode, Microsoft’s AI-assisted coding is now generally available. It is essentially an enhanced IntelliSense, Microsoft’s extremely popular code completion tool. Intellicode is trained by using the code of thousands of open-source projects from GitHub that have at least 100 stars. It is available for C# and XAML for Visual Studio and Java, JavaScript, TypeScript, and Python for Visual Studio Code. IntelliCode also is included by default in Visual Studio 2019, starting in version 16.1 Preview 2. Additional capabilities, such as custom models, remain in public preview. Visual Studio 2019 version 16.1 Preview 2 Visual Studio 2019 version 16.1 Preview 2 release includes IntelliCode and the GitHub extensions by default. It also brings out of preview the Time Travel Debugging feature introduced with version 16.0. Also includes multiple performances and productivity improvements for .NET and C++ developers. Gaming and Mixed Reality Minecraft AR game for mobile devices At the end of Microsoft’s Build 2019 keynote yesterday, Microsoft teased a new Minecraft game in augmented reality, running on a phone. The teaser notes that more information will be coming on May 17th, the 10-year anniversary of Minecraft. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UiX0dVXiGa8 HoloLens 2 Development Edition and unreal engine support The HoloLens 2 Development Edition includes a HoloLens 2 device, $500 in Azure credits and three-months free trials of Unity Pro and Unity PiXYZ Plugin for CAD data, starting at $3,500 or as low as $99 per month. The HoloLens 2 Development Edition will be available for preorder soon and will ship later this year. Unreal Engine support for streaming and native platform integration will be available for HoloLens 2 by the end of May. Intelligent Edge and IoT Azure IoT Central new features Microsoft Build 2019 also featured new additions to Azure IoT Central, an IoT software-as-a-service solution. Better rules processing and customs rules with services like Azure Functions or Azure Stream Analytics Multiple dashboards and data visualization options for different types of users Inbound and outbound data connectors, so that operators can integrate with   systems Ability to add custom branding and operator resources to an IoT Central application with new white labeling options New Azure IoT Central features are available for customer trials. IoT Plug and Play IoT Plug and Play is a new, open modeling language to connect IoT devices to the cloud seamlessly without developers having to write a single line of embedded code. IoT Plug and Play also enable device manufacturers to build smarter IoT devices that just work with the cloud. Cloud developers will be able to find IoT Plug and Play enabled devices in Microsoft’s Azure IoT Device Catalog. The first device partners include Compal, Kyocera, and STMicroelectronics, among others. Azure Maps Mobility Service Azure Maps Mobility Service is a new API which provides real-time public transit information, including nearby stops, routes and trip intelligence. This API also will provide transit services to help with city planning, logistics, and transportation. Azure Maps Mobility Service will be in public preview in June. Read more about Azure Maps Mobility Service here. KEDA: Kubernetes-based event-driven autoscaling Microsoft and Red Hat collaborated to create KEDA, which is an open-sourced project that supports the deployment of serverless, event-driven containers on Kubernetes. It can be used in any Kubernetes environment — in any public/private cloud or on-premises such as Azure Kubernetes Service (AKS) and Red Hat OpenShift. KEDA has support for built-in triggers to respond to events happening in other services or components. This allows the container to consume events directly from the source, instead of routing through HTTP. KEDA also presents a new hosting option for Azure Functions that can be deployed as a container in Kubernetes clusters. Securing elections and political campaigns ElectionGuard SDK and Microsoft 365 for Campaigns ElectionGuard, is a free open-source software development kit (SDK) as an extension of Microsoft’s Defending Democracy Program to enable end-to-end verifiability and improved risk-limiting audit capabilities for elections in voting systems. Microsoft365 for Campaigns provides security capabilities of Microsoft 365 Business to political parties and individual candidates. More details here. Microsoft Build is in its 6th year and will continue till 8th May. The conference hosts over 6,000 attendees with early 500 student-age developers and over 2,600 customers and partners in attendance. Watch it live here! Microsoft introduces Remote Development extensions to make remote development easier on VS Code Docker announces a collaboration with Microsoft’s .NET at DockerCon 2019 How Visual Studio Code can help bridge the gap between full-stack development and DevOps [Sponsered by Microsoft]

The results of the 2019 Stack Overflow survey have just been published: 90,000 developers took the 20-minute survey this year. The survey shed light on some very interesting insights – from the developers’ preferred language for programming, to the development platform they hate the most, to the blockers to developer productivity. As the survey is quite detailed and comprehensive, here’s a quick look at the most important takeaways. Key highlights from the Stack Overflow Survey Programming languages Python again emerged as the fastest-growing programming language, a close second behind Rust. Interestingly, Python and Typescript achieved the same votes with almost 73% respondents saying it was their most loved language. Python was the most voted language developers wanted to learn next and JavaScript remains the most used programming language. The most dreaded languages were VBA and Objective C. Source: Stack Overflow Frameworks and databases in the Stack Overflow survey Developers preferred using React.js and Vue.js web frameworks while dreaded Drupal and jQuery. Redis was voted as the most loved database and MongoDB as the most wanted database. MongoDB’s inclusion in the list is surprising considering its controversial Server Side Public License. Over the last few months, Red Hat dropped support for MongoDB over this license, so did GNU Health Federation. Both of these organizations choose PostgreSQL over MongoDB, which is one of the reasons probably why PostgreSQL was the second most loved and wanted database of Stack Overflow Survey 2019. Source: Stack Overflow It’s interesting to see WebAssembly making its way in the popular technology segment as well as one of the top paying technologies. Respondents who use Clojure, F#, Elixir, and Rust earned the highest salaries Stackoverflow also did a new segment this year called "Blockchain in the real world" which gives insight into the adoption of Blockchain. Most respondents (80%) on the survey said that their organizations are not using or implementing blockchain technology. Source: Stack Overflow Developer lifestyles and learning About 80% of our respondents say that they code as a hobby outside of work and over half of respondents had written their first line of code by the time they were sixteen, although this experience varies by country and by gender. For instance, women wrote their first code later than men and non-binary respondents wrote code earlier than men. About one-quarter of respondents are enrolled in a formal college or university program full-time or part-time. Of professional developers who studied at the university level, over 60% said they majored in computer science, computer engineering, or software engineering. DevOps specialists and site reliability engineers are among the highest paid, most experienced developers most satisfied with their jobs, and are looking for new jobs at the lowest levels. The survey also noted that developers who are system admins or DevOps specialists are 25-30 times more likely to be men than women. Chinese developers are the most optimistic about the future while developers in Western European countries like France and Germany are among the least optimistic. Developers also overwhelmingly believe that Elon Musk will be the most influential person in tech in 2019. With more than 30,000 people responding to a free text question asking them who they think will be the most influential person this year, an amazing 30% named Tesla CEO Musk. For perspective, Jeff Bezos was in second place, being named by ‘only’ 7.2% of respondents. Although, this year the US survey respondents proportion of women, went up from 9% to 11%, it’s still a slow growth and points to problems with inclusion in the tech industry in general and on Stack Overflow in particular. When thinking about blockers to productivity, different kinds of developers report different challenges. Men are more likely to say that being tasked with non-development work is a problem for them, while gender minority respondents are more likely to say that toxic work environments are a problem. Stack Overflow survey demographics and diversity challenges This report is based on a survey of 88,883 software developers from 179 countries around the world. It was conducted between January 23 to February 14 and the median time spent on the survey for qualified responses was 23.3 minutes. The majority of survey respondents this year were people who said they are professional developers or who code sometimes as part of their work, or are students preparing for such a career. Majority of them were from the US, India, China and Europe. Stack Overflow acknowledged that their results did not represent racial disparities evenly and people of color continue to be underrepresented among developers. This year nearly 71% of respondents continued to be of White or European descent, a slight improvement from last year (74%). The survey notes that, “In the United States this year, 22% of respondents are people of color; last year 19% of United States respondents were people of color.” This clearly signifies that a lot of work is still needed to be done particularly for people of color, women, and underrepresented groups. Although, last year in August, Stack Overflow revamped its Code of Conduct to include more virtues around kindness, collaboration, and mutual respect. It also updated  its developers salary calculator to include 8 new countries. Go through the full report to learn more about developer salaries, job priorities, career values, the best music to listen to while coding, and more. Developers believe Elon Musk will be the most influential person in tech in 2019, according to Stack Overflow survey results Creators of Python, Java, C#, and Perl discuss the evolution and future of programming language design at PuPPy Stack Overflow is looking for a new CEO as Joel Spolsky becomes Chairman

Just 30 days before the debut of "Captain Marvel," the latest cinematic offering by the successful and prolific Marvel Studios, a delightful and nostalgia-filled website was unveiled to promote the movie. Since the story of "Captain Marvel" is set in the 1990s, the brilliant minds at the marketing department of Marvel Studios decided to design a website with the right look and feel, which in this case meant using FrontPage and hosting on Angelfire. The "Captain Marvel" promo website is filled with the typography, iconography, glitter, and crudely animated GIFs you would expect from a 1990s creation, including a guestbook, hidden easter eggs, flaming borders, hit counter, and even headers made with Microsoft WordArt. (Image courtesy of Marvel) The site is delightful not just for the dead-on nostalgia trip it provides to visitors, but also because it is very well developed. This is a site with a lot to explore, and it is clearly evident that the website developers met client demands while at the same time thinking about users. This site may look and feel like it was made during the GeoCities era, but it does not make any of the following seven mistakes: Sin #1: Non-Responsiveness In 2019, it is simply inconceivable to think of a web development firm that neglects to make a responsive site. Since 2016, internet traffic flowing through mobile devices has been higher than the traffic originating from desktops and laptops. Current rates are about 53 percent smartphones and tablets versus 47 percent desktops, laptops, kiosks, and smart TVs. Failure to develop responsive websites means potentially alienating more than 50 percent of prospective visitors. As for the "Captain Marvel" website, it is amazingly responsive when considering that internet users in the 1990s barely dreamed about the day when they would be able to access the web from handheld devices (mobile phones were yet to be mass distributed back then). Sin #2: Way too much Jargon (Image courtesy of the Botanical Linguist) Not all website developers have a good sense of readability, and this is something that often shows up when completed projects result in product visitors struggling to comprehend. We’re talking about jargon. There’s a lot of it online, not only in the usual places like the privacy policy and terms of service sections but sometimes in content too. Regardless of how jargon creeps onto your website, it should be rooted out. The "Captain Marvel" website features legal notices written by The Walt Disney Company, and they are very reader-friendly with minimal jargon. The best way to handle jargon is to avoid it as much as possible unless the business developer has good reasons to include it. Sin #3: A noticeable lack of content No content means no message, and this is the reason 46 percent of visitors who land on B2B websites end up leaving without further exploration or interaction. Quality content that is relevant to the intention of a website is crucial in terms of establishing credibility, and this goes beyond B2B websites. In the case of "Captain Marvel," the amount of content is reduced to match the retro sensibility, but there are enough photos, film trailers, character bios, and games to keep visitors entertained. Modern website development firms that provide full-service solutions can either provide or advise clients on the content they need to get started. Furthermore, they can also offer lessons on how to operate content management systems. Sin #4: Making essential information hard to find There was a time when the "mystery meat navigation” issue of website development was thought to have been eradicated through the judicious application of recommended practices, but then mobile apps came around. Even technology giant Google fell victim to mystery meat navigation with its 2016 release of Material Design, which introduced bottom navigation bars intended to offer a more clarifying alternative to hamburger menus. Unless there is a clever purpose for prompting visitors to click or tap on a button, link or page element, that does not explain next steps, mystery meat navigation should be avoided, particularly when it comes to essential information. When the 1990s "Captain Marvel" page loads, visitors can click or tap on labeled links to get information about the film, enjoy multimedia content, play games, interact with the guestbook, or get tickets. There is a mysterious old woman that pops up every now and then from the edges of the screen, but the reason behind this mysterious element is explained in the information section. Sin #5: Website loads too slow (Image courtesy of Horton Marketing Solutions) There is an anachronism related to the "Captain Marvel" website that users who actually used Netscape in the 1990s will notice: all pages load very fast. This is one retro aspect that Marvel Studios decided to not include on this site, and it makes perfect sense. For a fast-loading site, a web design rule of thumb is to simplify and this responsibility lies squarely with the developer. It stands to reason that the more “stuff” you have on a page (images, forms, videos, widgets, shiny things), the longer it takes the server to send over the site files and the longer it takes the browser to render them. Here are a few design best practices to keep in mind: 1 Make the site light - get rid of non-essential elements, especially if they are bandwidth-sucking images or video. 2 Compress your pages - it’s easy with Gzip. 3 Split long pages into several shorter ones 4 Write clean code that doesn’t rely on external sources 5 Optimize images For more web design tips that help your site load in the sub-three second range, like Google expects in 2019, check out our article on current design trends.   Once you have design issues under control, investigate your web host. They aren’t all created equal. Cheap, entry-level shared packages are notoriously slow and unpredictable, especially as your traffic increases. But even beyond that, the reality is that some companies spend money buying better, faster servers and don’t overload them with too many clients. Some do. Recent testing from review site HostingCanada.org checked load times across the leading providers and found variances from a ‘meh’ 2,850 ms all the way down to speedy 226 ms. With pricing amongst credible competitors roughly equal, web developers should know which hosts are the fastest and point clients in that direction. Sin #6: Outdated information Functional and accurate information will always triumph over form. The "Captain Marvel" website is garish to look at by 2019 standards, but all the information is current. The film's theater release date is clearly displayed, and should something happen that would require this date to change, you can be sure that Marvel Studios will fire up FrontPage to promptly make the adjustment. Sin #7: No clear call to action Every website should compel visitors to do something. Even if the purpose is to provide information, the call-to-action or CTA should encourage visitors to remember it and return for updates. The CTA should be as clear as the navigation elements, otherwise, the purpose of the visit is lost. Creating enticements is acceptable, but the CTA message should be explained nonetheless. In the case of "Captain Marvel," visitors can click on "Get Tickets" link to be taken to a Fandango.com page with geolocation redirection for their region. The Bottom Line In the end, the seven mistakes listed herein are easy to avoid. Whenever developers run into clients whose instructions may result in one of these mistakes, proper explanations should be given. Author Bio Gary Stevens is a front-end developer. He’s a full-time blockchain geek and a volunteer working for the Ethereum foundation as well as an active Github contributor. 7 Web design trends and predictions for 2019 How to create a web designer resume that lands you a Job Will Grant’s 10 commandments for effective UX Design

The World Wide Web turned 30 years old yesterday. As a part of the celebration, its creator, Tim Berners-Lee published an open letter on Monday, sharing his vision for the future of the web. In this year’s letter, he also expressed his concerns about the direction in which the web is heading and how we can make it as the one he envisioned. To celebrate #Web30, Tim Berners-Lee is on a 30-hour trip and his first stop was the birthplace of WWW, the European Organization for Nuclear Research, CERN. https://twitter.com/timberners_lee/status/1105400740112203777 Back in 1989, Tim Berners-Lee, as a research fellow at the CERN researching lab, wrote a proposal to his boss titled Information Management: A Proposal. This proposal was for building an information system that would allow researchers to share general information about accelerators and experiments. Initially, he named the project “The Mesh”, which combined hypertext with internet TCP and domain name system. The project did not go that well, but Berners-Lee’s boss, Mike Sendall did remark that the idea is “vague but exciting”. Later on, in 1990, he actually started coding for the project and this time he named the project, what we know today as, the World Wide Web. Fast forward to now, the simple innocent system that he built has become so large, connecting millions and millions of people across the globe. If you are curious to know how WWW looked back then, check out its revived version by a CERN team: https://twitter.com/CERN/status/1105457772626358273 The three dysfunctions the Web is now facing World Wide Web has come a long way. It has opened various opportunities, given voice to marginalized groups, and has made our daily lives much convenient and easier. At the same time, it has also given opportunities to scammers, provided a platform for hate speech, and made it extremely easy for committing crimes while sitting behind a computer screen. Berners-Lee listed down three sources of problems that are affecting today’s web and also suggested a few ways we can minimize or prevent them: “Deliberate, malicious intent, such as state-sponsored hacking and attacks, criminal behavior, and online harassment.” Though it is really not possible to completely eliminate this dysfunction, policymakers can come up with laws and developers can take the responsibility to write code that will help minimize this behavior. “System design that creates perverse incentives where user value is sacrificed, such as ad-based revenue models that commercially reward clickbait and the viral spread of misinformation.” These type of systems introduces the wrong ways of rewarding that encourage others to sacrifice the user’s interests. To prevent this problem developers need to rethink the incentives and accordingly redesign the systems so that they are not promoting these wrong behaviors. “Unintended negative consequences of benevolent design, such as the outraged and polarised tone and quality of online discourse.” These are the systems that are created thoughtfully and with good intent but still result in negative outcomes. Actually, the problem is that it is really difficult to tell what are all the outcomes of the system you are building. Berners-Lee in an interview with The Guardian said, “Given there are more web pages than there are neurons in your brain, it’s a complicated thing. You build Reddit, and people on it behave in a particular way. For a while, they all behave in a very positive, constructive way. And then you find a subreddit in which they behave in a nasty way.” This problem could be eliminated by researching and understanding of existing systems. Based on this research, we can then model possible new systems or enhance those we already have. Contract for the Web Berners Lee further explained that we can’t just really put the blame on the government or a social network for all the loopholes and dysfunctions that are affecting the Web. He said, “You can’t generalise. You can’t say, you know, social networks tend to be bad, tend to be nasty.” We need to find the root causes and to do exactly that we all need to come together as a global web community. “As the web reshapes, we are responsible for making sure that it is seen as a human right and is built for the public good”, he wrote in the open letter. To address these problems, Berners-Lee has a radical solution. Back in November last year at the Web Summit, he, with The Web Foundation, introduced Contract for the Web. The contract aims to bring together governments, companies, and citizens who believe that there is a need for setting clear norms, laws, and standards that underpin the web. “Governments, companies, and citizens are all contributing, and we aim to have a result later this year,” he shared. In theory, the contract defines people’s online rights and lists the key principles and duties government, companies, and citizens should follow. In Berners-Lee’s mind, it will restore some degree of equilibrium and transparency to the digital realm. The contract is part of a broader project that Berners-Lee believes is essential if we are to ‘save’ the web from its current problems. First, we need to create an open web for the users who are already connected to the web and give them the power of fixing issues that we have with the existing web. Secondly, we need to bring the other half of the world, which is not yet connected to the web. Many people are agreeing on the points Berners-Lee discussed in the open letter. Here is what some of the Twitter users are saying: https://twitter.com/girlygeekdom/status/1105375206829256704 https://twitter.com/solutionpoint/status/1105366111678279681 Contract for the Web, as Berners-Lee says, is about “going back to the values”. His idea of bringing together governments, companies, and citizens to make the Web safer and accessible to everyone looks pretty solid. Read the full open letter by Tim Berners-Lee on the Web Foundation’s website. Web Summit 2018: day 2 highlights Tim Berners-Lee is on a mission to save the web he invented UN on Web Summit 2018: How we can create a safe and beneficial digital future for all  

Somewhere along the journey of web maturity, we forgot something important: user experience is not art. It's the opposite of art. UX design should perform one primary function: serving users. Your UX design has to look great, but it should not be at the expense of hampering the working of the website. This is an extract from 101 UX Principles by Will Grant. Read our interview with Will here. #1 Empathy and objectivity are the primary skills of a  UX professional Empathy and objectivity are the primary skills you must possess to be good at UX. This is not to undermine those who have spent many years studying and working in the UX field — their insights and experience are valuable — rather say that study and practice alone are not enough. You need empathy to understand your users’ needs, goals, and frustrations. You need objectivity to look at your product with fresh eyes, spot the flaws and fix them. You can learn everything else. Read More: Soft skills every data scientist should teach their child #2 Don’t use more than two typefaces Too often designers add too many typefaces to their products. You should aim to use two typefaces maximum: one for headings and titles, and another for body copy that is intended to be read. Using too many typefaces creates too much visual ‘noise’ and increases the effort that the user has to put into understanding the view in front of them. What’s more, many custom-designed brand typefaces are made with punchy visual impact in mind, not readability. Use weights and italics within that font family for emphasis, rather than switching to another family. Typically, this means using your corporate brand font as the heading, while leaving the controls, dialogs and in-app copy (which need to be clearly legible) in a more proven, readable typeface. #3 Make your buttons look like buttons There are parts of your UI that can be interacted with, but your user doesn’t know which parts and doesn’t want to spend time learning. Flat design is bad. It’s really terrible for usability. It’s style over substance and it forces your users to think more about every interaction they make with your product. Stop making it hard for your customers to find the buttons! By drawing on real-world examples, we can make UI buttons that are obvious and instantly familiar. By using real-life inspiration to create affordances, a new user can identify the controls right away. Create the visual cues your user needs to know instantly that they’re looking at a button that can be tapped or clicked. #4 Make ‘blank slates’ more than just empty views The default behavior of many apps is to simply show an empty view where the content would be. For a new user, this is a pretty poor experience and a massive missed opportunity for you to give them some extra orientation and guidance. The blank slate is only shown once (before the user has generated any content). This makes it an ideal way of orienting people to the functions of your product while getting out of the way of more established users who will hopefully ‘know the ropes’ a little better. For that reason, it should be considered mandatory for UX designers to offer users a useful blank slate. #5 Hide ‘advanced’ settings from most users There’s no need to include every possible menu option on your menu when you can hide advanced settings away. Group settings together but separate out the more obscure ones for their own section of ‘power user’ settings. These should also be grouped into sections if there are a lot of them (don’t just throw all the advanced items in at random). Not only does hiding advanced settings have the effect of reducing the number of items for a user to mentally juggle, but it also makes the app appear less daunting, by hiding complex settings from most users. By picking good defaults, you can ensure that the vast majority of users will never need to alter advanced settings. For the ones that do, an advanced menu section is a pretty well-used pattern. #6 Use device-native input features where possible If you’re using a smartphone or tablet to dial a telephone number, the device’s built-in ‘phone’ app will have a large numeric keypad, that won’t force you to use a fiddly ‘QWERTY’ keyboard for numeric entry. Sadly, too often we ask users to use the wrong input features in our products. By leveraging what’s already there, we can turn painful form entry experiences into effortless interactions. No matter how good you are, you can’t justify spending the time and money that other companies have spent on making usable system controls. Even if you get it right, it’s still yet another UI for your user to learn, when there’s a perfectly good one already built into their device. Use that one. #7 Always give icons a text label Icons are used and misused so relentlessly, across so many products, that you can’t rely on any 'one' single icon to convey a definitive meaning. For example, if you’re offering a ‘history’ feature,  there’s a wide range of pictogram clocks, arrows, clocks within arrows, hourglasses, and parchment scrolls to choose from. This may confuse the user and hence you need to add a text label to make the user understand what this icon means in this context within your product. Often, a designer will decide to sacrifice the icon label on mobile responsive views. Don’t do this. Mobile users still need the label for context. The icon and the label will then work in tandem to provide context and instruction and offer a recall to the user, whether they’re new to your product or use it every day. #8 Decide if an interaction should be obvious, easy or possible To help decide where (and how prominently) a control or interaction should be placed, it’s useful to classify interactions into one of three types. Obvious Interactions Obvious interactions are the core function of the app, for example, the shutter button on a camera app or the “new event” button on a calendar app. Easy Interactions An easy interaction could be switching between the front-facing and rear-facing lens in a camera app, or editing an existing event in a calendar app. Possible Interactions Interactions we classify as possible are rarely used and they are often advanced features. For example, it is possible to adjust the white balance or auto-focus on a camera app or make an event recurring on a calendar app. #9 Don’t join the dark side So-called ‘dark patterns’ are UI or UX patterns designed to trick the user into doing what the corporation or brand wants them to do. These are, in a way, exactly the same as the scams used by old-time fraudsters and rogue traders, now transplanted to the web and updated for the post-internet age. Shopping carts that add extra "add-on" items (like insurance, protection policies, and so on) to your cart before you check out, hoping that you won't remove them Search results that begin their list by showing the item they'd like to sell you instead of the best result Ads that don't look like ads, so you accidentally tap them Changing a user's settings—edit your private profile and if you don't explicitly make it private again, the company will switch it back to public Unsubscribe "confirmation screens", where you have to uncheck a ton of checkboxes just right to actually unsubscribe. In some fields, medicine, for example, professionals have a code of conduct and ethics that form the core of the work they do. Building software does not have such a code of conduct, but maybe it should do. #10 Test with real users There’s a myth that user testing is expensive and time-consuming, but the reality is that even very small test groups (less than 10 people) can provide fascinating insights. The nature of such tests is very qualitative and doesn’t lend itself well to quantitative analysis, so you can learn a lot from working with a small sample set of fewer than 10 users. Read More: A UX strategy is worthless without a solid usability test plan You need to test with real users, not your colleagues, not your boss and not your partner. You need to test with a diverse mix of people, from the widest section of society you can get access to. User testing is an essential step to understanding not just your product but also the users you’re testing: what their goals really are, how they want to achieve them and where your product delivers or falls short. Summary In the web development world, UX and UI professionals keep making UX mistakes, trying to reinvent the wheel, and forgetting to put themselves in the place of a user. Following these 10 commandments and applying them to the software design will create more usable and successful products, that look great but at the same time do not hinder functionality. Is your web design responsive? What UX designers can teach Machine Learning Engineers? To start with: Model Interpretability Trends UX Design

Open source software in general, and JavaScript in particular, can seem like a place where boom and bust is the rule of law: rapid growth before everyone moves on to the next big thing. But Node.js is different. Although it certainly couldn’t be described as new, and it's growth hasn't been dramatic by any measure, over the last few years it has managed to push itself forward as one of the most widely used JavaScript tools on the planet. Do you want to learn Node.js? Popularity, however can only tell you so much. The key question, if you’re reading this, is whether you should learn Node.js. So, to help you decide if it’s time to learn the JavaScript library, here’s a list of the biggest reasons why you should start learning Node.js... Learn everything you need to know about Node.js with Packt's Node.js Complete Reference Guide Book Learning Path. Node.js lets you write JavaScript on both client and server Okay, let’s get the obvious one out of the way first: Node.js is worth learning because it allows you to write JavaScript on the server. This has arguably transformed the way we think about JavaScript. Whereas in the past it was a language specifically written on the client, backed by the likes of PHP and Java, it’s now a language that you can use across your application. Read next: The top 5 reasons Node.js could topple Java This is important because it means teams can work much more efficiently together. Using different languages for backend and frontend is typically a major source of friction. Unless you have very good polyglot developers, a team is restricted to their core skills, while tooling is also more inflexible. If you’re using JavaScript across the stack, it’s easier to use a consistent toolchain. From a personal perspective, learning Node.js is a great starting point for full stack development. In essence, it's like an add-on that immediately expands what you can do with JavaScript. In terms of your career, then, it could well make you an invaluable asset to a development team. Read next: How is Node.js changing web development? Node.js allows you to build complex and powerful applications without writing complex code Another strong argument for Node.js is that it is built for performance. This is because of 2 important things - Node.js' asynchronous-driven architecture, and the fact that it uses the V8 JavaScript engine. The significance of this is that V8 is one of the fastest implementations of JavaScript, used to power many of Google’s immensely popular in-browser products (like Gmail). Node.js is powerful because it employs an asynchronous paradigm for handling data between client and server. To clarify what this means, it’s worth comparing to the typical application server model that uses blocking I/O - in this instance, the application has to handle each request sequentially, suspending threads until they can be processed. This can add complexity to an application and, of course, slows an application down. In contrast, Node.js allows you to use non-blocking I/O in which threads (in this case sequential, not concurrent), which can manage multiple requests. If one can’t be processed, it’s effectively ‘withheld’ as a promise, which means it can be executed later without holding up other threads. This means Node.js can help you build applications of considerable complexity without adding to the complexity of your code. Node.js is well suited to building microservices Microservices have become a rapidly growing architectural style that offer increased agility and flexibility over the traditional monolith. The advantages of microservices are well documented, and whether or not they’re right for you now, it’s likely that they’re going to dominate the software landscape as the world moves away from monolithic architecture. This fact only serves to strengthen the argument that you should learn Node.js because the library is so well suited to developing in this manner. This is because it encourages you to develop in a modular and focused manner, quite literally using specific modules to develop an application. This is distinct and almost at odds with the monolithic approach to software architecture. At this point, it’s probably worth highlighting that it’s incredibly easy to package and publish the modules you build thanks to npm (node package manager). So, even if you haven’t yet worked with microservices, learning Node.js is a good way to prepare yourself for a future where they are going to become even more prevalent. Node.js can be used for more than just web development We know by now that Node.js is flexible. But it’s important to recognise that its flexibility means it can be used for a wide range of different purposes. Yes, the library's community are predominantly building applications for the web, but it’s also a useful tool for those working in ops or infrastructure. This is because Node.js is a great tool for developing other development tools. If you’re someone working to support a team of developers, or, indeed, to help manage an entire distributed software infrastructure, it could be vital in empowering you to get creative and build your own support tools. Even more surprisingly, Node.js can be used in some IoT projects. As this post from 2016 suggests, the two things might not be quite such strange bedfellows. Node.js is a robust project that won't be going anywhere As I’ve already said, in the JavaScript world frameworks and tools can appear and disappear quickly. That means deciding what to learn, and, indeed, what to integrate into your stack, can feel like a bit of a gamble. However, you can be sure that Node.js is here to stay. There are a number of reasons for this. For starters, there’s no other tool that brings JavaScript to the server. But more than that, with Google betting heavily on V8 - which is, as we’ve seen, such an important part of the project - you can be sure it’s only going to go from strength to strength. It’s also worth pointing out that Node.js went through a small crisis when io.js broke away from the main Node.js project. This feud was as much personal as it was technical, but with the rift healed, and the Node.js Foundation now managing the whole project, helping to ensure that the software is continually evolving with other relevant technological changes and that the needs of the developers who use it continue to be met. Conclusion: spend some time exploring Node.js before you begin using it at work That’s just 5 reasons why you should learn Node.js. You could find more, but broadly speaking these all underline its importance in today’s development world. If you’re still not convinced, there’s a caveat. If Node.js isn’t yet right for you, don’t assume that it’s going to fix any technological or cultural issues that have been causing you headaches. It probably won’t. In fact, you should probably tackle those challenges before deciding to use it. But that all being said, even if you don’t think it’s the right time to use Node.js professionally, that doesn’t mean it isn’t worth learning. As you can see, it’s well worth your time. Who knows where it might take you? Ready to begin learning? Purchase Node.js Complete Reference Guide or read it for free with a subscription free trial.

According to Stack Overflow’s Developer Survey 2018, JavaScript is one of the most widely used programming languages. Thanks to its ever-evolving framework ecosystem to find the best solution for complex and challenging problems. Although JavaScript has spent most of its lifetime being associated with web development, in recent years, its usage seems to be expanding. Not only has it moved from front to back end, we’re also beginning to see it used for things like machine learning and augmented reality. JavaScript’s evolution is driven by frameworks. And although there are a few that seem to be leading the way, there are many other smaller tools that could be well worth your attention in 2019. Let’s take a look at them now. JavaScript web development frameworks React React was first developed by Facebook in 2011 and then open sourced in 2013. Since then it has become one of the most popular JavaScript libraries for building user interfaces. According to npm’s survey, despite a slowdown in React’s growth in 2018, it will be the dominant framework in 2019. The State of JavaScript 2018 survey designates it as “a safe technology to adopt” given its high usage satisfaction ratio and a large user base. In 2018, the React team released versions from 16.3 to 16.7 with some major updates. These updates included new lifecycle methods, Context API, suspense for code splitting, a React Profiler, Create React App 2.0, and more. The team has already laid out its plan for 2019 and will soon be releasing one of the most awaited feature, Hooks. It allows developers to access features such as state without using JavaScript classes. It aims to simplify the code for React components by allowing developers to reuse stateful logic without making any changes to the component hierarchy. Other features will include a concurrent mode to allow component tree rendering without blocking the main thread, suspense for data fetching, and more. Vue Vue was created by Evan You after working for Google using AngularJS in a number of projects. It was first released in 2014. Sharing his motivation for creating Vue, Evan said, "I figured, what if I could just extract the part that I really liked about Angular and build something really lightweight."  Vue has continued to show great adoption among JavaScript developers and I doubt this trend is going to stop anytime soon. According to the npm survey, some developers prefer Vue over React because they feel that it is “easier to get started with, while maintaining extensibility.” Vue is a library that allows developers to build interactive web interfaces. It provides data-reactive components, similar to React, with a simple and flexible API. Unlike React or Angular, one of the benefits of Vue is the clean HTML output it produces. Other JavaScript libraries tend to leave the HTML scattered with extra attributes and classes in the code, whereas Vue removes these to produce clean, semantic output. It provides advanced feature such as routing, state management, and build tooling for complex applications via officially maintained supporting libraries and packages. Angular Google developed AngularJS in 2009 and released its first version in 2012. Since then it saw enthusiastic support and widespread adoption among both enterprises and individuals. AngularJS was originally developed for designers, not developers. While it did saw a few evolutionary improvements in its design, they were not enough to fulfill developer requirements. The later versions, Angular 2, Angular 4, and so on have been upgraded to provide an overall improvement in performance, especially in speed and dependency injection. The new version is simply called Angular, a platform and framework that allows developers to build client applications in HTML and TypeScript. It comes with declarative templates, dependency injection, end to end tooling, and integrated best practices to solve development challenges. While the architecture of AngularJS is based on model-view-controller (MVC) design, Angular has a component-based architecture. Every Angular application consists of at least one component known as the root component. Each component is associated to a class that’s responsible for handling the business logic and a template that represents the view layer. Node.js There has been a lot of debate around whether Node is a framework (it’s really a library), but when talking about web development it is very hard to skip it. Node.js was originally written by Ryan Dahl, which he demonstrated at the the inaugural European JSConf on November 8, 2009. Node.js is an free, open-source, cross-platform JavaScript run-time environment that executes JavaScript code outside of a browser. Node.js follows a "JavaScript everywhere" paradigm by unifying web application development around a single programming language, rather than different languages for server side and client side scripts. At the JSConf 2018, Dahl described some limitations about his server-side JavaScript runtime engine. Many parts of its architecture suffer from limitations including security and how modules are managed. As a solution to this he introduced a new software project, called Deno, a secure TypeScript runtime on V8 JavaScript engine that sets out to correct some of the design flaws in Node.js.   Cross-platform mobile development frameworks React Native The story of React Native started in the summer of 2013 as Facebook’s internal hackathon project and it was later open sourced in 2015. React Native is a JavaScript framework used to build native mobile applications. As you might have already guessed from its name, React Native is based on React, that we discussed earlier. The reason why it is called “native” is that the UI built with React Native consists of native UI widgets that look and feel consistent with the apps you built using native languages. Under the hood, React Native translates your UI definition written in Javascript/JSX into a hierarchy of native views correct for the target platform. For example, if we are building an iOS app, it will translate the Text primitive to a native iOS UIView, and in Android, it will result with a native TextView. So, even though we are writing a JavaScript application, we do not get a web app embedded inside the shell of a mobile one. We are getting a “real native app”. NativeScript NativeScript was developed by Telerik (a subsidiary of Progress) and first released in 2014. It’s an open source framework that helps you build apps using JavaScript or any other language that transpiles to JavaScript, for example, TypeScript. It directly supports the Angular framework and supports the Vue framework via a community-developed plugin. Mobile applications built with NativeScript result in fully native apps, which use the same APIs as if they were developed in Xcode or Android Studio. Since the applications are built in JavaScript there is a need for some proxy mechanism to translate JavaScript code to the corresponding native APIs. This is done by the runtime parts of NativeScript, which act as a “bridge” between the JavaScript and the native world (Android and iOS). The runtimes facilitate calling APIs in the Android and iOS frameworks using JavaScript code. To do that JavaScript Virtual Machines are used – Google’s V8 for Android and WebKit’s JavaScriptCore implementation distributed with iOS 7.0+. Ionic Framework The Ionic framework was created by Drifty Co. and initially released in 2013. It is an open source, frontend SDK for developing hybrid mobile apps with familiar web technologies such as HTML5, CSS, and JavaScript. With Ionic, you will be able to build and deploy apps that work across multiple platforms, such as native iOS, Android, desktop, and the web as a Progressive Web App. Ionic is mainly focused on an application’s look and feel, or the UI interaction. This tells us that it’s not meant to replace Cordova or your favorite JavaScript framework. In fact, it still needs a native wrapper like Cordova to run your app as a mobile app. It uses these wrappers to gain access to host operating systems features such as Camera, GPS, Flashlight, etc. Ionic apps run in low-level browser shell like UIWebView in iOS or WebView in Android, which is wrapped by tools like Cordova/PhoneGap. JavaScript Desktop application development frameworks Electron Electron was created by Cheng Zao, a software engineer at GitHub. It was initially released in 2013 as Atom Shell and then was renamed to Electron in 2015. Electron enables web developers to use their existing knowledge and native developers to build one codebase and ship it for each platform separately. There are many popular apps that are build with Electron including Slack, Skype for Linux, Simplenote, and Visual Studio Code, among others. An Electron app consists of three components: Chromium web engine, a Node.js interpreter, and your application’s source code. The Chromium web engine is responsible for rendering the UI. The Node.js interpreter executes JavaScript and provides your app access to OS features that are not available to the Chromium engine such as filesystem access, networking, native desktop functions, etc. The application’s source code is usually a combination of JavaScript, HTML, and CSS. JavaScript Machine learning frameworks Tensorflow.js At the TensorFlow Dev Summit 2018, Google announced the JavaScript implementation of TensorFlow, their machine learning framework, called TensorFlow.js. It is the successor of deeplearn.js, which was released in August 2017, and is now named as TensorFlow.js Core. The team recently released Node.js bindings for TensorFlow, so now the same JavaScript code will work on both the browser and Node.js. Tensorflow.js consists of four layers, namely the WebGL API for GPU-supported numerical operations, the web browser for user interactions, and two APIs: Core and Layers. The low-level Core API corresponds to the former deeplearn.js library, which provides hardware-accelerated linear algebra operations and an eager API for automatic differentiation. The higher-level Layers API is used to build machine-learning models on top of Core. It also allow developers to import models previously trained in Python with Keras or TensorFlow SavedModels and use it for inference or transfer learning in the browser. Brain.js Brain.js is a library of neural network written in JavaScript, a continuation of the “brain” library, which can be used with Node.js or in the browser. It simplifies the process of creating and training a neural network by utilizing the ease-of-use of JavaScript and by limiting the API to just a few method calls and options. It comes with different types of networks for different tasks, which include a feedforward neural network with backpropagation, time step recurrent neural network, time step long short term memory neural network, among others. JavaScript augmented reality and virtual reality frameworks React 360 In 2017, Facebook and Oculus together introduced React VR, which was revamped and rebranded last year as React 360. This improved version simplifies UI layout in 3D space and is faster than React VR. Built on top of React, which we discussed earlier, React 360 is a JavaScript library that enables developers to create 3D and VR interfaces. It allows web developers to use familiar tools and concepts to create immersive 360 experiences on the web. An application built with React 360 consists of two pieces, namely, your React application and runtime, which turns your components into 3D elements on the screen. This “division of roles” concept is similar to React Native. As web browsers are single-threaded, the app code is separated from the rendering code to avoid any blocking behavior in the app. By running the app code in a separate context, the rendering loop is allowed to consistently update at a high frame rate. AR.js AR.js was developed by Jerome Etienne in 2017 with the aim of implementing augmented reality efficiently on the web. It currently gives efficiency of 60fps, which is not bad for an open source web-based solution. The library was inspired by projects like three.js, ARToolKit 5, emscripten and Chromium. AR.js requires WebGL, a 3D graphics API for the HTML5 Canvas element, and WebRTC, a set of browser APIs and protocols that allow for real-time communications of audio, video, and data in web browsers and native apps. Leveraging features in ARToolKit and A-Frame, AR.js makes the development of AR for the web a straightforward process that can be implemented by novice coders. New and emerging JavaScript frameworks Gatsby.js The creator of Gatsby, Kyle Mathews, quit his startup job in 2017 and started focusing full-time on his side projects: Gatsby.js and Typography.js. Gatsby.js was initially released in 2015 and its first version came out in 2017. It is a modern site generator for React.js, which means everything in Gatsby is built using components. With Gatsby, you can create both dynamic and static websites/web apps ranging from simple blogs, e-commerce websites to user dashboards. Gatsby supports many database sources such as Markdown files, a headless CMS like Contentful or WordPress, or a REST or GraphQL API, which you can consolidate via GraphQL. It also makes things like code splitting, image optimization, inlining critical styles, lazy-loading, and prefetching resources easier by automating them. Next.js Next.js was created by ZEIT and open sourced in 2016. Built on top of React, Webpack, and Babel, Next.js is a small JavaScript framework that enables an easy server-side rendering of React applications. It provides features like automatic code splitting, simple client-side routing, Webpack-based dev environment which supports HMR, and more. It aims to help developers write an isomorphic React application, so that the same rendering logic can be used for both client-side and server-side rendering. Next.js basically allows you to write a React app, with the SSR and things like code splitting being taken care of for you. It supports two server-side rendering modes: on demand and static export. On demand rendering means for each request, a unique page is rendered. This property is great for web apps that are highly dynamic, in which content changes often, have a login state, and similar use cases. This mode requires having a Node.js server running. While static export on other hand renders all pages to .html files up-front and serves them using any file server. This mode does not require a Node.js server running and the HTML can run anywhere. Nuxt.js Nuxt.js was originally created by the Chopin brothers, Alexandre and Sébastien Chopin and released in 2016. In January 2018, it was updated to a production-ready 1.0 version and is backed by an active and well-supported community. It is a higher-level framework inspired by Next.js, which builds on top of the Vue.js ecosystem and simplifies the development of universal or single page Vue.js applications. Under the hood, Nuxt.js uses webpack with vue-loader and babel-loader to bundle, code-split and minify your code. One of the perks of using Nuxt,js is that it provides a nuxt generate command, which generates a completely static version of your Vue application using the same codebase. In addition to that, it provides features for the development between the client side and the server side such as Asynchronous Data, Middleware, Layouts, etc. NestJS NestJS was created by Kamil Mysliwiec and released in 2017. It is a framework for effortlessly building efficient, reliable, and scalable Node.js server-side applications. It builds on top of TypeScript and JavaScript (ES6, ES7, ES8) and is heavily inspired by Angular as both use a Module/Component system that allows for reusability. Under the hood, NestJS uses Express, and is also compatible with a wide range of other libraries, for example, Fastify. For most of its abstractions, it uses classes and leverages the benefits of decorators and metadata reflection that classes and TypeScript bring. It comes with concepts like guards, pipes, and interceptors, and built-in support for other transports like WebSockets and gRPC. These were some of my picks from the plethora of JavaScript frameworks. You surely don't have to be an expert in all of them. Play with them, read the documentation, get an overview of their features. Before you start using a framework you can check it for few things such as the problems it solve, any other frameworks which do the same things better, if it aligns with your project requirement, which type of projects would this framework be ideal for, etc. If that framework appeals to you, maybe try to build a project with one. npm JavaScript predictions for 2019: React, GraphQL, and TypeScript are three technologies to learn 4 key findings from The State of JavaScript 2018 developer survey JavaScript mobile frameworks comparison: React Native vs Ionic vs NativeScript