When Google first told the world about its Tensor Processing Unit, the strategy behind it seemed clear enough: Speed machine learning at scale by throwing custom hardware at the problem. Use commodity GPUs to train machine-learning models; use custom TPUs to deploy those trained models.The new generation of Google’s TPUs is designed to handle both of those duties, training and deploying, on the same chip. That new generation is also faster, both on its own and when scaled out with others in what’s called a “TPU pod.”To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here
Hidden gems: 14 Python libraries too good to overlookImage by InfoWorldWant a good reason for Python's smashing success as a language? Look no further than its massive collection of libraries, both native and third party. With so many libraries out there, though, it's no surprise some get crowded out and don't quite grab the attention they deserve. Plus, programmers who work exclusively in one domain don't always know about the goodies that may be available to them through libraries created for other kinds of work.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here
Developers love things their way and no other way. To that end, Linux stands to be the ultimate developer’s desktop environment. Linux is endlessly customizable, and it provides easy access to nearly all the software a developer might need. But a good Linux for developers must have other key attributes—like a comfortable work environment, good documentation, and useful features that a developer can benefit from generally.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here(Insider Story)
Of all the metrics you could use to gauge the popularity and success of a language, one surefire factor is the number of development environments available for it. Python’s rise in popularity over the last several years has brought with it a strong wave of IDE support, with tools aimed both at the general programmer and those who use Python for tasks like scientific work and analytical programming.
LiClipse provides precise controls over the runtime environment for Python projects. When you create a new project, you can choose which Python interpreter to associate with it, and what PYTHONPATH to use with specific launch configurations. This is useful if you have different revisions of Python installed side-by-side, and you want to ensure that a given project runs with a specific Python version. You don’t even have to use a Python interpreter that has been registered with the system; it can be an executable in a folder somewhere. The JVM-based Jython and the .Net CLR-based IronPython (which is back under active development) are also supported, along with the stock CPython interpreter. (PyPy is not explicitly supported, but should work as a drop-in replacement for CPython per its stated goals.) Continue reading
If there’s been one constant through Linux’s 25 years in the wild, it’s change. The kernel itself has been through dozens of revisions; Linux distributions for most every use case have emerged; and the culture of Linux has evolved from weekend hobby project to an underpinning of worldwide IT infrastructure.Now we’re seeing the first versions of the next wave of Linux change. Containerization, unikernels, and other experiments with form are reshaping Linux from the inside out, opening up unheralded avenues for how the open source operating system that could (and did!) can do it all over again.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here
Hackers of the world, unite! You have nothing to lose but the lousy stock firmware your routers shipped with.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here(Insider Story)
Hackers of the world, unite! You have nothing to lose but the lousy stock firmware your routers shipped with.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here(Insider Story)
If you are developing a web application and have picked Python as the language to build it in, that’s a smart move. Python’s maturity of development, robust libraries, and breadth of real-world adoption have helped make it a no-brainer for web development.Zope2. Zope is not for simple RESTful APIs (per Bottle or Flask) or even basic websites with interactivity (à la Django). Rather, it’s meant to be a full-blown, enterprise-grade application server stack, similar to offerings for Java. The documentation describes the framework as “most useful for component developers, integrators, and web designers.” One major third-party product, the Plone CMS, uses Zope as its substrate and serves as a major driver of Zope’s continued development.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here(Insider Story)
10 handy no-cost tools for API developmentImage by PeteLinforth via PixabayThe rise of RESTful APIs has been met by a rise in tools for creating, testing, and managing them. Whether you’re an API newbie or an expert on an intractable deadline, you have a gamut of services to help you get your API up and running quick, and many of them won’t cost you a dime.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here
I hate passwords. I hate coming up with them. I hate remembering them. I hate mistyping them four times in a row. And I hate getting locked out of whatever I'm trying to log into in the process.That said, I hate being hacked only slightly more, so I've done my part to use passwords that aren't "password123" or something equally foolish. The hard part is keeping them straight, which I could do by writing them down -- but isn't that a security hole all over again? Heck, I've known that since I was a kid. I saw "WarGames."[ Roger Grimes' free and almost foolproof way to check for malware. | Discover how to secure your systems with InfoWorld's Security newsletter. ]
Password vaults, aka password safes or password managers, help solve this problem. They give you a central spot to store all your passwords, encrypted and protected by a passphrase or token you provide. This way, you have to memorize a single password: the one for your password vault. All the other passwords you use can be as long and complex as possible, even randomly generated, and you don't have to worry about remembering them.To read Continue reading
Serdar Yegulalp