Android 15: Developer productivity and UX take centre stage

Google has announced the release of Android 15, making the source code readily available through the Android Open Source Project (AOSP).

Supported Pixel devices are set to receive the update in the coming weeks, with a wider rollout to devices from manufacturers like Samsung, Honor, and OnePlus planned for the coming months.

“Android 15 continues our mission of building a private and secure platform that helps improve your productivity while giving you new capabilities...

SlashData: Rust sees fastest growth, JavaScript still dominates

According to SlashData's findings, the JavaScript community grew by an impressive four million users in the past 12 months, solidifying its status as the most widely-used programming language globally.

Here is a breakdown of the size of various programming language communities:

JavaScript: 25.2 million developers Python: 18.2 million developers Java: 17.7 million developers C++: 11.6 million developers C#: 10.2 million developers PHP: 9.8 million...

Google continues AI push with new Gemini tools for developers

Google kicked off its annual I/O developer conference with a clear emphasis on AI, unveiling a suite of new Gemini-powered solutions to empower developers.

At the forefront is an expansion of Google's Gemini language model, including the public preview of 1.5 Flash which is designed for high-frequency tasks. Developers can join a waitlist to preview a groundbreaking two million context window for 1.5 Pro.

"Streamline workflows and optimise AI-powered applications with...

JetBrains launches 2024.1 with local AI code completion

JetBrains has released the 2024.1 updates for its IDEs with several major new features, headlined by full-line code autocompletion powered by local AI models.

The new full-line code completion functionality ensures code suggestions are processed entirely on the user's device, minimising latency and providing a seamless offline experience.

“We’ve developed models that run directly on your device, and the IDE verifies each suggestion,” explained Mikhail Kostyukov,...

Google releases Android 15 developer preview

Google has unveiled the initial developer preview of Android 15, showcasing a range of new features aimed at enhancing user privacy, refining advertising experiences, and improving overall device performance.

Dave Burke, Google's Vice President of Engineering, says a core focus was on advancing user privacy while maintaining personalised advertising capabilities through the latest version of Privacy Sandbox on Android. This addition aims to strike a balance between protecting user...

Gemini Pro: Google empowers developers with advanced AI capabilities

Google has announced the availability of its AI model Gemini Pro for developers and enterprises to craft solutions for their specific needs. This move is accompanied by a commitment to ongoing refinement based on user feedback.

Gemini comes in three distinctive sizes: Ultra, Pro, and Nano. The Nano version has already been integrated into Android – starting with the Pixel 8 Pro – while a specially tuned iteration of Gemini Pro is embedded in Bard.

Empowering...

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...

GitHub: Kotlin is now the fastest growing language

Repository giant GitHub has revealed Kotlin for Android is now the fastest growing programming language in the world. As the world’s largest Git repository host, GitHub has a fairly unique ability to discover notable changes in the developer landscape. Last year, Google made Kotlin a ‘first-class’ language for Android in addition to existing support for Java and C++. GitHub’s findings show what an impact Google’s decision has had for Kotlin adoption. Over the course of the past...

Android Studio 3.0 brings treats like Kotlin, Java 8, and Instant Apps

Google isn’t waiting for Halloween and has begun handing out the sweet treats early with the stable release of Android Studio 3. We first heard of Google’s intention to bake Kotlin support into Android Studio back in May during its annual IO developer conference. Fast-forward five months and Google is making good on its promise. Much like Swift is to iOS, Kotlin is to Android. The language’s development lead, Andrey Breslav, has said that Kotlin is designed to be an industrial-strength...