TypeScript 5: A look at the major changes

In this article, we’ll take a look at some of the major changes in TypeScript 5.

TypeScript 5 was released earlier this month. The latest version features numerous improvements to make the language smaller, simpler, and faster.

Here are the biggest changes in the latest release:

Variadic tuple types

Variadic tuple types allow developers to define tuple types with a variable number of elements. 

In previous versions of TypeScript, the number...

Copilot X heralds a new era of AI-powered coding

GitHub has unveiled Copilot X, an upgraded version of its AI-powered coding assistance tool.

Copilot X adopts OpenAI’s latest GPT-4 model and now features chat and voice interfaces, support for pull requests, command-line support, and can generate answer questions from documentation:

https://twitter.com/marktenenholtz/status/1638549603753795584

Unlike traditional coding assistance tools that rely on simple code templates or pre-defined snippets, Copilot X uses...

Developer demos GPT-4’s coding skills

A developer has shown off GPT-4’s prowess in creating mobile apps.

If you’ve been living under a rock, GPT-4 – OpenAI’s latest multimodal large language model – was released earlier this week.

GPT-4 now exhibits “human-level” performance on several benchmarks.

In a simulated law bar exam, GPT-3.5 scored around the bottom 10 percent. GPT-4, however, passed the exam among the top 10 percent.

OpenAI said in a blog post that GPT-4 is "more...

Google offers ML-powered translation for Android apps

Google has announced that it will offer free machine-learning translation for Android apps.

The service will enable developers to bring their apps to as many people as possible, without incurring significant additional costs.

At launch, seven languages are supported:

Chinese (Simplified) French German Indonesian Japanese Portuguese Spanish

Google Translate’s transformer-based language models will be used for accurate translation into...

Go re-enters TIOBE’s top 10 programming languages

Programming language Go appears to be making a resurgence as it re-enters TIOBE’s top 10 list.

TIOBE creates its programming language popularity list using search data across 25 different engines. The methodology has been regularly criticised but suffices as a rough guide of the interest in each language.

Go was created by Google and often lingers just outside of the top 10 on the TIOBE Index. The language was last in the top 10 in July 2017.

In the March...

iOS 16.4 supports web app notifications

Users will be able to receive push notifications from web apps they’ve added to their homescreens starting with iOS 16.4.

iOS users have been able to add shortcuts for their favourite web apps to their homescreens since 2008. Over the years, Apple has unlocked further capabilities for web apps on iOS—but push notification support has remained a major omission.

As of iOS 16.4, Progressive Web Apps (PWAs) take a big step closer to being able to offer a native app...

Twitter pushes API changes back further as concerns mount

Twitter will now introduce its API changes over a week later than planned while concerns over the impact continue to grow.

Elon Musk’s social network first announced on 2 February 2023 that it was ending free access to its API (both v2 and v1.1) a week later on February 9th.

Twitter later pushed back the API changes to February 13th. Now, the company says it will take a bit longer again:

https://twitter.com/TwitterDev/status/1625234161010343941

Despite...

The most in-demand programming languages for 2023

Coding Dojo has released its list of the most in-demand programming languages for this year.

The list uses the number of open full-time jobs to determine the skills that employers are desperately looking for.

Notably, the top three most in-demand languages have been shaken up. Likely driven by the demand for machine learning solutions, Python is now in the top spot.

Here are the top 10 programming languages by open full-time positions and their ranking change...

Twitter announces charges for third-party developers

Less than a month after unceremoniously blocking third-party apps, Twitter has announced new charges for developers using its API.

In a tweet, Twitter announced that it will end free access to its API (both v2 and v1.1) on 9 February 2023.

The company says a paid basic tier will be available to replace the free access. More specific details are due to be announced next week.

https://twitter.com/TwitterDev/status/1621026986784337922

It’s not the best time...

GitHub now serves over 100M developers

GitHub has achieved its goal to serve 100 million developers with two years to spare.

In 2019, GitHub set a goal to have 100 million developers using the service by 2025. In a blog post, GitHub announced that it’s already reached that historic milestone.

GitHub CEO Thomas Dohmke wrote:

“Today, I’m excited to share that there are now officially more than 100 million developers using GitHub to build, maintain, and contribute to software...