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...

12 June 2024 | Developer

Sonatype exposes malicious PyPI package ‘pytoileur’

Sonatype has exposed 'pytoileur', a malicious PyPI package designed to download and install trojanised Windows binaries capable of surveillance, commandeering persistence, and stealing cryptocurrency. This discovery is part of a broader, months-long "Cool package" campaign aimed at infiltrating the coding community.

Yesterday, an automated malware detection system operated by Sonatype, known as the Sonatype Repository Firewall, flagged a newly published PyPI package called...

29 May 2024 | Hacking & Security

Phylum uncovers targeted malware disguised in Python package

Phylum’s cybersecurity experts have detected a malicious payload embedded within a popular Python package on the PyPI repository. The package, named requests-darwin-lite, is an unauthorised variant of the widely-used requests library.

The requests-darwin-lite package was cleverly designed to emulate its legitimate counterpart but included a Go binary concealed within an oversized image file pretending to be a simple logo. This file – a PNG labelled as a sidebar image –...

13 May 2024 | Hacking & Security

GitHub updates Innovation Graph with latest developer trends

GitHub's Innovation Graph has been updated with data from Q4 2023, offering a comprehensive view of global developer activity over the past four years.

The latest findings highlight the increasing popularity of AI among developers, leading to a rise in project documentation. This trend is attributed to the widespread use of chat-based generative AI tools like GitHub Copilot Chat and ChatGPT.

"While we recognise that it's not a panacea, perhaps generative AI technologies...

10 April 2024 | Android

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,...

4 April 2024 | Artificial Intelligence

Python skills ‘increasingly essential’ to dev teams venturing into advanced AI

Python’s status as the primary language for AI and machine learning projects, from its extensive data-handling capabilities to its flexibility and portability, is well-founded. Just how well-founded can be seen in new user data from Snowflake.

The cloud data provider reported that, year on year, use of Python grew 571% in Snowpark, Snowflake’s set of libraries which securely deploy and process non-SQL code. In other words, it will not be a surprise to see Python, Scala and...

3 April 2024 | Artificial Intelligence

PyPI suspends registrations amid malware attack

The Python Package Index (PyPI) has suspended new project creation and user registration to mitigate an ongoing malware upload campaign. This move comes as security researchers at Checkmarx uncovered a campaign involving multiple malicious packages related to the same threat actors.

The attackers are targeting victims through typosquatting attacks, tricking users into installing malicious Python packages through their command-line interface. This multi-stage attack aims to steal...

28 March 2024 | Developer

GitHub’s code scanning autofix enters public beta

GitHub has announced that its code scanning autofix feature, powered by GitHub Copilot and CodeQL, is now available in public beta for all GitHub Advanced Security customers.

The autofix tool aims to remediate over two-thirds of vulnerabilities found during code scanning with minimal editing required by developers.

"Our vision for application security is an environment where found means fixed," said GitHub in a blog post. "By prioritising the developer experience in...

20 March 2024 | Developer

Python packages caught using DLL sideloading to bypass security

ReversingLabs researchers have uncovered Python packages using DLL sideloading to bypass security tools.

On 10 January 2024, Karlo Zanki, a reverse engineer at ReversingLabs, stumbled upon two suspicious packages on the Python Package Index (PyPI). These packages – named NP6HelperHttptest and NP6HelperHttper – were found to be utilising DLL sideloading, a known technique used by malicious actors to execute code discreetly and evade detection from security tools.

This...

21 February 2024 | Hacking & Security

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...

15 December 2023 | API