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  • US Marine Corps Is Getting Into Software Development

    US Marine Corps Is Getting Into Software Development

    The US Marines are launching the all-new Marine Corps Software Factory (MCSWF) to develop software for the Corps’ use.

    Software development is at the heart of countless industries, and the Marine Corps sees potential benefit for the battlefield as well. The program will begin as a three-year pilot program to investigate potential applications.

    MCSWF is a three-year pilot to demonstrate a scalable, Marine-led software development capability. The three-year pilot will evaluate the demand from the fleet to better understand overall requirements.

    In particular, the Corps wants to ensure future marines have the ability to operate and utilize software-based solutions even in environments where they may be cut off from connectivity and access to traditional support.

    “Our Marines have an amazing capacity for understanding complex technologies. We must empower our Marines to use that technological know-how to create a more lethal force,” stated Gen. David H. Berger, 38th Commandant of the Marine Corps. “The Marine Corps is fielding more complex systems and platforms right now, and we must invest in our Marines’ and Civilian Marines’ capacity to advance in parallel.”

    “The Marine Corps Software Factory is about outcomes, creating advantage for Marines at the tactical edge, today”, stated Marine Corps’ Chief Information Officer, Lt. Gen. Matthew Glavy, Deputy Commandant for Information (DC I). “The MCSWF will provide viable capabilities to enhance mission readiness through the power of information.”

  • Why Dedicated Ephemeral Environments are Key to Successful Development

    Why Dedicated Ephemeral Environments are Key to Successful Development

    Especially in the fast-paced digital world that we’re now living in, project managers and team leaders are always looking for opportunities to improve their approach to the software development process. End users can no longer afford to wait years for a critical application to be delivered – in order to remain competitive in their own industries, they need it as quickly as possible.

    This is part of the reason why most teams have eschewed the monolithic development structure that was popular in the past in favor of more flexible and agile methodologies. In recent years, ephemeral environments have become a major part of that for a wide range of different reasons, all of which are more than worth exploring.

    What is an Ephemeral Environment?

    An ephemeral environment is a type of dedicated, temporary development environment that allows team members to test out new features and changes in a controlled place before officially deploying them to a live production environment.

    Instead of deploying a new feature that may not be quite ready, which in turn ends up causing issues for the critical work that other people are doing, developers can work in total isolation without worrying about these types of potential problems. Features can be honed and refined as-needed and, when they’re ready, they can be compiled into the larger project so that others are able to build upon this progress. 

    The Major Benefits of Ephemeral Environments

    By far, the biggest advantage of ephemeral environments comes by way of how they allow developers to both create and destroy these previous environments quickly.

    You don’t have to spend time creating a long-term infrastructure and doing all the (lengthy but temporary) work that comes with it. Ephemeral environments can be employed easily and exist only as long as they absolutely need to. If something needs to be tested immediately, it can be.

    Ephemeral environments also go a long way towards helping to control many of the costs associated with the software development as well. In a more “traditional” approach to development, many organizations end up paying money for cloud-based resources that eventually are no longer being actively used for the purposes of things like testing. Rather than paying for something that you’re not utilizing 100% of the time, you can instead utilize ephemeral environments and deploy them (and eliminate them) as frequently as you need to. That way, you’re generating the highest amount of value from your investment at a lower price than you would otherwise be paying. 

    This also has the added advantage of increasing productivity significantly – both in terms of individual developers and with regard to the work the team is doing as a collective. Developer B doesn’t have to wait around for Developer A to finish their work, at which point they get to start on theirs. Both developers can work simultaneously, albeit in isolation, without impacting each other. That way, you’d get two feature sets completed and properly tested in the same amount of time it would have taken you to arrive at one under previous development techniques. 

    Along the same lines, this has the added benefit of reducing the risk of many issues that commonly arise during software development. When everything is connected and different developers are working on various aspects of the same product at the same time, any issue can potentially impact the collective depending on the scope. This has historically been one of the major reasons why software development tends to take so long – after a certain point as things become more complex, there is no such thing as a “small problem” any longer.

    With ephemeral environments, this is no longer the case. If Developer A encounters an issue, it only impacts the work they’re doing. It happens in isolation, and it can be addressed in much the same way, all before anything is rolled out to the rest of the team and certainly before the product makes its way into the hands of end users. 

    Finally, ephemeral environments are also an invaluable collaboration tool for development teams. Individual members can share their work and collaborate prior to a feature being merged into the collective, allowing them to get actionable feedback more often than they would have in the past. 

    Overall, investing in an ephemeral environment isn’t just a “best practice” for software development any longer. If yours is a development team that is always looking for ways to maintain the highest standards of both quality and efficiency (and it absolutely should be), it’s no longer a recommendation – it’s practically become a requirement.

    Empowering a Better Software Development Process

    In the end, ephemeral environments are more than just another “tool” to be used to assist with the software development process. Once deployed, these temporary environments have an almost immediate boost on a team’s productivity because nobody has to wait around for someone else to finish their work. They have access to all the resources they would have in a live production environment, but in a silo that they can use to refine their own process.

    Not only does this make it easier to deploy features, but it makes it easier to test as early and as often in the process as possible. This leads to better, more reliable software being delivered far faster than ever before, which in and of itself is the most important benefit of all.

  • Amazon’s Open Programming Jobs Have Dropped by 32,000+

    Amazon’s Open Programming Jobs Have Dropped by 32,000+

    Amazon’s open programming jobs have dropped to a paltry 299, down from 32,692 in May of 2022.

    Amazon has been freezing hiring over the last couple of months and is laying off some 18,000 employees. As a tech company, Amazon might be expected to still have a plethora of software development jobs open but, as pointed out by a Slashdot reader, that number has dropped by more than 32,000 in the last seven months.

    Amazon’s software development jobs page still touts the exciting career opportunities available with the company…there’s just a lot less of them.

    We’re looking for software engineers who want to invent, build, and sometimes break things to make them easier, faster, better, and more cost-effective. To those who thrive at solving highly complex problems, and who aspire to impact billions of lives on a global scale: come build the future with us.

  • LinkedIn Automation Security: Learn How Can It Assist In Enhancing Your Business

    LinkedIn Automation Security: Learn How Can It Assist In Enhancing Your Business

    What Is LinkedIn Automation Security?

    Using LinkedIn automation can be a great way to improve the efficiency of your outreach efforts and get the most out of your account. However, it’s important to use automation with care. Some automated tools can be dangerous. These include spam and scraped data, which could be a legal issue.

    The best way to protect your account is to follow LinkedIn’s guidelines. The company will monitor your usage and may limit your activities. If you fail to comply, your account could be permanently blocked. In addition, LinkedIn’s algorithms are strong and will look for suspicious activity.

    Using an analytics dashboard will help you determine the effectiveness of your outreach methods. You can see how many replies you’ve received, how many campaigns you’ve launched, and how many of your campaigns have been accepted.

    The Importance of LinkedIn Automation Security

    Using automation on LinkedIn is a great way to increase your outreach efforts and convert prospects to leads. It is important to use the right tools though, to make sure you’re doing everything legally and safely. Below are some do’s and don’ts to help you avoid getting banned from the platform.

    ●  LinkedIn has a strict policy against spam. This means that automated tools that scrape or collect data from your contacts can be a legal issue. Also, if you’re sending out all connection requests at the same time, this raises red flags. This can result in your account being blocked or suspended.

    ●  You should use a tool that allows you to set parameters. This will make sure that your account is not spamming. You can also choose a tool that uses a dedicated IP, which makes it harder to be blocked. You can also try to use a cloud-based tool to minimize risks. Some of the more advanced tools allow you to integrate your automation with your LinkedIn account. You can also find tools that offer smart search options.

    ●  LinkedIn uses an algorithm to detect suspicious activities. If you’re found to be spamming, your account can be suspended or blocked. This can damage your online presence and can even lead to jail. If you get banned, you will not be able to use your account again. It’s important to keep in mind that the algorithms are constantly changing, so make sure you use the best tools to ensure you’re keeping up.

    ●  You should always read the terms of service before you use any tool on LinkedIn. There are a lot of different dos and don’ts to follow. You want to be careful when automating your account, but if you’re doing it properly, you should be able to avoid any problems.

    ●  You should only use LinkedIn automation if you’re doing it for professional reasons. For example, if you’re a salesperson, it’s a good idea to use a tool that is specifically designed for salespeople. This will help you to generate leads and build a reputation, without wasting any of your time. It’s also an easy way to increase your presence on the platform.

    The Functions of A LinkedIn Automation Security System

    Having a LinkedIn automation security system in place can be a great way to keep your data safe. There are several ways to do this, including monitoring and controlling your accounts and limiting your use of them.

    Monitor

    To get the most out of your LinkedIn automation best practices you will need to devote some time to planning, implementing, and tracking your efforts. The best way to ensure you achieve your LinkedIn goals is to set up a workflow and tracking system that will allow you to monitor and manage your efforts in real-time.

    Stay Within Usage Limits

    Using automation on LinkedIn can be a good way to maximize your reach, but you need to make sure you stay within usage limits. If you go beyond your limit, you may be blocked from the site. There are some things you can do to help prevent this from happening.

    First, you need to look for a tool that allows you to set your usage limits. This will help you avoid flagging your account, and allow you to measure your success. The next step is to decide whether you want to be public or private when you use the tool.

    You should also keep in mind that your messages should be personalized. This will make them appear more like real conversations. It will help you build rapport with your prospect, and it will also improve the safety of your messages on LinkedIn.

    Avoid Human Behavior

    Using LinkedIn automation security measures can be the difference between being able to get the most out of your LinkedIn account or being relegated to a dark corner. You’ll have to choose the right tools for your account, stay within usage limits, and follow the proper safety guidelines. Otherwise, you could face a ban from the platform.

    The first thing you should do is research various LinkedIn automation tools. Look for ones with a good reputation. They are often able to stay in the system without getting flagged. You can also find a tool that has a limit on the number of connections you can make in a day. These tools help you build a profile with maximum efficiency.

    You can also consider cloud-based LinkedIn automation solutions. These systems don’t inject code into the platform, but they simulate human behavior. They offer multiple-account management systems and inboxes. These vendors are considered safer than those who sell Chrome extensions.

    Lastly

    Using an automated tool to execute a security playbook in a timely occurrence is an admirable feat in and of itself. The best part is that these eds have the right people at the right time and the right technology to boot. Using the aforementioned technologies in tandem with the aforementioned sysadmins will put you on the fast track to digital security success.

  • An Introduction to Marketing Software

    An Introduction to Marketing Software

    Marketing is crucial for businesses. Regardless of your product’s or service’s excellence, you won’t get customers without getting the word out. Your business’s success depends on its marketing strategy, and effective marketing campaigns can even help average products sell more. Marketing is a soft skill not everyone has, but online educational platforms can help you become a better marketer.

    Technology has facilitated many business operations, such as marketing. Digital marketing campaigns are essential to getting your business a broader reach on the internet. Several software and tools allow you to market your business more efficiently and gauge the success of your marketing campaigns. Here’s all you need to know about some critical marketing tools:

    Social Media Management Software

    Social media marketing is a promising digital marketing avenue. Over 4.7 billion people use social media platforms, so businesses must use social media to reach out to wider audiences. However, social media marketing can get complicated. You must post regularly on several platforms. To reach the maximum number of individuals, you must publish the same posts on all your social platforms. Social media management software automates this mundane task for you, saving you time and effort. These tools also show you how successful a particular post is so you can adjust your digital marketing campaign accordingly. 

    Business Intelligence Tools

    A successful business requires collecting, analyzing, and responding to data by changing your business strategy when needed. Business intelligence tools help a company efficiently perform these tasks. They deliver customer behavior data and allow the marketing department to profile their target audience. Knowing the characteristics of your demographic enables you to personalize the marketing campaign according to their preferences. Marketing departments gain insight into the audience through business intelligence tools and use them to launch more effective marketing campaigns.

    Customer Relationship Management Tools

    Marketing mainly focuses on generating new leads and expanding your customer base, but retaining your old customers and ensuring they purchase from you again is also integral to your business. A customer relationship management (CRM) tool allows you to gain insights into your existing customers and effectively market to them. They capture customer information and data about purchasing history. The software also allows automated and seamless communication with current customers, improving customer experience.

    Email Marketing Tools

    Email marketing is one of the most common and straightforward types of digital marketing. You send emails advertising your services or products to new and old customers. You incentivize them to buy your products by offering vouchers and discounts. However, manually sending so many emails is an arduous task. Email marketing tools help you automate this process, and you can effectively reach out to more people through email. The software also shows you the email engagement rate. Integrate the content style of high-performing emails into future emails to increase website traffic.

    Endnote

    Efficient businesses always consider how to effectively market their products or services to potential customers. As the world goes digital, so do businesses. Your company must use software and tools to automate its workflow and analyze data. Your marketing departments can use these tools to get insights into the target audience and automate their work. Typical marketing software includes social media management software, business intelligence tools, customer relationship management tools, and email marketing tools. These tools allow you to effectively improve their marketing campaigns by generating more leads and increasing customer lifetime value.

  • TrenDemon CEO: We Connect Content Marketing to Sales

    TrenDemon CEO: We Connect Content Marketing to Sales

    The CEO of TrenDemon, Avishai Sharon, says that they created their cloud-based software solution in order to help companies prove that the marketing content they produced also achieved business goals and sales. In order to show this correlation, the TrenDemon software analyzes all of the different touchpoints the customer has had over his lifecycle and then reverse engineers those successful journeys in order to find out what content is working.

    Avishai Sharon, Co-founder & CEO of TrenDemon, discussed their software on ILTV:

    How Do You Connect Content Marketing to Sales?

    My personal background was heading a marketing agency for many years and one of my biggest struggles was how do I prove our value and our effort to our customers and how do you connect the impact of what we call content marketing to business goals and to sales? When we couldn’t find an easy way to show that correlation three and a half years ago we went ahead and founded TrenDemon to help companies do just that.

    We connect their marketing efforts, which today rely mostly on content, you want your audience to consume valuable content, as opposed to just advertising. The big challenge is how do you attribute those efforts to sales? There’s actually a prior problem, how do you actually map the customer journey? How do you track those different touch points into one picture?

    Reverse Engineering Successful Customer Journeys

    The first thing we do is look at all the different touchpoints that a customer has had over his lifecycle. We ask the question, not just where do they come from, but how deep was their engagement? Did they actually watch the video? Did they actually read the article? Then you can start reverse engineering those successful journeys and say what’s common about all of these successful journeys.

    What we found, and this is the interesting thing, we’re working with over 90 companies today worldwide and the vast majority of content the companies produce, over 90 percent, is ineffective at driving business goals. As you guys know it’s very expensive to create quality content and it takes a lot of effort.

    If People Read the Right Content They Will Covert to a Sale

    The second interesting thing is that if you do manage to find those 10 percent and you find a way to get it in front of the right people you’re actually able to improve dramatically your results. So there’s not just a correlation between what buyers did beforehand, there’s also a causation, a causal relationship, that if people read the right content at the right time they’re more likely to follow a path. We’re not probably as sophisticated as we believe that we are.

    We’re a SaaS company, a cloud-based solution. We’re working a lot in the US and one of our biggest markets and growing markets is Japan. They’re investing a lot of content and a lot on technology. Essentially, because we look at the customer journey and not necessarily specific languages we can operate in any environment which allows us to grow pretty much anywhere. As long as they have content, which means that they’re producing something other than just advertising, they want people and audiences to actually engage with what they’re producing and they do have some business outcomes that they’re looking to measure.

    About TrenDemon:

    Founded in 2013, TrenDemon is the world’s leading content marketing attribution and optimization solution, helping marketers prove and improve their content’s impact.

    TrenDemon insights can help you uncover your content marketing ROI, impact on business goals, and engagement to help guide the content strategy. Our optimization units will help you increase conversions and shorten time to convert on your owned assets.

    TrenDemon proudly serves a wide range of customers, from Fortune 500s and brands to SaaS, B2B, and financial companies and is backed by leading VCs.

  • Fixie.ai CEO: AI Will Lead to ‘The End of Programming’

    Fixie.ai CEO: AI Will Lead to ‘The End of Programming’

    Matt Welsh, CEO of Fixie.ai, has made the bold prediction that AI will lead to “the end of programming.”

    Many companies are working to improve AI systems to the point where they can tackle complex problems, such as computer programming. While progress has been made, there are still significant limitations. Despite that, Welsh believes the time is coming when AI systems will revolutionize the software industry.

    Writing in January’s Communications of the ACM, Welsh makes the case that AI will ultimately replace software altogether, in most situations at least:

    I believe the conventional idea of “writing a program” is headed for extinction, and indeed, for all but very specialized applications, most software, as we know it, will be replaced by AI systems that are trained rather than programmed. In situations where one needs a “simple” program (after all, not everything should require a model of hundreds of billions of parameters running on a cluster of GPUs), those programs will, themselves, be generated by an AI rather than coded by hand.

    Welsh believes the definition of software engineers will fundamentally change, with an emphasis on AI training models:

    So I am not just talking about things like Github’s CoPilot replacing programmers.1 I am talking about replacing the entire concept of writing programs with training models. In the future, CS students are not going to need to learn such mundane skills as how to add a node to a binary tree or code in C++. That kind of education will be antiquated, like teaching engineering students how to use a slide rule.

    The engineers of the future will, in a few keystrokes, fire up an instance of a four-quintillion-parameter model that already encodes the full extent of human knowledge (and then some), ready to be given any task required of the machine. The bulk of the intellectual work of getting the machine to do what one wants will be about coming up with the right examples, the right training data, and the right ways to evaluate the training process. Suitably powerful models capable of generalizing via few-shot learning will require only a few good examples of the task to be performed. Massive, human-curated datasets will no longer be necessary in most cases, and most people “training” an AI model will not be running gradient descent loops in PyTorch, or anything like it. They will be teaching by example, and the machine will do the rest.

    Welsh’s predictions are certainly among the most optimistic regarding AI’s future. Nonetheless, at the pace with which the technology is improving, his predictions are certainly not outside the realm of possibliity.

  • Rust, Kotlin, Java, and Python See Huge Growth

    Rust, Kotlin, Java, and Python See Huge Growth

    SlashData has released its 23rd State of the Developer Nation report, and it’s good news for Rust, Kotlin, Java, and Python.

    SlashData researchers looked at the state of the software development industry and found that several languages are experiencing near-meteoric rises in adoption. The survey included some 26,000 developers in 163 countries.

    The report found that some old stalwarts continue to rise in popularity. For example, Java’s community of developers has nearly doubled in the last two years, from 8.3 million to 16.5 million. This was nearly double the overall growth of the global developer community.

    Similarly, Python now has nearly 17 million developers in its community, 8 million of them being added in the last two years. Python has benefited from the growing importance of artificial intelligence (AI) and machine learning (ML), with 63% of ML developers and data scientists relying on the language.

    Despite Java and Python’s impressive growth, Rust and Kotlin are the real winners, with both languages seeing a major uptick.

    Rust’s developer community has more than tripled in two years, going from 0.8 million to 2.8 million. The language’s popularity is largely due to the performance, memory safety, and security that it offers, even being one of the languages the NSA recommends, along with Java.

    Kotlin is likewise experiencing major growth, thanks to being an official language for Android development, one that Google now prefers. As a result, Kotlin’s developer base has more than doubled in the last two years, from 2.3 million to 6.1 million.

    SlashData’s report shows just how much the software development community is changing as a result of various trends, such as AI, ML, the need for memory safe computing, and more.

  • The NSA Pushes for Adoption of Memory Safe Coding Languages

    The NSA Pushes for Adoption of Memory Safe Coding Languages

    The National Security Agency (NSA) is pushing for the adoption of memory safe coding languages in an effort to improve security.

    Software memory issues constitute one of the biggest sources of vulnerabilities for bad actors to exploit. Older, more established programming languages often lack automated means of managing memory, putting additional burdens on programmers to ensure no memory errors creep in.

    “How a software program manages memory is core to preventing many vulnerabilities and ensuring a program is robust,” writes the NSA in its Cybersecurity Information Sheet. “Exploiting poor or careless memory management can allow a malicious cyber actor to perform nefarious acts, such as crashing the program at will or changing the instructions of the executing program to do whatever the actor desires. Even un-exploitable issues with memory management can result in incorrect program results, degradation of the program’s performance over time, or seemingly random program crashes.”

    The NSA is now pushing for the adoption of languages that offer better memory management features, so-called “memory safe languages.” Memory safe languages include C#, Go, Java®, Ruby™, Rust®, and Swift.

    “Using a memory safe language can help prevent programmers from introducing certain types of memory-related issues,” the NSA adds. “Memory is managed automatically as part of the computer language; it does not rely on the programmer adding code to implement memory protections. The language institutes automatic protections using a combination of compile time and runtime checks. These inherent language features protect the programmer from introducing memory management mistakes unintentionally. Examples of memory safe languages include C#, Go, Java, Ruby, Rust, and Swift.”

    Rust, in particular, has gained publicity and adoption for being a memory safe language. Rust has been making its way into the Linux kernel and was chosen by System76, makers of the popular Pop!_OS Linux distro, to create their new COSMIC desktop environment.

  • Programmers in High Demand, Called ‘the Most Scarce Commodity on the Planet’

    Programmers in High Demand, Called ‘the Most Scarce Commodity on the Planet’

    Despite the spate of layoffs and hiring freezes, it’s still a good time to be a programmer, thanks to continued high demand.

    Tech companies, large and small, have engaged in mass layoffs and hiring freezes, leading many to worry about their job security. Although no one is truly safe, one major tech investor believes programmers as a group are in a good position.

    “I like to say the most scarce commodity on the planet isn’t oil or lithium or cobalt, it’s actually software programmers,” said Robert Smith, founder, chairman, and CEO of Vista Equity Partners, according to Yahoo Finance. The private equity firm manages some $94 billion in assets, primarily in enterprise software.

    “There are seven and a half billion people on the planet,” Smith added, “and only 29 million of us who write code for a living.”

    Smith credits the ongoing demand for programmers and software developers to the role they play in helping to transform entire industries and economies.

    “These are the people who are actually providing and building these productivity tools that have to continue to enable and digitize not only companies, but entire economies in countries, in education, in cybersecurity,” Smith said. “Those are the areas where we’re actually seeing that increased demand.”

  • What’s In a Name? Linux Kernel 6.0 RC-1 Is Here

    What’s In a Name? Linux Kernel 6.0 RC-1 Is Here

    Linus Torvalds has announced the first release candidate for version 6.0 of the Linux kernel, but it’s not much different than the current 5.19.

    In the software development industry, major jumps in numbers often denote significant feature additions, improvements, and more. Torvalds doesn’t espouse that view, choosing to jump from 5.19 to 6.0 because it’s easier to remember.

    “Despite the major number change, there’s nothing fundamentally different about this release – I’ve long eschewed the notion that major numbers are meaningful, and the only reason for a ‘hierarchical’ numbering system is to make the numbers easier to remember and distinguish,” writes Torvalds. “Which is why when the minor number gets to around 20 I prefer to just increment the major number instead and reset to something smaller.”

    It’s definitely a unique approach but, then again, when you’re the creator of an operating system kernel that’s used in everything from Android smartphones, to IoT devices, to desktops, to servers, well…you can pretty much version it however you want.

    At the same Torvalds makes it clear there’s still plenty in version 6.0, even if it’s not to the degree many would otherwise expect.

    “‘Nothing fundamentally different about this release’ obviously doesn’t mean there aren’t lots of changes, though. There’s about 13.5k non-merge commits in here (and 800+ merges), so 6.0 looks to be another fairly sizable release.”

  • Why Businesses Should Be Using Git for Software Development and Releases

    Why Businesses Should Be Using Git for Software Development and Releases

    Git is the most popular version control system (for software development) globally. It is a dependable option for collaborative development, as it does not only reliably monitor the changes in the project files but also enables the reversion to specific older versions of a software project. These already make Git an excellent option for collaboration, but it also offers several other features developers love.

    However, it’s not going to be all fun and games with Git. Businesses that decide to adopt it, should also be ready for the potential problems. Issues are inevitable, although the benefits clearly overwhelm them.

    Veering away from unnecessary complexities

    While some may argue against the claim that Git is easy to use, many would respond that Git is indeed intuitive, especially in simple use cases. Using it gets harder as systems become more complex, but not to an extent that would make developers abandon it without second thoughts. Noted developer Mislav Marohnić admits that his view that “Git is simply too hard” is unpopular, a minority opinion.

    To be intimidated by Git is counterproductive. Most of the issues that emerge when using it are unlikely to be as overwhelmingly complicated as some think they are. For example, when encountering the common error “fatal: remote origin already exists” upon running the git add remote origin command, the solution is simply to check if the “origin” handler already exists. If it does exist, running the command “git remote remove origin” will get rid of it and restore normal functions. The handler may also be renamed, or its pointing URL updated.

    If the errors are appearing more frequently and in greater numbers or instances, organizations can use an automated troubleshooting solution that provides advanced features including in-depth visibility, change intelligence, and insights into service dependencies. This solution can serve as a single source of truth (SSOT) for all troubleshooting processes and ensure greater efficiency. It takes away the unnecessary complications in processes and supports more efficient development and releases.

    Building strong development teams

    Git can be great for recruiting and nurturing strong development team members. On GitHub, in particular, developers readily present their credentials and accomplishments together with details on their website projects, open-source development projects, and repositories forked. Companies can look for remarkable talents by examining the candidates’ involvement with Git.

    Also, Git is a great place for honing junior developers to become strong and confident development team members. It provides a safe and empowering environment to work on projects, where members do not have to be worried about messing up or crashing a system. They can freely proceed with their experiments and pursue novel ideas that can help them enhance their skills in the long term while developing something that can potentially become big in the future.

    Enriching design skills and experiences

    Another excellent advantage of Git is its featured branches or feature branch workflow, which is highly suitable for rapid prototyping. With this, user interface (UI) and user experience (UX) designers get a sandboxed environment where they can try out their ideas and look back at the chronology of the project.

    Git is primarily built for developers and IT teams, but designers benefit from it as they create mockups and prototypes that would be submitted to developers. It is useful in implementing design changes to a product that is already being produced or has already been launched. Additionally, Git helps in providing guidance to developers regarding the development of specific design elements crucial to creating good user experiences. Also, Git can create a shareable workflow for the benefit of both the developer and design teams.

    With Git, designers and developers can see all the changes and progress they have made over the life cycle of the project. They can see how everything will look and play out without having to worry about breaking existing product functionalities. This sandboxed environment is a great way to present UI/UX project updates to the management or stakeholders.

    Enhancing marketing and product management

    Git has marketing and product management benefits, which are based mainly on its ability to speed up releases and enable developers to work faster and respond more quickly to changes. With Git’s collaboration-supporting features and ability to plug into other systems, companies can rapidly make their products available to clients or customers and allocate more of their time and effort to other important tasks.

    The shorter development cycles afford more time for marketing initiatives and ample opportunities to discuss product changes or explain new product features to a broader target audience. At the same time, since Git supports version incrementing, companies also have the option to focus their marketing efforts on specific feature rollouts. They do not have to wait for feature upgrades or updates to be accumulated first and then rolled out in a single major release. This flexibility in marketing software products is definitely an advantage for organizations making do with their budgetary, time, talent, and other resource limitations.

    On the other hand, Git provides product management benefits because of the frequent client feedback. Since product releases can be done frequently and for specific feature updates or function upgrades, development teams do not have to wait for weeks to get actual user reviews. They get to promptly troubleshoot problems and improve functions based on user feedback.

    Providing competent customer support

    Software customers are meticulous when it comes to technical assistance. They know they are supposedly dealing with technical experts, so they expect nothing but top-notch customer support. Git allows companies to provide the kind of pre- and post-sales customer service customers are expecting by providing a comprehensive reference for everything that has happened with the development of a software product.

    Git streamlines the development cycle, so bug fixes and enhancements are well-documented and promptly implemented. In turn, the software vendor can easily inform its customer service arm on what they need to know about their software products. This allows them to be knowledgeable enough to address customer questions proficiently and to resolve customer concerns satisfactorily.

    Improving experiences for everyone

    The numerous advantages and benefits of Git are not exclusive to developers or development teams. Businesses engaged in software development and sales, as a whole, can see palpable improvements in their operations with Git integrated as part of their development process. The efficiency this popular version control system provides also has the advantage of reducing operating costs and cutting down processes that slow down product development and release.

  • Why You Should Consider Using Software Composition Analysis (SCA) for Open-Source Software

    Why You Should Consider Using Software Composition Analysis (SCA) for Open-Source Software

    The use of open-source software (OSS) has become commonplace in the modern software development landscape. A recent study by Deloitte found that 96% of surveyed organizations are using OSS, and that number is only increasing.

    Despite the widespread adoption of OSS, many organizations are still hesitant to use it due to concerns about security and license compliance. These concerns are not unfounded; without proper management, OSS can introduce vulnerabilities and licensing risks into your codebase.

    Software composition analysis (SCA) is a tool that can help you mitigate these risks by identifying the OSS components in your code and providing information about their security vulnerabilities and licensing restrictions. Moreover, there are many advanced tools like Mend SCA that drastically simplify software composition analysis by automating it. In this article, we’ll discuss what SCA is, how it works, and why you should consider using it for your OSS management needs.

    Why Use Open-Source Software?

    Before we dive into SCA, it’s worth taking a step back to discuss the benefits of using OSS in the first place.

    There are a number of reasons why OSS has become so popular in recent years. Firstly, it can help organizations save time and money. Developing software from scratch is a costly and time-consuming endeavor; by leveraging existing open-source components, organizations can get up and running more quickly and affordably.

    In addition, OSS provides access to a wealth of talent and expertise. Open-source projects are typically developed by communities of developers from all over the world. This allows organizations to tap into a vast pool of skill and knowledge that they wouldn’t have otherwise had access to.

    What Are The Challenges of Using Open-Source Software?

    While OSS provides many benefits, it also introduces some risks that need to be managed.

    The first risk is security-related. When you use open-source components, you’re effectively incorporating code from third-party developers into your own application. This can introduce vulnerabilities if the third-party code contains security holes that are exploited by attackers.

    The second risk is related to licensing. Many open-source licenses have strict conditions that must be met in order for the code to be used. For example, some licenses require that modifications to the code be made available under the same license. If these conditions are not met, organizations can be in violation of the license and subject to legal penalties.

    These risks can be mitigated with proper management of your OSS components. One tool that can help with this is software composition analysis (SCA).

    What Is Software Composition Analysis?

    Software composition analysis (SCA) is a tool that helps you manage the open-source components in your codebase. SCA primarily operates by scanning your code and identifying the OSS components that it contains.

    For each component, SCA provides information about its security vulnerabilities and licensing restrictions. This information can be used to help you assess and mitigate the risks associated with using the component.

    Using SCA For Identifying Open-Source Code

    One of the main benefits of using SCA is that it can help you identify the OSS components in your codebase. This is important because it allows you to track the dependencies in your code and keep tabs on which components need to be updated.

    It can also be helpful for compliance purposes. If you’re required to comply with a license such as the GNU General Public License (GPL), you need to make sure that all of the OSS components in your code are licensed under that same license. SCA can help you verify that this is the case by identifying all of the OSS components in your code and providing information about their licenses.

    Another benefit of using SCA is that it can help you identify security vulnerabilities in the OSS components that you’re using. This is important because it allows you to take steps to mitigate these vulnerabilities before they can be exploited by attackers.

    For example, suppose you’re using a component that has a known security vulnerability. SCA would identify this vulnerability and provide information about it, such as the severity of the vulnerability and how it can be exploited. This information can be used to determine whether or not the vulnerable component should be updated or replaced.

    Conclusion

    Software composition analysis is a tool that can be used to manage the open-source components in your codebase. SCA works by scanning your code and identifying the OSS components that it contains. For each component, SCA provides information about its security vulnerabilities and licensing restrictions. This information can be used to help you assess and mitigate the risks associated with using the component.

  • A Look at Software Beta Testing

    A Look at Software Beta Testing

    In the world of modern software development, it’s no surprise that continuous testing would be an essential part of the software development life cycle especially to keep up with the many products out there in the market.

    Quality is one of the most important factors to achieve customer satisfaction and to build high quality software, this software needs to be continuously tested to make sure that it works as expected.

    Thus, many types of tests will be conducted along the software development process. Here, we will focus on one type of testing that occurs towards the end of this process: beta testing.

    What is beta testing?

    Beta testing is a type of testing whose aim is to check whether a software that is about to be released meets customer requirements.

    This is done by testing the software on a select number of users- beta users- in a live production environment to see how these users interact with the software and so that the development team can fix any issues that arise before doing a full release to the rest of the users.

    This type of testing also checks the reliability, security and functionality of the software and implements black box testing techniques, which mainly tests the software’s input and output functionality.

    Features of beta testing

    To better understand beta testing, we will list some of the most important features of this type of testing and what it entails:

    • Beta testing involves real users testing the product in a live production environment.
    • Users selected should be chosen to represent the target audience.
    • This ultimately helps minimize risk of product failure and improves product quality.
    • It occurs towards the end of the software development life cycle, when the product is almost ready.
    • This means the product should be stable enough and include all the features that are planned for the release.
    • It comes right after alpha testing, which is another type of testing to help validate the functionality of the release but the testers are internal users and not customers.

    Types of beta testing

    There are many types of beta testing but all have the purpose of improving the quality of the software being released, some of which are listed below:

    Closed vs open beta testing

    A closed beta test is when a select number of users are invited to participate in the beta test and so the number of testers is limited as it is not open to the public. Companies will need to do active research and recruitment of these users depending on the type of users they’re looking for.

    Meanwhile, an open beta test has no access restrictions, which means that anyone can sign up to test the beta product. As this test is wider in scope, it’s a great opportunity to collect quantitative data regarding your target audience and how they interact with your product.

    However, this can also make it harder to analyze the data when you have a large pool of users testing the product. Consequently, an open beta test may be time consuming.

    Technical beta testing

    In this scenario, beta users will consist of more tech savvy users with the goal to uncover more complex, technical issues that the average user may miss. These users would usually have more background and knowledge of the ins and outs of the software so that they can provide high quality feedback to the engineering team.

    Sometimes, these users could come from within the organization itself.

    Focused beta testing

    This type of beta test is focused on gathering feedback of a specific feature of the release, including key functionalities of the product.

    Post-release beta testing

    Here, the product is released to the market and feedback is collected for improving future releases.

    To sum up

    Beta testing is of great value during the software development process as it generates real time feedback from your most relevant users.

    This will result in better and improved products and hence greater customer satisfaction as you have the opportunity to optimize your releases based on your customers’ opinion.

    With beta testing, you basically minimize your blast radius so if anything goes wrong, only a few users are exposed to these bugs, which can be fixed for future releases of the product. What’s more, in the long run you will be releasing products that your customers actually like and need. Thus, beta testing has become a staple of modern software development.

  • Benefits of Introducing Software and Technology in Agriculture

    Benefits of Introducing Software and Technology in Agriculture

    Farming isn’t what it used to be thanks to the introduction of technology and software engineering in agriculture. Agricultural software has revolutionized agriculture and has enabled greater per acre yield to fulfill the demands of growing nations and economies. Rather than relying on intuition, farmers can back their experience with reliable data and power their decision-making. Given below are some of the benefits associated with introducing software in agriculture:

    Ability to use GPS Tracking

    Rather than manually having to visit agricultural fields for surveillance, farmers can simply use a combination of GPS tracking and drone camera technology to view any part or portion of their field. This is especially useful in cases of large acres of cultivated land with certain parts that are susceptible to water or insect damage and hence require constant video surveillance. Certain thermally powered drone cameras are also able to point out areas in the field that may be experiencing water shortages and notify farmers accordingly.

    Ability to increase yields per acre

    The growing worldwide population has presented a growing demand for agricultural goods with the amount of cultivated land remaining the same. This increase in demand calls for the need to increase per acre yield, and the introduction of technology in agriculture has made it possible. Enhanced quality seeds, better machinery, optimized watering, and just enough use of supplements have increased crop yield and agricultural productivity astoundingly. Agriculture software also notifies farmers about the optimal time to plant seeds which also contributes to an increase in yields per acre.

    Optimal use of resources

    Water, insecticides, pesticides, and fertilizers are important farming resources that need to be used in optimal quantities to protect crops from undue damage and to improve crop yield. Modern technology and software allow farmers to assess their crops and determine the exact pesticides and supplements required for their yield. While earlier farmers used to apply a standard amount of the mentioned resources all over their field, technology enables them to scientifically assess their current yield and determine the exact mix of nutrients required.

    Introduction of mechanization

    Earlier, manual labor used to be a crucial part of all farming practices with most of the agricultural work such as land preparation, seed sowing, irrigation, fertilization, and harvest happening manually. Technology and software have enabled the mechanization of agriculture and hence have optimized all agricultural processes. Work that used to take up days of a farmer’s time can now be completed in a matter of hours. The use of machinery has also standardized crop yield as manual work doesn’t guarantee stable yields.

    Prediction of weather conditions

    Climate and weather prediction are integral parts of agricultural processes, and software allows farmers to be aware of probable weather conditions through artificial intelligence. Harsh weather conditions require farmers to prepare their agricultural lands accordingly and install protective barriers for oncoming troubles. AI-powered tools hence enable precision farming and aid experienced farmers in decision-making. Certain agricultural software, in addition to predicting the weather, also notify farmers of the appropriate measure they should be taking in each case scenario.

  • Miguel de Icaza, Xamarin Founder, Leaving Microsoft

    Miguel de Icaza, Xamarin Founder, Leaving Microsoft

    Miguel de Icaza, founder of Xamarin and a developer behind the Mono framework, is leaving Microsoft.

    Miguel de Icaza was one of the original developers that helped create the Mono framework, in an effort to bring .Net to Linux. He went on to co-found Xamarin, a company dedicated to supporting Mono and using such frameworks to make cross-platform mobile development much faster and easier. Microsoft acquired Xamarin in 2016, and de Icaza stayed with the company.

    According to ZDNet’s Mary Jo Foley, de Icaza is now leaving, and will likely pursue various startup opportunities…eventually.

    “I am going to rest while the kids are in school,” he told Foley, saying he plans on enjoying vacation time with them. Ultimately, however, de Icaza believes he’ll be lured back to the startup life.

    “Living in this industry is like the kid at the candy store – too many things are happening and there are too many choices. So I want to spend some time sampling some of the candy, and then deciding which one I want to buy a pound of,” de Icaza said.

    “If I wanted to work for a big company, I would have stayed here (at Microsoft). It is awesome here,” he added. “I learned a lot, it was good, but I do miss the startup world, and building and running a team – which I have not been doing here in this role.”

    Given his track record of innovative development, it’s a safe bet de Icaza will have no shortage of opportunities available to him.

  • The Best Method to Choose a Software Development Company

    The Best Method to Choose a Software Development Company

    Are you seeking a software development company that will be beneficial to your organization? There are a lot of things to consider before choosing a software development company. Let’s go through the phases.

    1. Specify your IT outsourcing needs

    The first step is to have expectations and consider what you want the software development company to deliver to you. 

    Think about your business goals and long-term strategy. Decide if you need a long-term partner or support that’s available when you demand.

    Spell out the roles the software development company will deliver to your business structure. If there is a specific methodology you want to follow, specify it.

    Do you want to communicate with the outsourcing partner daily, or do you favor periodical reports?

    All these and more should be a part of your initial partnership requirements that will guide your negotiations with the software development company.

    2. Assess the profile of the software development company

    You will find a long list of companies, but the best company should have several things that fit, such as a technology specialization that suits your company. This can be in terms of programming framework, language, or mobile development skills.

    You should also consider new technologies that could contribute to your project, including experience in software like CMS, CRM, or ERM.

    It is beneficial to work with a team that offers advanced solutions, but even a focused set of skills can be what you need.

    It is necessary to pay attention to a development company that is used to working within your field.

    Consider the portfolio of each development company, projects they have done, and clients they have worked with.

    Consider reviews and testimonials, and then consider companies that have done a project you are interested in. 

    Study their content to see if they catch your attention and can keep you interested, 

    3. What is their Technological expertise?

    Have a tech interview with the senior developer, PO, and CTO working in the software development company. Handle the interview based on Needs and Technical knowledge.

    Don’t decide without considering how well they can work with your infrastructure, architecture, and technology stack. Work on achieving great communication between the company’s team and yours.

    Going further, you can determine their team’s experience by studying their LinkedIn data to determine the seniority of the partner’s developers 

    Find out how the company trains and supports its developers by training them, having seminars, hackathons, or internal workshops.

    How involved are they with the software development community and larger society? Do they work with other companies and maintain relationships with software developers around them?

    4. How practical is the software development process?

    Find out the quality and suitability of their development workflow. What are their processes and rules guiding their development stages? Find out how the processes match your company’s system and expectations, especially in areas of communication, monitoring, and management.

    Study the quality assurance tools and processes that the development company uses.

    5. How stable and secure is the development project?

    Before deciding to have a long-term business relationship, always discover if the company is reliable. Are their processes and policies transparent? Are their financial records and reports easy to assess and manage? Study their finances in the past three years.

    What is their reputation in the software development industry? Check out stories, reports, and reviews about them. 

  • 5 SaaS Development Best Practices

    5 SaaS Development Best Practices

    SaaS companies are popping up all over the place right now, trying to take advantage of the substantial increase in demand for both business and consumer software solutions. Whether it is to make better use of data or to automate personal and professional processes, if you can design and market a good SaaS, you stand to make a lot of money. With that in mind, below are 5 SaaS development best practices. 

    Manage Your Models Well

    Your choice of modeling options when coding is critical in software development for a variety of reasons. To begin, a software development model, also known as a Software Development Life Cycle (SDLC) model, is a procedure that determines the direction and outcomes of a project from the start. Once you’ve started with one model, it is difficult to switch to another, especially if you don’t have a good model registry in place. 

    Considerations include when you are able to do the testing, when you can make the presentation, which features are accessible to demonstrate to beta users, and so on are all considerations that go into the model selection. Reliability, accuracy, ease of use, and level of technical difficulty are also important considerations.

    Start by Working Backwards

    It is more crucial to develop the appropriate product than the right product. Great SaaS products, whether B2Bor B2C, make life easier for people because they alleviate a customer’s pain points and meet their business and personal requirements. Winning products are created when you thoroughly grasp the customer’s problem and create a solution for it.

    The working backwards method begins with the client. Leading organizations employ this strategy to create new products as well as add functionality to current ones. The technology stack and implementation specifics are minor considerations. The essential thing is to solve the problem for your consumer and to do it better than the competition. Incorporate the solving of real market needs into your design, and you will more likely than not have something the market truly wants. 

    User-First Approach

    Users nowadays are always on the go, connected, and expect excellent experiences from B2B or B2C SaaS companies. They want to know that their needs are your top priority, and they want to feel that in your user experience. 

    A SaaS solution must now provide an integrated, interconnected, and consistent user experience. Enterprises such as Slack, Dropbox, Amazon, and Google are examples of product-led companies that are obsessed with giving people exactly what they want. What’s more, your customers are unlikely to want to install a large number of corporate software programs, thus consistency and integration are critical.

    Users want rapid satisfaction, and when a product has a steep learning curve or is difficult, they abandon it. Hooks for users must be dispersed throughout the UX, so they are kept engaged and satisfied. These hooks help users get started and take them intuitively through various tasks and processes in software. 

    Try to Launch Regularly

    Once you have established and approved your product requirements, your next step should be to start testing the product with real users. It cannot be overstated how important it is to get your customers on board and encourage them to start using your product. By launching your product frequently and with consistent new features, you could add more value in the long run and make use of valuable feedback. 

    The speed at which you are able to roll out new value-added features will make the difference during the initial phase and help establish your brand name. When customers get access to a quality feature in 1 month, they become familiar with the product quicker, and you establish better brand recognition. 

    Have a Solid Differentiation Strategy

    Every day, new SaaS solutions are released, yet the majority of them fail to fulfil market demands. Products that don’t set themselves apart and fail to excite clients are ignored quickly in the market. Competitive benchmarking assists a company in understanding what items are already on the market. They can create a plan for creating distinct products and more competitive value propositions for clients.

    Your established competitors are a solid indicator of what customers already have. Customers will be hesitant to convert to your product if it does not provide a considerable improvement over what already exists out there. Organizations may produce better SaaS solutions that fill gaps by establishing a better understanding of existing products and the market environment—doing things better than the competition is always a solid branding move. 

    Conclusion 

    The SaaS development process takes time and patience, and there is often a considerable amount of rework and backtracking involved. Competition is stiff, and if you aren’t providing something that is superior to the already established competition, then why even bother? Keep the above development best practices in mind and set your SaaS up for success from the very beginning.

  • JetBrains Releases Fleet, a Lightweight, Multi-Language IDE

    JetBrains Releases Fleet, a Lightweight, Multi-Language IDE

    JetBrains has released Fleet, a new, lightweight development IDE that supports multiple languages.

    JetBrains makes some of the leading software development IDEs on the market, supporting a slew of languages. The company has received requests for a lightweight editor and it has delivered in the form of Fleet. Despite being lightweight, Fleet is designed to be a full-featured IDE.

    Well, today we’re extremely happy to announce Fleet, a lightweight editor but with a twist!

    When you first launch Fleet, it starts up as a full-fledged editor that provides syntax highlighting, simple code completion, and all the things you’d expect from an editor. But wait, there’s more! 

    Fleet is also a fully functional IDE bringing smart completion, refactorings, navigation, debugging, and everything else that you’re used to having in an IDE – all with a single button click.

    Another benefit of Fleet is its multi-language support, including its ability to handle multiple languages in a single IDE, rather than requiring a different IDE for each language.

    Developers often use a variety of technologies, not only across different projects but also within a single project. At JetBrains, we’ve always strived to leverage the knowledge of the environment you’re using, which is why all of our existing IDEs are based on the same core platform. 

    With Fleet, we take that approach one step further by making it a single IDE. You no longer have to open different IDEs to get the functionality you need for your specific technology. With Fleet it is all there in a single application.

    Supported languages include Java, Kotlin, Python, Go, JavaScript, Rust, TypeScript and JSON, with PHP, C++, C# and HTML coming soon.

  • Google Triples Linux Bug Bounties for the Next Three Months

    Google Triples Linux Bug Bounties for the Next Three Months

    Google has announced it is tripling its usual bug bounties for the Linux kernel for at least the next three months.

    Bug bounties are an important part of many companies’ efforts to improve and secure their products. Researchers and white hat hackers are paid bounties for bugs they find, in exchange for giving the companies time to fix them before the bug is disclosed.

    Although Google doesn’t own Linux, the operating system (OS) forms the backbone of much of the internet and cloud services, and serves as the basis for Google’s Android OS. As a result, Google has a vested interest in the core of Linux, the kernel, being as secure and bug-free as possible.

    The company made the announcement in a blog post on Monday:

    Starting today and for the next 3 months (until January 31 2022), we will pay 31,337 USD to security researchers that exploit privilege escalation in our lab environment with a patched vulnerability, and 50,337 USD to those that use a previously unpatched vulnerability, or a new exploit technique.

  • Linux Users Make Better Software Testers

    Linux Users Make Better Software Testers

    An indie developer is reporting that his Linux users generate a disproportionate number of bug reports, and the reports are higher quality.

    User-submitted bug reports are one of the main ways many developers — especially smaller ones — identify bugs and improve their apps. Despite Linux having a much smaller desktop market share than either Windows or macOS, at least one developer is crediting Linux users with being far more productive as bug reporters.

    Koderski, at Kodera Software, posted his findings in a thread on Reddit.

    “As of today, I sold a little over 12,000 units of ΔV in total,” writes Koderski. “700 of these units were bought by Linux players. That’s 5.8%. I got 1040 bug reports in total, out of which roughly 400 are made by Linux players. That’s one report per 11.5 users on average, and one report per 1.75 Linux players. That’s right, an average Linux player will get you 650% more bug reports.”

    Koderski also addresses the misconception that making his game available for Linux led to a large number of additional bugs, making the case that a Linux version didn’t create any more work — only better reporting.

    “Do you know how many of these 400 bug reports were actually platform-specific? 3. Literally only 3 things were problems that came out just on Linux. The rest of them were affecting everyone – the thing is, the Linux community is exceptionally well trained in reporting bugs. That is just the open-source way. This 5.8% of players found 38% of all the bugs that affected everyone. Just like having your own 700-person strong QA team. That was not 38% extra work for me, that was just free QA!”

    Koderski’s findings should be of interest to any company that develops software, and shows that developing for Linux carries benefits beyond just an immediate financial reward.