They're changing how we work with fellow developers, how we interact with our customers, and how we code

A long time ago, developers wrote assembly code that ran fast and light. On good days, they had enough money in their budget to hire someone to toggle all those switches on the front of the machine to input their code. On bad days, they flipped the switches themselves. Life was simple: The software loaded data from memory, did some arithmetic, and sent it back. That was all.

Today, developers must work with teams spread across multiple continents where people speak different languages with different character sets and -- this is the bad part -- use different versions of the compiler. Some of the code is new, and some may be from decade-old libraries that may or may not come with source code. Building team spirit and slogging through the mess is only the beginning of what it means to be a programmer today.

The work involved in telling computers what to do is markedly different than it was even five years ago, and it's quite possible that any Rip Van Winkle-like developer who slept through the past 10 years would be unable to function in the today's computing world. Everything seems to be changing faster than ever.

Here are 15 technologies transforming the very nature of programming. They're changing how we work with fellow developers, how we interact with our customers, and how we code. Don't get caught asleep at the console.

Developer tool No. 1: Continuous integration

When you checked in code to a repository, there used to be enough time to catch your breath, have a cup of coffee, and maybe even go out to lunch. No more -- code repositories are now tightly linked to continuous build systems that recompile your code, scrutinize your architecture, initiate hundreds of tests, and start flagging every potential error in your work. You won't get five feet from your desk before your phone starts pinging you with new emails or text messages from the continuous build mechanism telling you what needs to be fixed. Back to work, slave, the continuous build machine has new tasks for you.

Developer tool No. 2: Frameworks

Standing on the shoulders of giants by reusing the work of others may not be a new idea, but it seems like it's never been as dominant as it is today. Very little programming begins from scratch these days. The favored -- and some might argue, best -- approach is to grab the right framework, research the API, and start writing glue code to link together the parts of the API that make the most sense for the job. Web pages aren't built out of HTML or CSS anymore; the coding begins with Ext JS, ExpressJS, or some other collection of code that serves as a foundation.

Sure, you could be pioneering and build everything from scratch, but that would be suicide. There's no way to catch up with all the work done by others. You're not a craftsman -- you're a framework-tweaker. If you're thinking of writing code yourself, stop and look for a framework that does it already.

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15 technologies changing how developers work

A row has broken out over claims three Coventry police bases are set to close.

Councillor Patricia Hetherton (Lab, Woodlands) says the decision goes back on a promise made by the late Police and Crime Commissioner Bob Jones last year.

She says bases in Tile Hill, Spon End and Radford will be shut with police teams moving elsewhere.

But West Midlands Police say no decision has been made on which bases will close as part of a review of the forces buildings in Coventry.

Coun Hetherton said that Mr Jones, who died last month, had vowed not to close the police base in Tile Hill until after an extensive public consultation.

She said: We accept that the current building may not be entirely suitable for its purpose, but we strongly agree with our constituents that any proposed move must ensure the team is still based in the local area.

Whilst I welcome the fall in recorded crime in Woodlands ward, there have been some very serious incidents which have led the community to call for a visible police presence to offer reassurance.

I have no doubt that the fall in recorded crime is due largely to this visibility and to the relationships with residents which our front line police have been able to form as a result of their proximity to the neighbourhoods they serve.

I am therefore calling on West Midlands Police to halt these plans until local people have been consulted, and until an appropriate alternative has been identified.

It is essential that the Woodlands neighbourhood police team can patrol from a location in the area they serve, instead of spending their time travelling from a remote base.

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Row rages over claims Coventry police bases will close

A Co-Op High music student discovered a loose connection in his Fender Stratocaster acoustic guitar. He went online and taught himself how to solder the wires and firm up the connections to the amplifier.

Beautiful music was born. So was an interest in electricity.

Jordan Burgess got a chance to explore that more practical electricians career firsthand the other day when he installed upgraded switches and smoke alarms at a vacant unit at the Housing Authority of New Havens (HANH) Farnam Courts complex on Hamilton Street.

Jordan is one of ten young people 16 to 21 years old selected from the HANHs far flung communities across the city to participate in the second year of its Summer Training & Employment Program (STEP).

Jordan changed out the ground, the neutral, and the hot wire in an upgraded outlet at 104 Hamilton St. under the watchful eye of Weaverton (Van) Whittley (pictured), an HANH mechanical systems supervisor. He was in the fourth week of an intense program, modeled on the citywide Youth at Work initiative.

After orientation and workshops on balancing personal budgets and job etiquette and social development, Jordan has spent from 9 a.m. to 1p.m. daily at various operations at HANH developments trying on or shadowing a range of types of work and careers.

Wednesdays from 1 p.m. to 3:30 p.m. are given over to hanging out with peers, sharing experiences, and mentorship.

Of the ten kids in the program, Jordan is only one of two who expressed a preference for learning and shadowing the building trades. In previous weeks hes spent time learning how to inventory the maintenance departments tools at the new Brookside development at the base of West Rock.

Jordan also learned to lay tile and install floor molding at units in the Waverly Townhouses on George Street.

Of all the experience so far, Jordan pronounced Fridays electrical installation the best because he got a chance to do the kind of work he sees himself entering as an adult.

More here:
A Future Electrician STEPs Up

The Oregon Department of Environmental Quality issued a $13,933 penalty to Richard H. Ramsey, of Lebanon, for allowing an unlicensed person to perform an asbestos abatement project at a residence he owns at 410 Walker Rd. in Lebanon.

He has until Aug. 19 to appeal or pay the penalty.

Ramsey has contacted the DEQ and he is being represented, said Steve Seigel, of the DEQ Office of Compliance and Enforcement.

Our discussion hasnt gone any further than that, Siegel said.

The length of the appeal process varies case to case and depends on the complexities and issues that are raised, Siegel said.

The informal meeting could happen very quickly, Seigel said. Then after that, there is a large variance. It could be a couple of months to have a prehearing. It could easily be six months.

Ramsey has also been cited, but not penalized, for openly accumulating asbestos-containing waste which must be sealed in approved packaging and disposed of at a waste facility permitted to accept asbestos waste, according to a press release from the Oregon Department of Environmental Quality.

Ramsey hired contractor John Powell to demolish the house on the property in July 2013.

A DEQ inspector visited the property in May based on a complaint the department had received and noted that Powell had left vinyl floor tile and sheet vinyl flooring on the concrete foundation pad.

Portions of the flooring were crushed, broken and in friable condition as a result of the demolition activities.

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Lebanon man fined $13,933 for unlicensed asbestos work

On the heels of Windows Phone 8.1, Microsoft has released the latest update to its mobile OS. Currently available to download for users as part of the free-to-join Preview for Developers program, Windows Phone 8.1 Update 1 includes some minor but important enhancements. Here's a look at what to expect.

Microsoft has said that the update will roll out to consumers with devices running Windows Phone 8.1 in the coming months, but we've already taken it for a spin.

Android and iOS devices have had the ability to group apps together by creating folders for several years now and Windows Phone is finally joining the party, but with a bit of a twist. The folders continue with Microsoft's live tile approach, so you will see updates from each app you put in a folder.

Putting apps in folders is just like adding apps to create folders in iOS and (some) Android launchers. Just tap and drag an app to another app to create a folder and then you'll be able to name it. The folder will display a grid of mini app icons, and when you tap it, you can easily access the app you want. You can also resize the app tiles inside the folder once it's expanded. For example, in the screenshot below I created a music folder and you can see both the live tile view and the larger view once the live tile is opened.

Apps Corner is a restricted access mode that's designed to provide access to selected apps on your phone if you let someone borrow it. The person who borrows your phone will get a customized Start screen with access to only the apps you selected. This is a good solution for businesses and can work as a sort of kiosk mode to prevent users from accessing certain functions. It's also similar to another Windows Phone feature called Kids Corner that gives your children access to only specific games and apps you choose. To use it go to Settings > apps corner and tap Apps. Then select the apps you want to be available.

To get out of Apps Corner, hold the power button down for about a second and you'll see the following screen. You can either power the phone off or swipe to the right to exit Apps Corner. Make sure you have a Lock Screen password set, because the other person using the phone has access to this too. But they will need your code to get out of it.

Xbox Music has improved quite a bit across all platforms over the past few years. Unfortunately, when Windows 8.1 was launched, it was painfully slow and crashed a lot. Microsoft heard the user complaints and admitted the app was broken. Now with the Windows Phone 8.1 update, you should notice several improvements and bug fixes, along with a snappier interface. The company also said new features will be added regularly, with "now playing" on the music live tile set to appear in the not-too-distant future.

Now when you have the Windows Store tile set to the medium size, it will be "live" and display new apps, recommendations, the app of the day and more. The screenshot below shows two different games that are being featured via the Store's live tile. While this isn't a huge deal, it is further evidence that Microsoft is tightening up its mobile OS.

Windows Phone 8.1 Update 1 allows you to select multiple SMS messages to delete or forward all in one action. It will be available in built-in apps as well as more places like the Phone app call log. You can get to it in a messaging app by selecting more options, tapping "select messages" and checking the ones you want to delete or forward on.

if you don't want to wait for your carrier to send it your way, you too can take the update for a spin right now.

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What to expect from Windows Phone 8.1 Update 1

Pyongyang, August 3 (KCNA) -- Kim Jong Un, first secretary of the Workers' Party of Korea, first chairman of the National Defence Commission of the DPRK and supreme commander of the Korean People's Army, gave field guidance to the Chollima Tile Factory.

He looked round the mosaics depicting smiling President Kim Il Sung and leader Kim Jong Il newly erected in the compound of the factory and the monument to the field guidance given by them and he expressed satisfaction over the successful erection of the mosaics.

He went round the newly-built room dedicated to the history of the factory.

He told the officials to make a new history of the factory by keeping production going at a high rate, adding that he gave an instruction to the KPA to operate the factory to which Kim Jong Il attached great importance.

Stressing the need to make the heroic working spirit displayed in the post-war period of great Chollima upsurge run high at this factory in order to supply in good time the building materials needed by great socialist construction sites, he proposed naming the factory located in Kangson, hometown of Chollima, Chollima Tile Factory.

Going round various places including adhesives and tile production shops, digital natural color spray printing room and tile exhibition, he learned in detail about the production and new products development.

He highly praised the officials and employees of the factory for displaying patriotic devotion to overfulfill this year's tile production plan set higher than any other years.

He expressed great satisfaction, noting that the factory is the one strictly based on Juche and a patriotic one as it is capable of keeping its production on a normal footing, unaffected by any worldwide economic upheaval and the longer one watches the factory, the more attractive and useful it looks.

He set forth tasks to be fulfilled by the factory.

He instructed the factory not only to satisfactorily meet the domestic demands for tiles but further boost their production and improve their quality so that they might be exported to other countries.

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Kim Jong Un Gives Field Guidance to Chollima Tile Factory

The following blog post, unless otherwise noted, was written by a member of Gamasutras community. The thoughts and opinions expressed are those of the writer and not Gamasutra or its parent company.

Introduction

Elephant Mouse (www.elephantmouse.com) is a mobile game development studio proudly located in the Research Triangle of Raleigh, North Carolina, a hotbed of tech innovation, game development, and tasty BBQ. EM veterans hail from the likes of Activision, Ubisoft, EA, Playdom, Zynga, and other industry giants. Weve released several highly-rated mobile titles, including Star Trek Rivals, The Godfather Slots, Lil Birds, and Archetype.

Robots Need Love Too is our new game that will be launching in September. A lite version is currently available in the Canadian App Store. If you are in Canada, please give it a try and let us know what you think!

The Setup for our New Game

We wanted to create a fun new puzzle game for mobile devices, and we wanted to target a casual audience who enjoy indie games. The entire team was invited to pitch concepts and prototypes, and we brainstormed tons of concepts.

One of the programmers created a playable prototype in Unity about robots in love. It was a side-view physics puzzler where the player tried to get two robots to meet. Though we liked the concept, we wanted to move away from physics-based games (because we thought that would be a lot of work for our small team). We kept the idea of robots, how they meet up at the end of each level, and the game name - Robots Need Love Too.

We focused on the mechanic of setting up actions, then activating the sequence to see what happens. Then our designer fleshed out some initial mechanics involving directional arrows. The whole concept was structured around a narrative of forbidden love (the best kind).

Read more here:
How prototyping saved our game

casita finishing
Tile work.

By: Terry Dunn

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casita finishing - Video

Cottage Tile Work Part 1

By: John Hillman

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Cottage Tile Work Part 1 - Video

I have a small bathroom that I am planning to renovate. I will need a small bathtub and pedestal instead of a vanity, I think. This bathroom looks clean and organized with minimum space used

Can you please tell me about the floor tile? Thank you

I just love this bathroom. Can you please tell me where I might find the wall tile?

small bath (like in my DC house). Love the tile, but it's the SINK I really love. Where is it from?

Who makes the bathroom accessories? I am looking for a modern and minimal towel bar and toilet paper holder.

What color grout did you use on the wall tiles? Looks super!

What is the name of the tile and who manufactures it? Thanks!

What are the dimensions of this bathroom?

you a ridiculously small bathroom but with a beautiful half wall of tile. Best, Lauren

Read more from the original source:
Tile Work Bathroom Design Ideas, Pictures, Remodel and Decor