Tag: developers

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Community Tips

10 Expert Tactics For Ensuring Cross-Platform App Consistency

If you’re looking for some of the best practices to ensure cross-platform app design consistency, then you’ve come to the right place. This blog will cover all the aspects of maintaining consistency and how to build a fully functional application. 

App development is a vast field and comes with many challenges to face. One of the challenges is to keep the UI design sustainable on all the platforms. That is why designers need to perform multiple techniques and methods to ensure that apps are working perfectly fine.

Why Consistency Is Important in UI Design?

UI design is the most important element of any application as it grabs the user’s attention. The more seamless and clean the UI design the less frustrated the users get. 7 out of 10 apps get deleted because of their bad UI design.

So, again consistency is key, keep the UI design uniform and let the user control the accessibility and have full control over the app.

But first, let’s put light on the difference between the three app platforms.

A. How Are Cross-Platform Apps Different From Native and Hybrid Apps?

Businesses always demand an app that can work even on the old versions of Android and iOS. A large number of users have old smartphone models, so no user should be left out.

Only a designer can have the best knowledge of all three, so let’s see how they are different from each other.

Cross-platform  VS   Native   VS  Hybrid Apps

Each of them holds significance in app development, however, you can differentiate between them based on these parameters.

  • Performance 
  • Customization 
  • App Data Security 
  • Overall Cost 
  • Market Competition
Factors Cross-PlatformNativeHybrid Apps
PerformanceDepends on the frameworkNo limitation when it comes to speedHigh development speed
CustomizationCan be customized according to user experienceHas better UI capabilities because it can be customizedHybrid apps can be customized
CostBest for low-cost and limited-budgetHigh-costCost-effective
App data securityAble to protect the user dataComes with built-in security featuresProvides security to an extent with encryption
Market competitionDoesn’t take much time to buildQuite time-consumingSame as CP saves time, and has reusable code

B. These 10 Expert Practices Will Maintain Consistency

These tactics are straight from a professional Android app development company. However, to ensure consistency it can be applied on other platforms as well.

i – Screen Size Adaptability

Start off with the screen size, as the devices are of different sizes and resolutions. Apps should be tested back-to-back on all the devices to ensure the screen size fits all the devices.

ii – Multiple Device Test

Experts suggest that when apps are all set to be launched, they need to be tested by the quality assurance manager. As a result, this will keep the app free from bugs and errors that keep meddling the user’s way.

iii –  Keep it clutter-free

Mobile app UI design should be decluttered in the sense that when users find so many options and tap on one screen it fills the screen. This is another thing that designers should focus on to keep consistency.

iv – Work On Readability for Visual Consistency

Visual readability is the most essential of all, the whole app design will fail if it doesn’t attract the users. This includes; themes, fonts, color palettes, imagery, and icons. All of these are focused on ensuring the users don’t find any trouble with the outlay of the app.

v – Keep In Mind The Finger Taps

The more time the user spends on the finger taps the more annoyed they become. Finger taps should be friendly and fast, slow loading taps are frustrating and consume time.

vi – Intuitive App Navigation

App navigations are like finding a way on a map, but expert designers suggest that taps and options should be not hidden under layers of pages.

vii –  Platform Rules Should Be Followed

All three platforms have some rules to keep in mind, so as per experts, each app’s standard should be maintained pre- and post-launch of the application.

viii –  Readability

When designing cross-platform apps, if there is one factor that triggers the whole app user experience, it is Readability. As apps are developed for all screen sizes and resolutions, content should be readable without pressuring the user’s eye. Also, the content should be brief and not long paragraphs.

ix – Review UI Pattern For Internal Consistency

For internal consistency, all the app pages should be followed by a review to ensure that the app has a consistent pattern of UI allowing users to retain their memory and enhance their learning.

x – Research the platform For External Consistency

Lastly, no app can be developed on any of the platforms if it is not well-researched. All the apps have their standards set. So, in order to keep the elements consistent, research is the key. So, spend time on the practices followed by the professionals in many top app development companies.

C. Some Of The Best Frameworks For Cross-Platform Apps

These 3 frameworks are used widely by the developers of iOS and Android app development. 

i – Ionic

Developers create unique and attractive UI designs with Ionic.  They can even alter the code structure which helps them to make modifications in the app design anytime.

ii – Flutter

Flutter is another framework that is considered impressive for building apps for cross-platform applications.

Moreover, this framework doesn’t require continuous updating so that implies that it will help in maintaining a consistent UI design. Also, it can work on all sorts of new interfaces.

iii – React Native

No apps can be developed without having React Native on their hands. All the bugs and errors are fixed easily with it.  Besides, the reason why React Native is given much consideration is because it requires one code for all which saves developers a lot of time. 

Conclusion

These were some of the best expert tactics to ensure the UI design consistency of the apps.

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Community Tips

The Future of Front-End Development: Don’t Get Left Behind

Front-end development is really the closest coding gets to connecting directly with users. Every choice you make impacts the experiences people have with websites and mobile apps. This makes your skills and creative perspectives as a developer extremely valuable to organizations that need online resources. Which, let’s face it, is pretty much every organization today.

That said, the digital landscape is constantly changing. To keep being successful as a developer, you need to have a good understanding of what the future of front-end is likely to be and how you can navigate it. Let’s dive a little deeper into this issue.

In-Demand Features and Tech

As a front-end developer, one of the keys to not getting left behind is to embrace the technology and features that clients are prioritizing. This isn’t just the elements that are popular now, but also those that are likely to demand in the foreseeable future. Nobody’s expecting you to be both the master of all skills and a technological Nostradamus all rolled into one. Nevertheless, there are a few areas of front-end dev it’s worth keeping on top of.

Chatbots

Businesses are increasingly considering chatbots to be a front-line customer service and informational tool. It is, therefore, important to be adept in making conversational platforms that are relevant to specific clients’ individual needs and integrating these into websites. There are various platforms to help with this, including DialogFlow, which uses Google’s natural language processing (NLP) tools to support voice and text-based conversations.

Offline accessibility

Businesses naturally want their consumers to be able to engage with their web resources or apps easily and conveniently. Unfortunately, low network connectivity and dropped signals can disrupt this. One of the solutions is establishing offline accessibility. This is why it’s important to know how to implement effective caching, data storage, and information retrieval procedures. They let users interact with resources to some extent until connections have been restored.

Autocoding

Artificial intelligence (AI) driven coding tools can’t replace the creativity of developers. Nevertheless, it’s worth considering that autocoding platforms can be tools for efficient development. Starting to identify where to strategically automate some aspects of coding can streamline processes. On one hand, this gives you space to dedicate your attention to creative and problem-solving aspects. On the other, it makes you a more agile contributor for clients whose needs can change quickly.

Developing Collaboratively

As a front-end developer, it can certainly feel as though you’re operating pretty independently. Nevertheless, there are ways you collaborate on projects. This can be with clients or back-end developers, among others. These collaborations are likely to continue being important in the foreseeable future. To be left behind, you need to stay on top of how the nature of collaboration is likely to change.

Some of the aspects to be aware of include:

  • Collaborating remotely: One of the great advantages of the digital landscape is that companies have access to talented contributors across the world. This means that collaborating remotely, potentially between different time zones is likely to be key to your future in front-end development. Start getting familiar with tools that make these easier, like project management platforms and digital whiteboards for asynchronous ideation.
  • Collaborating in the metaverse: Virtual spaces are looking increasingly likely to be the future of online interactions. Therefore, you’ll need to start exploring not just how to develop for the metaverse, but also how to meaningfully collaborate with others within it. It’s wise to start testing out platforms for ideation meetings and perhaps even prototyping. Importantly, learn how to maintain the security of the data and ideas you’re sharing with others in these spaces. 

Additionally, no matter how you approach your collaboration, communicating your plans and ideas will always be vital to success. After all, there are various stakeholders connected to your front-end development and your actions in any project can impact those of other people. Mistakes here can cause conflict and may affect clients’ and other collaborators’ buy-in to your ideas.

Therefore, you need to adopt effective strategic plan communication measures. These include taking the time to suggest regular all-hands meetings that allow everyone to stay informed about the details of the project and feel meaningfully involved. You can also provide greater clarity on the goals and details of the development project with engaging visuals rather than just text explanations.

Maintaining Your Abilities

Not getting left behind in the future of front-end also means understanding that you need to pay attention to how effectively you’re functioning. There are likely to be challenges ahead that you’ll need to navigate. As a result, paying some attention to maintaining your ability to be a technical and creative contributor is essential. This isn’t just good for your professional efficacy, but also for continuing to enjoy what you’re doing.

Start by committing to seeking out opportunities to upskill. Even if you’ve already achieved a high level of development aptitude, there are always areas for improvement and diversification. Importantly, research into in-demand features and tools can give you the data to target the most relevant abilities. Perhaps above all else, be open to following your curiosity.

Another key to maintaining your abilities is to be aware of potential health risks associated with your work and mitigate them. For instance, computer vision syndrome (CVS) is an eye condition that can arise from prolonged screen time. This is due to strain from repetitive eye movements, closeness of screens, and even exposure to blue light. Be mindful of symptoms of such conditions, like regular headaches or light sensitivity. Importantly, take preventative steps by scheduling regular screen breaks and optimizing your computer setup.

Conclusion

Understanding the future of front-end development can help you more effectively prepare for it. This can include getting to know the likely in-demand features and tools, alongside best practices for working collaboratively as the landscape changes. Nevertheless, it’s important to understand that you can’t guarantee what the future will hold. Stay on top of industry news and have conversations with your professional network. This can help you to catch the early signs of changes so you can adapt in good time.

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Community Tips

Navigating the New Era of Learning: Top Generative AI Books for Programmers

Hello, we’re Computer Science Professors Dr. Leo Porter and Dr. Daniel Zingaro. We’ve dedicated our careers to helping students succeed in programming and computer science courses. There are approaches we know are effective in teaching novices, such as learning from worked-out examples and using real-world problems that resonate with students. When we’re reading a book, we’re always thinking: will this book help people learn? Does it use what we know about learning to serve as an effective teaching aid? Can we use this with our students? Can we for once stop analyzing the book and just read for fun? (The answer to that last question is, unfortunately, ‘no,’ 😀 We can’t help it!)

With massive changes happening due to generative AI tools like ChatGPT and GitHub Copilot, you won’t be surprised that there’s a swarm of new books that use generative AI to teach programming to beginners or to enhance what programmers can do.

In this article, we wanted to cover our top four generative AI books that are being published by Manning Publications.

Special Deal! Get 35% Off all Manning Products at checkout with code bldevnat23 @ Manning.com

Introduction to Generative AI
Introduction to Generative AI: An ethical, societal, and legal overview Numa Dhamani and Maggie Engler

We know, we know: you just want to use generative AI to supercharge your programming productivity. We want that, too! But we’re at the dawn of a programming revolution here, and we strongly encourage you to take the time to understand the ethical and legal concerns wrought by generative AI. 

What happens when generative AI models ingest objectionable speech or personal data? Why are these models apt to produce hallucinations, and why should we care? Why is it so difficult to address bias in machine learning? What is the critical role that human feedback plays in LLM training, and what are the associated costs to humans? Does generative AI’s use of copyrighted work fall under fair use?

As informed end-users of generative AI, it’s up to us to answer these questions–to understand what data we might be using, how that data was produced, and the societal and ethical impacts of these tools. This book helps us toward those answers.

We appreciate that many claims in the book are supported with references that the reader can check for additional details. We also benefited from numerous powerful examples throughout the book, such as racial bias in movie sentiment scores, a ChatGPT data breach, and a famous virtual influencer.

We’d also like to emphasize that while the focus of the book is on the responsible use of generative AI, there is also a non-mathematical overview coverage of how generative AI tools work, which we suspect will be of interest to many readers. For example, you’ll learn more about many concepts you’ve probably heard about in passing, such as foundation models, fine-tuning, emergent properties of LLMs, zero-shot and few-shot learning, and chain-of-thought prompting.

Finally, we applaud the balanced discussion of the pros and cons of synthetic media, the ways that LLMs are and will be misused, the ways that professionals are using LLMs and–of course!–the coverage of the impacts on education.

Dhamani and Engler’s Introduction to Generative AI is a must-read foundational guide not only to understand how generative AI works but also to understand its broader societal implications.

Learn AI-Assisted Python Programming
Learn AI-Assisted Python Programming: With GitHub Copilot and ChatGPT Leo Porter and Daniel Zingaro

The two of us (Daniel Zingaro and Leo Porter) wrote this book because we believe that the way new programmers learn to program has changed dramatically now that generative AI is here. We’ve both taught thousands of students to program over the years and a lot of our time needed to revolve around teaching syntax, which is the ways that words and symbols are put together to create programs that run. But generative AI handles syntax extremely well (which is a good thing, because many learners find syntax boring and frustrating). So, in writing this book, our guiding question was: what are the main skills that new programmers need to learn now?

In this book, written for absolute beginners, you’ll be writing programs that work from day one, in contrast to the before times when you would have had to learn lots of syntax first. You’ll learn how to test code that comes from the generative AI to check whether it is correct, break down large problems into smaller bits that the AI can better solve, and use a debugger to trace your code very carefully to see what it’s doing. Oh, and you’ll be learning Python along the way, too, in case you need that for your resume 🙂

The Complete Obsolete Guide to Generative AI
The Complete Obsolete Guide to Generative AI
David Clinton

Why would you buy and read a book with ‘obsolete’ in the title? What the author is getting at with this irreverent title is that generative AI is moving so quickly that everything written about it will be obsolete quickly. We may as well understand the foundations of effectively interacting with these tools, which is what this book focuses on.

The book starts by explaining the background concepts you need to know when working with generative AI tools. What’s a token? What are the differences between all of those GPT models? What the heck is temperature and Top P?

You need Python experience to read this one. This isn’t a programming book, though. It’s a “let’s see what we can do with generative AI!” book. You’ll generate fiction (not very good fiction… yet?), generate book cover images, convert slides to videos, and quickly obtain summaries of boring meetings and long PDF documents. The book tours many powerful generative AI tools that you may not have been aware of–it goes way beyond what the general public is doing with ChatGPT.

The key takeaway of the book is that the best results come from pairing your domain knowledge with the explosion of content you can create with generative AI.

AI-Powered Developer: Build great software with ChatGPT and Copilot Nathan B. Crocker

OK — so you’re already a Python developer and you want to start using LLMs to rocket your productivity. How? By reading Crocker’s new book 😀

This book shows you how to use GitHub Copilot, ChatGPT, and Amazon CodeWhisperer (and when to use each). It assumes that you already know Python, and we further suggest that familiarity with building APIs in Python would be a plus.

Through its chapters, you’ll build an Information Technology Asset Management (ITAM) system, using generative AI for each step… from designing the system to writing the code, generating data, testing and managing the deployment, and helping with security. (Yes: generative AI is useful way beyond writing code for you!)

The pro of writing the book as one comprehensive example is that you see how a complete application is built and deployed with generative AI help. The cons are that it makes it difficult to jump around the book and that if you are not motivated by the chosen example then the book itself may not be as motivating as a collection of smaller examples. We need books of both types!

For us, the material on system design is of particular interest, because in our time working with generative AI, we have done the high-level design and left the low-level code to the AI. Crocker’s book shows that experienced programmers can indeed push generative AI into the design realm as well, including proposing designs, creating class diagrams for designs, and comparing and contrasting potential designs.

Whether you want to understand generative AI at a societal level, to learn programming from scratch “the new way,” to add generative AI to your programming toolbox, or to be inspired to use generative AI to … generate (sorry!) content, we’re confident that you’ll find value in one or more of these books.

Manning Publications is a premier publisher of technical books on computer and software development topics for both experienced developers and new learners alike.

Manning prides itself on being independently owned and operated, and for paving the way for innovative initiatives, such as early access book content and protection-free PDF formats that are now industry standard.

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Community Enterprise Developers

Meet the Enterprise Developers – Interview Series #1:  Investment Sector 

Enterprise Developers - Who are they 1

The term Enterprise Developer has been showing up quite frequently over the past few years in Developer Nation and other programming communities. In our experience, this term can have slightly varied meanings, but it often relates to the Developers working in big teams/organisations, supporting enterprise-grade software development. 

To shape a more accurate definition and learn more about Enterprise Developers’ roles, responsibilities, and challenges, we decided to ask them directly. Hence, starting this new series of blog Interviews at Developer Nation, talking with Enterprise Developers, giving our community more clarity about their work and how it differs from a startup environment.

The first interviewee in this series has requested us to keep their identity anonymous; hence respecting their privacy, we will call them Dev A.

Ayan: Can you briefly describe your job as an Enterprise Software Developer

Dev A: I work as a Software Developer at an investment firm, my work revolves around writing tools and data pipelines that help traders/operations and also data pipelines that run during and pre/post trading.

Dev A has briefly described their work as building tools and data pipelines that help investors trade on the platform. 

A data pipeline is a function that processes raw data from various data sources and then posts it to a data warehouse for further analysis.

Ayan: What are some of the challenges and benefits of working at a large company compared to a startup?

Dev A: Challenges – a lot of existing infra to go through and gain understanding on. Slow review and deployment process, lot of stakeholders.

Benefits – Learn about processes, scalable solutions, how large infra is maintained. You get a hang of good practices.

Processes make it easier for developers to work and support each other in a big team setup. However, these processes can also sometimes  become bottlenecks when new features of patches in the code need to be shipped to the production. As Dev A mentioned, the review and deployment process is slow, and many stakeholders are there whose reviews are needed. On the good side, these processes ensure the quality of the code having it being reviewed by multiple parties. Especially in financial organisations a bug showing an incorrect balance can be a disaster for the product. 

Ayan: If you could change one thing about how your organization operates, what would it be?

Dev A:  n/a

I asked Dev A if there’s anything they would want to change about the way their organization operates. Apparently there isn’t anything that is rare but good to know. 

Ayan: How is AI impacting your day-to-day life? Is there a policy regarding the use of AI tools in your company?

Dev A: Not allowed to enter proprietary information in LLMs. Consider anything entered into ChatGPT is as good as posting it on social media.

AI helps generate quick commands for generic things – e.g bash commands, generate snippets, etc. Stack overflow replacement in a crude way.

From the response, Dev A’s org seems to have a strict policy when it comes to using Large Language Models like ChatGPT with any proprietary information. However, Dev A has been using it to support their development work, like generating Bash commands or code snippets to automate aspects of their job, using it as a Stack Overflow replacement – Very Interesting. 

Ayan: How much of your work depends on specific tools, frameworks, programming languages, or cloud providers?

Dev A : Many libraries are inbuilt and maintained in-house, but many are used from outside as well. e.g redis, github etc.

This one is a classic. To be easily maintainable a big software project is usually organised into libraries, which are easier to maintain and reuse in different projects. As Dev A mentioned, many libraries are built and maintained within the org itself. However, like any other software product, they also depend on other work in open source and outside to support the product development. 

That was all from this interview, but keep an eye out for more. If you know anyone we should invite for this kind of interview session, please feel free to write me at ayan.pahwa@slashdata.co

Ayan

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Community

Language Communities; Who leads the way?

Language Communities

The choice of programming language matters deeply to developers because they want to keep their skills up-to-date and marketable. Languages are a beloved subject of debate and the kernels of some of the strongest developer communities. They matter to toolmakers, too, because they want to make sure they provide the most useful SDKs.

size of programming language communities in 2023

It can be challenging to accurately assess how widely a programming language is used. The indices available from sources like Tiobe, Redmonk, Github’s State of the Octoverse, and Stack Overflow’s annual survey are great but offer mostly relative comparisons between languages, providing no sense for the absolute size of each community. These may also be biased geographically or skewed toward certain fields of software development or open-source developers.  ​

The estimates presented here look at software developers using each programming language globally and across all kinds of programmers. They are based on two pieces of data. First is SlashData’s  independent estimate of the global number of software developers, which was published for the first time in 2017. According to it, as of Q1 2023, there are 35.6 million active software developers worldwide. Second is the large-scale, low-bias Developer Nation Global survey which reaches tens of thousands of developers every six months. In these surveys, devleopers are  consistently asked about their use of programming languages across 13 areas of development. This gives a rich and reliable source of information about who uses each language and in which context. 

JavaScript remains the most widely used language. 

For the 12th survey in a row, JavaScript continues to take the top spot for programming languages, with 20M active developers worldwide. Notably, JavaScript is still experiencing growth, with a further 2.6M developers joining the community in the last 12 months. JavaScript’s lead is unlikely to be challenged in the near future, as its community has almost 3M more developers than the next closest languages. Moreover, JavaScript’s popularity extends across all software sectors, with at least 20% of developers using it in their projects. 

“Close to eight million developers joined the Java community in the last two years.”

In 2020, Python unseated Java as the second most popular programming language, but in Q1 2023, Java returned to just matching Python, with both languages now counting just over 17M developers. Java is one of the most important general-purpose languages, and although it is over two decades old, it has seen incredible growth over the last two years, gaining close to 8M users. This corresponds to the highest growth in absolute terms across all languages. Java’s growth is not only supported by traditional sectors such as cloud and mobile but also by its rising adoption among AR/VR developers, in part due to Android’s popularity as an AR/VR platform. 

Despite Java catching up, Python keeps adding new developers. However, in the last 12 months, only 1.3M developers joined the Python community, compared to the massive 5.6M developers who joined between Q1 2021 and Q1 2022. A major driver of Python’s growth was the rise of data science and machine learning, where 70% of developers involved were using Python in Q1 2022. However, this has decreased to 60% in Q1 2023, with other languages, such as Rust, Java, and Mathematica, receiving small increases and likely reducing Python’s growth. ​

The group of major, well-established languages is completed with C/C++ (13.3M), C# (11.2M), and PHP (8.8M). PHP has seen the second-slowest growth rate over the last 12 months, growing just 11% and adding 0.9M developers to its community. PHP is a common choice for backend and web developers but has seen decreasing popularity. 

PHP was used by almost 30% of all developers in Q3 2020 but by 25% of all developers in Q1 2023. This decrease in popularity is particularly apparent amongst web developers, for whom it has gone from the second most popular language in Q3 2021 (34%) to the fourth most popular language (25%) in Q1 2023, behind JavaScript, Python, and Java. Despite PHP 8 addressing many of the concerns developers had expressed about PHP, perceptions of it being insecure or outdated may persist.​

C and C++ are core languages in embedded and IoT projects, for both on-device and application-level coding, but also in desktop development, a sector that accounts for almost 45% of all developers. On the other hand, C# has maintained its position as one of the most popular languages for games and desktop applications. Overall, C/C++ added 2.3M net new developers in the last year, while C# added 1.4M over the same period. 

ranking of programming languages

Kotlin’s growth is beginning to slow

In previous editions of this report, Kotlin and Rust were identified as two of the fastest-growing language communities. If Kotlin’s growth continues, it will soon overtake PHP and join the ranks of the most popular languages. Kotlin’s growth has been largely attributed to Google’s decision in 2019 to make it the preferred language for Android development. It is currently used by 19% of mobile developers and is the third most popular language in the space. However, Kotlin may be showing signs of slowing its exceptional growth. Kotlin now has a community of more than 5.3M developers and has added more than 2.5M developers in the last two years. However, in the last year, there has only been an increase of 0.5M developers. Kotlin’s explosive growth may have resulted from a high demand for developers with Kotlin experience to fill a market need that may be approaching a level of market saturation. Despite Google’s preference for Kotlin, the inertia of Java means that it is still the most popular language for mobile development and still experiences immense growth.

“Rust has more than tripled the size of its community in the past two years”

Rust has more than tripled the size of its community over the past two years and currently has 3.7M users, of which 0.6M joined in the last six months alone. Rust has overtaken Objective C in the last six months and is the 11th most popular language in our survey. Rust has seen increased adoption in IoT, games, and desktop development, where it is desired for its potential to build fast and scalable applications. Rust was designed to handle high levels of concurrency and parallelism. Thus it can handle increasing amounts of work or data without sacrificing performance. Furthermore, Rust has built a loyal community of developers who care about memory safety and security.

Swift currently counts 5.1M developers, adding more than 1.6M net new developers over the past year. This growth continues to stem from Apple making Swift the default programming language across the Apple ecosystem, which has the effect of phasing out the use of Objective C. Despite this, Objective C has also shown strong growth, adding 1.0M developers in the last year alone, resulting in a community of 3.4M developers. This is primarily through its use among IoT developers, who are increasingly turning to it for their on-device code, as well as a growing number of AR/VR developers. Nonetheless, Objective C has fallen behind Rust, whose more modern approach may be more appealing to developers.​

Go and Ruby represent two of the smaller language communities that are important in backend development, but Go has seen substantially more growth over the last two years. Go’s developer community has more than doubled in the last two years, adding 2.3M new developers to its population, which stands at 4.7M developers. Similarly, Ruby has added 1.0M users to its community of 3.0M developers, showing impressive growth but trailing further behind Go. 

“Lua has added almost 1M developers to its community in the past year”

In the past six months, Lua has overtaken Dart to become the 14th most popular programming language. Lua has shown massive growth over the past year, going from 1.4M developers in Q1 2022 to 2.3M in Q3 2023. Lua is an alternative scripting solution for low-level languages, such as C and C++, and has seen more developers in IoT, games, and AR/VR picking it up. This could mark the beginning of Lua’s momentum and see it become increasingly popular, especially as the IoT and AR/VR spaces continue to grow. Dart has seen steady but slow growth over the past two years, predominantly due to the Flutter framework in mobile development filling a useful niche. However, with 13% of mobile developers currently working in Dart, a decrease from 15% in Q1 2022 may see Dart’s growth remain low, and its place within mobile development remain a minority language.

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Community Tips

8 Java Programming Tricks Every Java Developer Should Know

8 Java Programming Tricks

Java is one of the most popular programming languages in the programming world, used by millions of developers to build complex software systems and applications. As a Java developer, it’s essential to stay up-to-date with the latest trends and techniques to remain competitive and produce high-quality code. In this article, we’ll explore eight Java programming tricks every Java developer should know, including how java developers for hire can help you implement them in your projects.

  • Use Lambda Expressions

Lambda expressions are a powerful feature introduced in Java 8 that allow you to write functional-style code with less boilerplate. With lambda expressions, you can define a method as a parameter to another method, reducing the amount of code you need to write. For example, instead of writing:

List<String> names = new ArrayList<>();
for (Person person : people) {
    names.add(person.getName());
}

You can use a lambda expression like this:

List<String> names = people.stream()
.map(Person::getName)
.collect(Collectors.toList());

This code is more concise and easier to read, making your code more maintainable.

  • Use Optional Instead of Nulls

Nulls can cause many problems in Java code, including NullPointerExceptions, which can be difficult to debug. Instead of using nulls, use the Optional class, which allows you to represent an object that may or may not be present. Optional provides a safer and more elegant way to handle nulls in your code.

  • Use Streams for Collection Operations
    Streams provide a concise and powerful way to perform operations on collections in Java. With streams, you can perform operations like filtering, mapping, and reducing without the need for complex loops or temporary collections. Streams can significantly simplify your code and make it easier to read and maintain.
  • Use String.format for String Concatenation
    String concatenation can be a performance bottleneck in Java code, especially when concatenating large strings. Instead of using the + operator, use the String.format method to concatenate strings. String.format creates a formatted string that you can customize with placeholders and arguments, making your code more readable and efficient. 
public class StrFormat  
{  
    /* Driver Code */  
    public static void main(String args[])  
    {  
        String s1 = new String("Hello");    //String 1  
        String s2 = new String(" World");    //String 2  
        String s = String.format("%s%s",s1,s2);   //String 3 to store the result  
            System.out.println(s.toString());  //Displays result  
    }  
}
  • Use Immutable Objects

Immutable objects are objects whose state cannot be changed after creation. Immutable objects are thread-safe and can simplify your code by eliminating the need for locks or synchronization. Use immutable objects whenever possible to improve the performance and reliability of your code.

String name = "baeldung";
String newName = name.replace("dung", "----");
assertEquals("baeldung", name);
assertEquals("bael----", newName);
  • Use Interface Default Methods

Default methods were introduced in Java 8 and allow you to add methods to an interface without breaking existing implementations. Default methods provide a powerful way to extend existing interfaces and create more flexible and maintainable code.

import java.time.*; 
public interface TimeClient {
    void setTime(int hour, int minute, int second);
    void setDate(int day, int month, int year);
    void setDateAndTime(int day, int month, int year,
                               int hour, int minute, int second);
    LocalDateTime getLocalDateTime();
}
  • Use Reflection Sparingly

Reflection is a powerful but dangerous feature in Java that allows you to inspect and modify the behaviour of a program at runtime. Reflection can be slow and error-prone, and should only be used when necessary. If possible, use other features of Java, such as interfaces, to achieve your goals.

import java.lang.reflect.*;

 
   public class DumpMethods {
      public static void main(String args[])
      {
         try {
            Class c = Class.forName(args[0]);
            Method m[] = c.getDeclaredMethods();
            for (int i = 0; i < m.length; i++)
            System.out.println(m[i].toString());
         }
         catch (Throwable e) {
            System.err.println(e);
         }
      }
   }
  • Use Enumerations Instead of Constants

Enumerations are a more powerful and flexible way to represent constants in Java. Enumerations allow you to group related constants and define their behaviour, making your code more expressive and maintainable. Use enumerations whenever possible to avoid the problems associated with traditional constants.

public class Main {
  enum Level {
    LOW,
    MEDIUM,
    HIGH
  }

  public static void main(String[] args) {
    Level myVar = Level.MEDIUM; 
    System.out.println(myVar);
  }
}
  • Use Try-With-Resources for Resource Management
    Try-With-Resources is a feature introduced in Java 7 that allows you to automatically close resources such as files, sockets, and database connections after they are no longer needed. Try-With-Resources can simplify your code and ensure that resources are always properly closed, reducing the risk of resource leaks and other problems.
  • Use Javadoc to Document Your Code
    Javadoc is a powerful tool for documenting your Java code. With Javadoc, you can create professional-looking documentation for your code that can be easily shared with other developers. Javadoc can also help you understand your own code better and identify potential problems and bugs.
  • Use Dependency Injection for Loose Coupling
    Dependency Injection is a design pattern that promotes loose coupling between components of a system. With Dependency Injection, you can inject dependencies into a class instead of creating them inside the class, reducing the complexity and dependencies of your code. Dependency Injection can also make your code more flexible and easier to test, making it a valuable technique for Java developers to learn.

Use Unit Testing for Quality Assurance

Unit Testing is a crucial technique for ensuring the quality and correctness of your Java code. With Unit Testing, you can test individual units of code in isolation, identifying and fixing problems before they become larger issues. Unit Testing can also improve the maintainability of your code by ensuring that changes and updates don’t introduce unexpected side effects or bugs. As a Java developer, it’s essential to understand and practise Unit Testing to produce high-quality, reliable code.

Conclusion

Java developers for hire can help you implement these programming tricks in your projects. The tricks we mentioned can improve the quality and efficiency of your code, and help you stay up-to-date with the latest trends and techniques in Java programming. But if you need to do it asap, Java developers for hire can help you implement these programming tricks in your projects.

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Tips

Why Learning to Code Is the Ultimate Skill for Future-Proofing Your Career

Future-Proofing Your Career

As technology continues to shape the world we live in, it’s becoming increasingly clear that learning to code is one of the ultimate skills for future-proofing your career. With the demand for technology skills rapidly growing across all industries, the ability to code is no longer just a valuable asset but an essential one. 

Coding is a great skill on its own, but it can even enhance your existing skills such as writing or marketing. In this article, we’ll explore why learning to code is so important and how it can help you future-proof your career with practical advice that will further your learning.

Why You Should Learn Coding

Firstly, let’s consider the job market. According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, computer and information technology jobs are projected to grow by 11% between 2019 and 2029, much faster than the average for all other occupations. 

This growth is expected to create tens of thousands of new jobs in the field, making it one of the fastest-growing industries in the world. By learning to code, you position yourself to take advantage of this growth, opening up a world of exciting career opportunities in technology.

Tech Takeover

Moreover, technology is rapidly transforming the way we work across all industries, from healthcare to finance to retail. As businesses become more reliant on technology to stay competitive, the demand for tech-savvy professionals who can develop, implement and maintain technology solutions is skyrocketing. 

By learning to code, you develop a growth mindset that allows you to stay current with the latest trends and technologies. This not only helps you stay relevant in the job market but also allows you to continually improve your coding skills and take on new challenges throughout your career.

Professional Growth

In addition to the job market benefits, learning to code can also enhance your problem-solving skills, creativity, and critical thinking abilities. Coding requires you to think logically, break down complex problems into manageable parts, and find creative solutions to technical challenges. 

These skills are transferable to many other areas of life and can be applied to problem-solving outside of coding. For example, problem-solving skills in coding are easily applicable to the logistical aspects of sales work. Finding the fastest and most cost-effective way to tackle a problem is something that coding instills in its pupils.

Fulfilling Career Path

Furthermore, coding is a skill that can be used to build and create, making it an incredibly fulfilling pursuit. The ability to build and bring ideas to life through coding is a powerful tool, allowing you to create software, websites, and apps that can further your financial future. By learning to code, you gain the ability to create things that matter and make a difference in people’s lives.

Not to mention, coders aren’t going to be hurting for opportunities for a long while. Even with the rise of AI,  there’s always going to be value in a human developer who is willing to work with a team. 

Your career path can help you build wealth, it can help you in the future in case you need to work on your credit score and take out a loan as employment history is one of the things lenders will review.

The Basics Of Learning How To Code

So, how can you start learning to code? There are many resources available online, including coding boot camps, online courses, and coding communities where you can connect with other developers and learn from their experiences. 

Pick And Stick To One Programming Language

There are many programming languages to choose from, such as Python, JavaScript, and Ruby on Rails that could be the foundations of your first project.

There are too many languages out there to list down, but what’s more important than your first language is sticking to that language for at least a year.

 Programming at its core involves using instructions to tell a computer what to do. You can’t learn the basics if you keep changing languages while learning. Most computer languages aren’t all that different, so it’s best to stick with a language you find relevant to your goals.

Practice Consistently

Practice, as always, makes perfect, and the same goes for programming. Start with simpler projects and gradually work your way to more meaty projects. There are many online resources available to help you learn to code, such as Codecademy, FreeCodeCamp, and Udemy.

As far as scheduling goes, make sure to set aside a set amount of hours each week where you’re learning new things. Coding doesn’t have to be rushed, but you do need to be learning something every week. Stagnancy is the enemy of progress, and to avoid that, make sure you always have time to practice coding.

Connect With The Community

Programming is often a collaborative effort, and working with others can help you learn faster and get feedback on your code. Join online communities, attend meetups, and contribute to open-source projects to expand your knowledge.

The community is also a great avenue to vent your frustrations and worries. All these developers have had their own wellness issues. They can help you work your way through the tougher parts of coding in ways that are relatable to you. 

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Tips

Working in corporate to founding a developer first company

Working in corporate

Last month I got a chance to sit and talk with Darshan Shivashankar, founder and CEO of APIWiz on our brand new podcast. We two have collaborated in the past on API lifecycle management workshop and Darshan being a technical founder, whenever we talk our conversations tend to go in all places technical. So catch up on everything we discussed in this 50 minutes episode but here’s a quick summary or gist if you will for someone who needs more buy in before lending the episode their ears.

Darshan has 15+ years of experience in industry building technical solutions especially when it comes to designing API programs for companies looking for Digital transformation. In the past Darshan has worked with various industries from telecom to healthcare, FinTech to Neo banks. Though now a founder of developer first company, Darshan shared he never envisioned or planned his career to follow a fixed trajectory. Opportunities started coming in as he worked on more advanced projects and with right problem solving mindset and experience, he was acing the digital transformation process of the industries he worked in, sometimes leading and even starting their API first journey. 

Darshan figured out the technical debt associated with APIs journey of organisations wherein teams work in Silos, leading to a lack in collaboration, reliability and consistency in governance. If you’ve worked in APIs development for a big project or digital transformation mission, then you could easily relate to it. This is where Darshan felt a need for a solution that could help in API lifecycle management. After validating this idea within his network he realised that indeed there is a requirement for such a solution but not an immediate urgency to have that in place. This gave Darshan and team the opportunity to bootstrap their journey building APIWiz, focusing on addressing Developer centric problems.

I asked Darshan if he’s still involved in the development of the product and he mentioned he was actually writing code till very recently but now he’s more involved in hiring, planning and giving direction to the product, though he still knows the codebase in and out and is always ready to pull up his sleeve and get down to programming and tracking bugs whenever required, which for me was really inspiring to listen. The team at APIWiz is now scaled up after they raised funds from their investors and that’s where Darshan focused on hiring the candidate with right vision and mindset, as he believes tools and skills can be learned at job but problem solving attitude can’t be taught. Darshan also mentioned motivating team members to fill the job roles needed within the organisation enabling them to explore more arenas to work and fit in. 

I also asked Darshan where he sees industry heading and things he’s most excited about but I’m gonna tease, as he really has a deep and interesting perspective on this one which I feel you should listen straight from the Podcast to better understand it. 

P.S : eBPF and Raspberry Pis were mentioned 😛

Darshan also shared the struggles associated with starting a company from scratch, the role of support from family members, friends and people within your network and great tips for anyone just starting out fresh in tech and wanna make big, making this one of my favourite episodes.

If you listen to it don’t forget to share it with your friends who might learn a thing or two from this podcast. As always I’m always looking forward to your feedback to make this podcast better and if you have any guest suggestions feel free to share it via the comment section below.

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Community

Ada Developers Academy: Diversifying the tech industry for good

Diversifying the tech industry for good

The Developer Nation community takes great pride in collaborating with organisations that contribute to the diverse and inclusive evolution of the software development ecosystem. 

Featured in our blog spotlight today, the Ada Developers Academy whose mission is  to prepare women and gender expansive adults to be software developers while advocating for inclusive and equitable work environments. Ada primarily serves and addresses the needs of Black, Latine, Indigenous Americans, Native Hawaiian & Pacific Islander, LGBTQIA+, and low-income people. Here is more about Ada as explained by Alexandra Holien, VP of Revenue and Marketing, Deputy Director. 

Nine in ten students, employees, senior HR leaders, and human resources officers surveyed by Accenture in 2019 said that attracting women with tech experience is critical for their company’s success. 

Gender diversity brings substantial benefits to individual companies and the tech economy at large:

  • Bringing more women onto engineering teams directly improves product quality – by reducing problems like algorithmic or design bias, which are made worse by a lack of diversity. Companies with above-average diversity received 45% of their revenue from new products vs. 26% for companies with below-average diversity scores.
  • A study by the Stanford Graduate School of Business found that greater gender diversity raises tech company share prices. Companies in the top-quartile for gender diversity on executive teams are 21% more likely to outperform and out-earn the U.S. average (WomenDeliver.org), and tech companies led by women are more capital-efficient than companies run by men, achieving 35% higher ROI and, when venture-backed, 12% higher revenue (Kauffman Foundation). 
  • Companies with inclusive environments nurture innovation and shrink the gender pay gap. A study by the Gallup Organization found that more diverse companies have 22% less employee turnover rate; creating faster, sustainable growth.

Still, many companies struggle to recruit and retain diverse talent – that’s where Ada Developers Academy comes in. 

Our one-year, tuition-free coding school fast-tracks women and gender-expansive* folks into junior software developer roles. Through six months in the classroom and five months in an industry internship with one of our company partners, Ada students build the skills and experience they need to become developers. We know our model works – 94% of our graduates are hired into full-time software engineering jobs within six months of graduation. 

We develop engineers who are highly skilled and collaborative; graduates are experienced in practical, team-based software development and learning new technology rapidly. Our students are highly diverse; all are women or gender-expansive, 72% are people of color, 40% are racial minorities underrepresented in tech (Black, Latine, Indigenous, Native Hawaiian/Pacific Islander), and 34% are LGBTQIA+. Through our internship program, we help you find your future software developer from our diverse talent pool while also providing inclusive leadership training to managers to build better teams, better tech, and better business.

Our company partners rave about Ada graduates:

“Ada is a great partner that produces professional, and technically skilled women, who have proven successful in a fast-paced, technically challenging environment. Not only have the employees that we have hired through Ada internships continued to grow in their careers, given the strong foundation they started with, but they have all been strong carriers of our core values. They are collaborative, communicative and passionate about their work…I’ve gotten to know a lot of different coding education programs, and Ada continues to be a favourite to work with.”

Zillow 

“Diversity and Inclusion in the workplace is a top priority for Skytap. We know we still have a long way to go, but also recognise, we would not be where we are today without Ada. We have learned a great deal on the importance of having diverse talent and perspectives and ​inclusion in the workplace at all levels. Our organisation absolutely reaps the rewards by having more diversity in thought as we build a great product for our customers.”

Skytap

“The ability to attract outstanding tech talent is one of our greatest challenges. Ada has allowed us to do that while increasing the diversity of our workforce. Our software engineering organization is now 30% percent female — three times the national average. Ada has had a huge positive impact on our work culture. We’ve made improvements in our inclusivity and hiring practices, and it’s awesome to give our male developers the opportunity to work with devs who break the mold and shatter stereotypes.”

EnergySavvy

“After graduating from Ada, I not only successfully entered the industry but also advanced my career more quickly than I ever thought possible. Now, as a CTO, I can create opportunities for so many more people from non-traditional backgrounds, and I’m excited to impact how a whole company thinks about talent.”

Strike Graph CTO and Ada alum

“We want and could employ so many more Ada students.”

Amazon

Ada welcomes companies of all sizes to share in our mission by becoming a partner. We not only partner with tech heavyweights like Amazon, Google, Uber, and Microsoft, but also smaller companies and startups seeking diverse talent. Alexandra Holien, VP of Revenue and Strategy at Ada explains, “Companies are finally seeing the positive impact diversity has on productivity and the bottom line. DEI has steadily and rightfully become a priority for big tech. We are giving them direct access to the most diverse pool of talented coders that will transcend the next generation.” 

After nearly ten years of success in Seattle, Ada began expanding operations across the U.S., starting with Atlanta in 2021 and the greater Washington, D.C. area in 2023. “Our aim in expanding to diverse cities that are beginning to experience tech industry growth is to ensure that the wealth generated by the industry benefits the whole community and not just a select few,” says Ada CEO Lauren Sato. “Coming from Seattle, we have seen how booming tech can push communities out of their city, and we hope to see Atlanta become the first market to grow tech from within.” 

Since our founding in 2013, Ada has served over 1,000 participants and generated $50M in new salaries for women and gender-expansive folks in the tech economy, narrowing gender and racial equity gaps in one of our most prosperous and influential sectors. 

Learn more at www.adadevelopersacademy.org, and contact partnerships-team@adadevelopersacademy.org for information on partnering with us. Follow Ada on LinkedIn, Instagram, TikTok, Twitter, or Facebook. 

*Ada uses a national reference for the term “gender-expansive” (also sometimes called non-binary, non-conforming or genderqueer) and Transgender provided by GLAAD: https://www.glaad.org/reference/transgender  

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Community

Let’s Talk About Developer Wellness

Twice per year we run our global surveys with developers like you including professional developers, hobbyists, students, no-code software creators and as always we invite you to leave feedback, which we love to read!

For a long time we have been focusing on developer research aiming to shape the developer ecosystem, and improve the tools and platforms you are using everyday.  Listening to your feedback, we realised that there are a lot of you out there facing anxiety, feeling burned out and trying to find ways to improve your overall health and wellbeing. 

You asked, we listened! The State of Developer Wellness Survey is our first 5-min survey dedicated to your wellbeing.

For each completed response, we’ll be donating $1 USD with an aim to donate up to $1,000 to the Turkey / Syria Earthquake Appeal. What’s more, we’ll be running a prize draw for swag and sharing our inaugural State of Developer Wellness Report in Q2 with you. 

We are confident that the report will help raise awareness around the importance of work well-being for software developers. It is also expected to contribute to our understanding of the Developer Nation community and the challenges that our members are facing so that we can better support them with our content and community offerings.

If you’ve taken the survey and want to be notified when the report is published, sign up here. If you’ve not yet taken the survey, you can participate now!