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Bootstrap Adopts New Long Term Support Plan, Moves Version 3 to End of Life

Bootstrap, the most widely used open source front-end component library on the web, has adopted a new Long Term Support plan that will make the development cycle a little more predictable. From now on, each major version will receive at least six months of support after it is retired, followed by six months of critical bug fixes and security updates before transitioning to Maintenance.

The Bootstrap development team moved version 3 to end of life this week and plans to move version 4 to LTS after releasing v4.4. LTS versions will generally not get new features but may still receive bug fixes, security updates, and documentation updates.

Meanwhile, version 5 is currently under active development and its initial release date has not yet been set.

BuiltWith ranks Bootstrap as the most popular technology among design frameworks in use across the internet. HTML5 Boilerplate, the next most popular, has roughly a third of Bootstrap’s market share. According to W3Techs, Bootstrap.js is used by 25.4% of all the websites whose JavaScript library it can detect, an estimated 19.3% of all websites.

Hundreds of WordPress plugins and themes implement Bootstrap in one way or another. Depending on how they include the framework and which versions they support, developers will want to note the changes with Bootstrap’s new LTS plan. It provides a definitive guide to the development life cycle, helping those in the surrounding ecosystem make better decisions about which versions to support in their projects and how long. The LTS dates are not set in stone but Bootstrap’s development team said they are working on strengthening timeline assurances.

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The Complexity of API Discovery

The Complexity of API Discovery

I can't get API discovery out of my mind. Partly because I am investing significant cycles in this area at work, but it is also something I have been thinking about for so long that it is difficult to move on. It remains one of the most complex, challenging, and un-addressed aspects of the way the web is working (or not working) online today. I feel pretty strongly that there hasn't been an investment in the area of API discovery because most technology companies providing and consuming APIs prefer things to be un-discoverable, for a variety of conscious and unconscious reasons behind these belief systems.

What Does API Discovery Mean? Depends on Who You Are...

One of the reasons that API discovery does not evolve in any significant way is because there is not any real clarity on what API discovery is. Depending on who you are and what your role in the technology sector is, you'll define API discovery in a variety of ways. There are a handful of key actors that contribute to the complexity of defining and optimizing in the area of API discovery.

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Custom DynamoDB Docker Instance

Hey guys, I hope you all are doing well. I am back with another article on custom docker instances for databases. In my last post, we saw how we could have our custom docker instance for MySQL. Similarly, in this post, we will see how we can do the same with DynamoDB, so let's get started.

Just like the scenario in the previous article, I was working on a project with DynamoDB as the database due to its many features like scalability, cloud storage, etc. And I wanted to test some things and did not want to mess with the cloud instance, so I thought to make an instance of my own, so what to do?

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Fine-Grained vs. Coarse-Grained APIs in MuleSoft

API design is a fascinating topic. One important aspect of API design is determining the right 'size' of an API in terms of its features and functionality. All architects must have grappled with this issue at some point or the other. In this article, I will try and give some insights into the various parameters that we need to think through before arriving at the 'right' grained API:

  • Maintainability: The first aspect that comes to mind is the maintainability of APIs. Coarse-grained APIs are difficult to maintain. As the API consumer needs grow, it will be difficult to add more implementation variations or parameters.

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Simple Steps in SQL Change Automation Scripting

Phil Factor demonstrates the bare essentials of SCA PowerShell scripts that can form the basis for an automated process for database delivery or help improve your current process.

The SQL Change Automation (SCA) PowerShell cmdlets provide several ways to build and release a database, depending on what you need. SCA was designed around the requirements of development teams that were engaged in a wide range of databases and were rapidly delivering database changes to production. Its PowerShell cmdlets are versatile and bend to the way your team works, rather than vice-versa.

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Tom’s Tech Notes: API Management Advice for Now and Later [Podcast]

Welcome to another episode of Tom's Tech Notes! As per usual, DZone's research analyst Tom Smith has interviewed a host of industry experts to see what they have to say about APIs and API management.

This podcast is in preparation for our upcoming API Management Trend Report, which launches on DZone.com on August 5. Our Trend Reports have replaced DZone's traditional research guides. The main changes? Trend Reports are released more frequently and are more focused on narrower topics. You'll still get the same high-quality expert articles and cutting edge research and analysis.

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Branching Out from the Great Divide

I like the term Front-End Developer. It's encapsulates the nature of your job if your concerns are:

  • Building UIs for web browsers
  • The spectrum of devices and platforms those web browsers run on
  • The people who use those web browsers and related assistive technology

The breadth of knowledge for all-things front-end development has gotten super deep. I've found that front-end developers that have stretched themselves to the point they are thinking of themselves as full-stack developers more and more. I think that's kinda cool and empowering, but it doesn't mean that everyone needs to go that wide.

Brad Frost referred to sides of the spectrum as "back of the front" and "front of the front." I once drew the line, in The Great Divide, as heavy JavaScript vs. not. These distinctions aren't to divide people, but to acknowledge the spectrum and that there are people all over it.

In a new article called "Frontend Design, React, and a Bridge over the Great Divide," Brad makes the point that the role of "Front-End Designer" exists on the spectrum right smack in the middle between design and development, where "development" refers to the back-end or deeper JavaScript stuff.

The jobs?

  • Crafting semantic HTML markup
  • Creating CSS code
  • Authoring JavaScript that primarily manipulates objects in the DOM
  • Testing across browsers and devices
  • Optimizing the performance of front-end code
  • Working with designers
  • Working with back-end and application developers

That sounds like the "traditional" explanation of a front-end developer to me — if there is such a thing — but it makes sense to rename that role since front-end development is the term that got so wide.

Brad adds these responsibilties to the list:

  • Create a library of presentational UI components
  • Author and document a robust, intuitive component API for each presentational component
  • Determine how flexible or rigid the component library should be
  • Maintain the presentational components as a product

That's where I think this metaphor comes in:

A tree of nodes branching out, but sharing a common trunk.

Me, Brad and a slew of you out there are front-end developers. We work in browsers and we care about the users and where and how they interact with those browsers. We do the things on Brad's first list like craft HTML and CSS, work with designs and do testing. We share that common trunk of skills on the tree above.

But Brad is more of a systems designer than I am. His dot lands somewhere differently on that tree. I don't know if I'm particularly skilled at anything, but my dot definitely falls elsewhere on that tree. Perhaps on an entirely different branch, as I quite like working with JavaScript tooling and logic and APIs and such. The bulk of Brad's article is about React and finding a place in the realm of front-end development where the job isn't ignoring React, but working with it in such a way that doesn't mean every other aspect of development doesn't have to come along for the ride.

The post Branching Out from the Great Divide appeared first on CSS-Tricks.

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StorONE Company Overview

I had the opportunity to meet with Gal Naor, CEO and Founder of StorONE, during the IT Press Tour in Silicon Valley prior to their recent announcement about the S1-as-a-service, subscription model solution that integrates S1 storage services with Dell and Mellanox hardware at an industry-defining price point.

According to Gal, storage is just another software in the data center. He believes storage is a broken ecosystem that requires customers to pay too much for commodity hardware. His goal is to deliver the best software-defined storage with enterprise-class functionality, performance, and capacity, where users only pay for the resources they use. 

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User and Entity Behavior Analytics

I had the opportunity to meet with Harish Sekar, Manager of Bus Dev for ManageEngine, during their user conference in Dallas to discuss the user and entity behavior analytics (UEBA) that were integrated into ManageEngine's SIEM solution, Log360.

Five years ago, an admin or IT manager had to turn on a few settings to get information about network activity. Now, with ongoing attacks, you cannot keep asking admins or IT to reconstruct their environment every time an attack takes place. Today, IT just has to feed the logs in, and Log360 automatically scores user behavior based on activity patterns, time inside, and resources touched to help analyze and identify the wrongdoers, be they clueless employees or bad actors. Don’t spare anyone if they're doing something that's not safe; it's still a problem.

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How Secure Is the BLE Communication Standard?

If you want to create a Bluetooth-connected device, chances are you’ve considered using Bluetooth Low Energy (BLE) and have heard about BLE security issues. We want to shine some light on how attackers can exploit your connected devices and how you can protect them.

Let’s start by explaining the basics of Bluetooth Low Energy technology.

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Create Your First Angular Schematics

I experienced a lot of pain points when I first started using Angular; I needed to open up so many files just to create a simple Hello World app. Luckily, Angular CLI took away a lot of my initial troubles. 

Angular CLI is a command-line tool that creates a simple Angular project. Angular CLI asks you questions about your app and, based on your answers, it determines the routing and the stylesheet format. How does Angular CLI do this? It uses Schematics. 

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Real-Time Stream Processing With Apache Kafka Part 4: Use Case

In previous articles, we have gained the ground on understanding basic terminologies used in Kafka and Kafka-Streams. In this article, we set up a single node kafka cluster on our Windows machine. Now, based on the knowledge we have gained so far, let us try to build a use case.

Scenario

Consider a hypothetical fleet management company that needs a dashboard to get the insight of its day to day activities related to vehicles. Each vehicle in this fleet management company is fitted with a GPS based geolocation emitter, which emits location data containing the following information

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Seven Kotlin Libraries for Android Developers

After the official launch of Kotlin by Google for Android app development, many developers have taken a keen interest in the language. According to researchers, Kotlin has become so popular that it has replaced the developer’s number one choice, Java, and is surely the future of Android apps. 

In this article, we’ll discuss major Kotlin libraries and help developers choose the right one for their needs.

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How to Customize Dark Mode in iOS Apps With iOS 13

What You Will Learn in This Tutorial

  1. What is iOS Dark Mode and what it does.
  2. Benefits of using Dark Mode in iOS.
  3. Key considerations while implementing Dark Mode in an iPhone app.

Before we step ahead with the tutorial, let's check some basic information about the dark mode in iOS 13.

Dark Mode

Dark Mode is a dark system-wide appearance that uses a darker color palette for all screens, menus, and controls. Similar to Android Dark Mode, it changes a bright theme to a darker one. It also maintains vibrancy and contrast to make foreground content stand out against the darker background.

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The Power of Graph Technology for Marketing Medicine

An oft-quoted study by the Tufts Center for the Study of Drug Development estimates the cost of developing a new drug, from R&D to approval, is about $2.6 billion.

Influencer marketing is often thought of in a consumer context, such as Netflix extensively using social media platforms to attract millennials. However, similar marketing strategies can influence a decision to, say, switch to a new cholesterol or blood pressure management drug because your trusted cardiologist recommended it over the current one due to higher efficacy.

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5 Reasons to Use AI in HR

Artificial Intelligence (AI) in recruitment is changing the human resources (HR) game drastically. Today, AI in HR is reshaping the way companies tackle and manage their workforce and make plans, which not only increases productivity but employee engagement in general.

According to Randstad Sourceright research, 76% of 400 global human capital leaders who participated in a research survey accepted that technology is playing a critical role in talent engagement. Around 48% are already investing in creating dashboards for analytics.

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Decision Diffie-Hellman DDH and CDH

There are a couple of variations on the Diffie-Hellman problem in cryptography: the computation problem (CDH) and the decision problem (DDH). This post will explain both and give an example of how the former is hard and the latter easy.

The Diffie-Hellman Problems

The Diffie-Hellman problems are formulated for an Abelian group. The main group we have in mind is the multiplicative group of non-zero integers modulo a large prime p. But we start out more generally because Diffie-Hellman problems are harder over some groups than others, as we will see below.