This is to the benefit of savvy users as it makes it possible to run tasks in a longer timeframe without worrying that the terminal will be down for updates.

Visual updates

One of the visual updates in this release is the addition of more line types that can be displayed. Users will now be able to display colored, dashed, dotted, or double lines.

But that’s not all. The company has also added updates to the way search results are displayed in Windows Terminal. For example, when searching for text in it, the results will now be highlighted.

Windows Terminal also got several usability updates, such as that the AtlasEngine rendering engine is now enabled by default, the “Canary” ZIP distribution defaults to portable mode, readability of settings disclaimers is improved, and more.

And for those of you who prefer a more vintage experience, the console host in the Canary channel of the Windows Insider Program now ships with features, bug fixes and updates equivalent to the version that comes with Windows Terminal 1.19.

You can see the full list of updates on the Microsoft blog here.

Books about topics spanning the tech world are more than exciting. And especially suitable for people who are just entering the tech field – from programmers to managers and leaders.

To get a closer look at the essence of a programming language and get more familiar with it, there’s hardly a better way to do it than by reading books written by professionals in the field. And today we have chosen to present to you the Top 8 Best C++ Books for Beginners

The C++ Programming Language (4th Edition) By Bjarne Stroustrup
The interesting thing about this book is that it is written by the well-known Bjarne Stroustrup, the creator of C++. Its content is so impressive that it can be of use to programmers of any level. This is the fourth edition of the book. It contains extensive details about C++ and exercises to practice. This book helps programmers to learn many things about C++ such as basic concepts of C++, containers, libraries, OOPS and many more. The author has also contributed to the world of programming with some other books written on C++.

C++ Primer (5th Edition)
This book is the 5th edition of C++ Primer, written by Stanley B. Lipman, a computer scientist and author and also known as a professional who worked with Bjarne Stroustrup at Bell Laboratories during the early stages of C++ development.

The book begins with an introduction to the C++ standard library. It enables the programmer to write useful programs without mastering every aspect of the C++ language. The book consists of many examples with demonstrations.

It is ideal for beginners who have a marked interest in learning the basic concepts and techniques of C++. With the help of the examples provided in this book, one can learn the best programming styles and program design techniques.

C++ Pocket Reference 1st Edition Accelerated C++
This is an introductory book that contains a practical approach to problem solving using C++, was written by Andrew Koenig. This book covers a broader scope of C++ programming than is usually found in introductory books.

In addition to the features of the language, throughout its pages you will find real-world problems and solutions explained. The language and standard library are covered, and learning the standard libraries helps from the start.

C++ All-in-One For Dummies 3rd Edition
This handbook ranks among the favorites of professionals who claim it contains the best C++ guide for C++ programmers. John Paul Mueller, a well-known authority in the software industry, wrote this book. What do you learn in this book?
To learn working with objects and classes.
To learn advanced coding skills using various C++ concepts.
To discover how lambda expressions are useful to make code more concise and readable.
To produce code faster and better than ever.

C++ Pocket Reference
Written by Kyle Loudon, the book serves as a supplemental reference for C++ programmers. It helps programmers quickly reference the usage and syntax of unfamiliar and rarely used aspects of the language.

This book contains a variety of important information about C++, such as information about C++ types and type conversions, C++ command syntax and preprocessor directives, pointers, arrays, expressions, strings, and more. Also explained in this book are C++ concepts such as namespaces and scopes.

A Tour of C++ (C++ In-Depth Series) 1st Edition
Another brilliant masterpiece by Bjarne Stroustrup. In this book, programmers will find a complete reference to the basic concepts of C++ and practical coding. This enables programmers to better understand what modern C++ is all about. This short book can be called a self-contained guide.

The book covers many features of the C++ language, basic components of the standard library, key examples, and coding examples. This book provides a high level of guidance for programmers to understand a meaningful overview of the language.

A Complete Guide to Programming in C++
Ula Kirch-Prinz and her book became a bestseller among beginners. In the contents of the book, the components of the C++ language are developed in a better way. It gives guidelines on how to document functions and also shows the difference between pointers and arrays. It teaches about the basics, basic types, variables and constants.

Programmers also learn how to use functions and classes and input and output with streams. It provides knowledge about operators for basic types, control flow, character constants and macros, arithmetic type conversion, and functions of the standard String class.

Beginning C++ Through Game Programming
The 3rd Edition of this book, written by Michael Dawson, takes the programmers on a journey of game programming. An amateur programmer having no previous experience in game development can also learn new skills and concepts with the help of simple language and step-by-step instructions provided in this book.

The programmers can learn the following things with the help of this book:

• The Standard Template Library (Hangman)
• Types, Variables, and Standard I/O: Lost Fortune For Loops, Strings, and Arrays: Word Jumble
• Functions (Mad Lib)
• References (Tic-Tac-Toe)
• Classes: Critter Caretaker Advanced Classes and Dynamic Memory Game Lobby
• Pointers (Tic-Tac-Toe 2.0)
• Inheritance and Polymorphism (Blackjack)

Stay curious, because tomorrow we will present you a list of C++ books for advanced professionals.

In the meantime, feel free to share your opinions on the programming books you’ve read so far. Write to us at e[email protected].

Scientists who are working really hard on their robots are doing their best in order to improve their products’ functions and options. Now, the first “living robots” are capable of the most essential part of any species’ survival – reproduction. 

According to new research in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, those robots are known as Xenobots, as the organisms use an entirely novel form of biological self-replication. 

The authors of the study found out that the machines can gather hundreds of single cells and assemble them into “baby” Xenobots. A few days later, youngsters evolve to look and move exactly like their parents. This process can repeat over and over again. 

Douglas Blackiston, who is a study co-author and a senior scientist at Tufts University revealed in a statement that for a quite long time people have thought that scientists have worked in order to find out all the ways that life can reproduce or replicate, but the truth is that this was something that has never been observed before. 

What are the millimeter-wide Xenobots assembled from? Well, the answer is quite simple and short –  living cells scraped from frog embryos.

Michael Levin, a biologist at Tufts University and co-leader of the new research, said: 

“They would be sitting on the outside of a tadpole,  keeping out pathogens and redistributing mucus. But we’re putting them into a novel context. We’re  giving them a chance to reimagine their multicellularity.”

An interesting fact is that a Xenobot can produce children, but the system normally dies soon after. With the aim to give the parents a chance to see their kids grow up, the researchers turned to AI.

An evolutionary algorithm was used by the team with the aim to test billions of potential body shapes in simulation.

The system was created and designed to find forms that would be effective for the self-replication method. One of its striking creations resembled Pac-Man. 

Sam Kriegman, the lead author of the new study said: 

“It’s very non-intuitive. It looks very simple, but it’s not something a human engineer would come up with. Why one tiny mouth?  Why not five?”

A Xenobot was then built and its child-rearing skills were tested. 

During the process of work, scientists discovered that the AI-designed parent could use its Pac-Man-shaped “mouth” in order to compress stem cells into a circular offspring.

Then, their children built grandchildren, who built great-grandchildren, who built great-great-grandchildren, and that’s how a Xenobot dynasty was taking shape.

Now, the Xenobots can not only work in groups, self-heal, and even record memories, but now they are even capable of raising a family. 

Although it might seem terrifying for most people, researchers are more optimistic because they believe that their system will develop and be useful not only for the environment, but for poeples’ lives. 

Justine Toms is a Bulgarian entrepreneur, lecturer and author, who has played a major role in Bulgarian digital marketing since 1998. Justine loves her work and networking, meeting new people, new ideas, and creative projects. Justine tells us that she is still looking for a way to successfully balance her professional and personal life. When she is working from home, her roles are constantly intertwined – mother, wife, teacher, expert, and of course time for herself. She admits that juggling is not an easy task, and although it has been more than 12 months, she is still learning. Justine believes that over time she has managed to gain equal gender rights professionally. When asked if she has encountered any obstacles in her career because she is a woman, she answered that this has happened more than once. Justine adds that she has been involved in business and online entrepreneurship for 23 years – an area seen more like a man’s job, although this has changed significantly over time. She is a big fan of podcasts and follows a few in Bulgarian and a lot in English, out of which she recommends the Ratio and Internet Speaks podcasts. Regarding inspiration, she recommends their project “Creators – the digital optimists of Bulgaria” (blog and podcast). About social networks, Justine says that she has relatively reduced Facebook, but instead she follows Twitter, which gives her enough information. She reads many books and also listens to them in audio format. Justine warmly recommends Harari – Homo Deus to those who have not read it yet, as well as their new book with Marina Stefanova – Leaders for a New Beginning. 

“We’ve always tried to gain a diversity of people on our team and fortunately, we’ve succeeded.”

Justine Toms

Favourite clothes?

In the last year – leggings and a T-shirt. 🙂 

Otherwise – dresses. 🙂

High heels or flat shoes?

Low, comfortable, fast.

Which typical female quality or household responsibility does not apply to you?

Vanity.

What is THE thing that you must have in your bag when going out?

Maybe a phone. 🙂

Favourite lipstick colour?

Sour Cherry.

Do you currently support any social causes?

I currently support several causes:

– Gorichka and eco themes, life with a small ecological footprint, green future

– Several projects related to children from marginalized groups

– Causes for equality, women’s entrepreneurship.

Read More Inspiring Stories for Women in Tech in WRTech here.

Can you share something specific about yourself that we can’t find on LinkedIn?

I don’t know whether it’s obvious how much I love my job. 🙂 Also networking, meeting people with new ideas, with projects with creativity.

Have you encountered any challenges in your career in connection to being a woman?

Yes, not once. Maybe mainly because I have been involved in business and online entrepreneurship for over 23 years – areas that in the past were seen as males’ jobs, but lately the problem is not seen so often.

Do you know how many women work in your position?

There seem to be more men, probably only 15-20% of women.

Do you think that the problem of gender inequality is still relevant in Bulgaria and globally?

Yes, it exists in Bulgaria, but in places around the world, such as Asia and Africa – much more. But yes, the topic is very important.

What policy does your company follow in terms of promoting diversity?

We have always strived to have a variety of people on the team and fortunately,we have succeeded. Not with quotas, but with the search for interesting alternatives. 

Do your male colleagues treat you differently?

I seem to have won equal gender rights. My positions on the topic are clear, communicated and probably due to that. I don’t think this applies to all girls and in all situations.

Do you think that a woman’s appearance and charm affect their professional success? (example: does it make communication easier?)

I’m not sure. It depends on who is standing in front of you and what their attitude is. I strongly believe that the “female vision” will not matter in the future. About charm – it’s up to the person, it’s not so much related to gender or gender identity.

How do you combine personal and professional life? Are there any rules that you follow?

I’m trying to keep the boundaries, however the balance is difficult. It is especially complicated in the last year, when we are at home during the last year, when the roles are constantly intertwined – mother, wife, teacher, expert, time for yourself – juggling turned out to be quite a difficult task and although 12 months have passed I am still learning. Unfortunately, personal time suffers the most.

Which sources do you follow and can you recommend some of them to our audience? (example: podcasts, pages, influencers, vloggers, etc.).

I’m a big fan of podcasts – I watch a few in Bulgarian and many in English. Out of these, I would recommend. Of these, I recommend the Radio and Talk Internet podcasts. Also for inspiration our project Creators – the digital optimists of Bulgaria (blog and podcast). I have reduced Facebook. I mainly follow Twitter which gives me enough information. I also read a lot of books, I also listen to audiobooks. To anyone who has not yet read Harari – Homo Deus, I strongly recommend it. ☺ And our new book with Marina Stefanova – Leaders for a New Beginning.

If You Want to Read More Inspiring Stories for Success and Professional Growth Join the DevStyleR #Tech Influencers Community and Get Access to our Special Editions here.

A solar telescope has a tough job. Staring at the Sun takes a harsh toll, with a constant bombardment by a never-ending stream of solar particles and intense sunlight. Over time, the sensitive lenses and sensors of solar telescopes begin to degrade. To ensure the data such instruments send back is still accurate, scientists recalibrate periodically to make sure they understand just how the instrument is changing.

Launched in 2010, NASA’s Solar Dynamics Observatory, or SDO, has provided high-definition images of the Sun for over a decade. Its images have given scientists a detailed look at various solar phenomena that can spark space weather and affect our astronauts and technology on Earth and in space. The Atmospheric Imagery Assembly, or AIA, is one of two imaging instruments on SDO and looks constantly at the Sun, taking images across 10 wavelengths of ultraviolet light every 12 seconds. This creates a wealth of information of the Sun like no other, but—like all Sun-staring instruments—AIA degrades over time, and the data needs to be frequently calibrated.

Since SDO’s launch, scientists have used sounding rockets to calibrate AIA. Sounding rockets are smaller rockets that typically only carry a few instruments and take short flights into space—usually only 15 minutes. Crucially, sounding rockets fly above most of Earth’s atmosphere, allowing instruments on board to to see the ultraviolet wavelengths measured by AIA. These wavelengths of light are absorbed by Earth’s atmosphere and can’t be measured from the ground. To calibrate AIA, they would attach an ultraviolet telescope to a sounding rocket and compare that data to the measurements from AIA. Scientists can then make adjustments to account for any changes in AIA’s data.

There are some drawbacks to the sounding rocket method of calibration. Sounding rockets can only launch so often, but AIA is constantly looking at the Sun. That means there’s downtime where the calibration is slightly off in between each sounding rocket calibration. Dr. Luiz Dos Santos, a solar physicist at NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Maryland said:

“It’s also important for deep space missions, which won’t have the option of sounding rocket calibration. We’re tackling two problems at once.”

Researchers needed to train a machine learning algorithm to recognize solar structures and how to compare them using AIA data. To do this, they give the algorithm images from sounding rocket calibration flights and tell it the correct amount of calibration they need. After enough of these examples, they give the algorithm similar images and see if it would identify the correct calibration needed. With enough data, the algorithm learns to identify how much calibration is needed for each image.

Because AIA looks at the Sun in multiple wavelengths of light, researchers can also use the algorithm to compare specific structures across the wavelengths and strengthen its assessments.

Machine learning beyond the Sun

Researchers have also been using machine learning to better understand conditions closer to home.

As machine learning advances, its scientific applications will expand to more and more missions. For the future, this may mean that deep space missions—which travel to places where calibration rocket flights aren’t possible—can still be calibrated and continue giving accurate data, even when getting out to greater and greater distances from Earth or any stars.

My first contact with SQL was in 1998. And I could not believe that such a thing actually exists. You basically ask a question and get a response. I thought that is coming right out of Star Trek!

However, it took more than 10 years before I specialized in SQL. In this time I had several roles like developer, architect, team leader and I even spent some time as sysadmin. One day I noticed two patterns:

– Whenever we have a problem, the database is usually involved in some way

– Once the problem was solved, it always turns out that we where using the database wrong

So I was wondering why we are making so bad use of SQL and this how my SQL journey started.

What are the new stuff around SQL and what does every developer need to know?

I could write a full book about this question alone (actually — I have!).

I’ll keep it short and thus on a high level:

– SQL is not the same as “relational database”

The relational model is just **one** way in which you can use SQL databases. There are other ways and they are equally valid.

– SQL is not a “query language” it is a “transformation language”

One of the key ideas of SELECT is transform data from a persistent data format into another format which is more useful for getting one particular task done. As there are probably many different things you want to do with your data, an easy but powerful way to transform data is very helpful.

Keep in mind that the shape of your data does not change as often as what you want to do with that data. SQL solves this problem by decoupling the persistent data format from whatever format is a better fit for each processing you need to do.

Can we make a little recap on how SQL have evolved since 1992?

I consider the update from 1999 as the “big bang” of modern SQL. This was when SQL evolved the relational idea. About 80% of today’s capabilities of SQL are not related to the relational idea.

Here are some milestones:

– 1999: rich data types (arrays, composite types), recursive queries

– 2003: “document store (XML)” and Window functions. If you don’t know window functions, you don’t know SQL.

– 2011: Time traveling (non-destructive INSERT, UPDATE, DELETE)

– 2016: JSON and row pattern matching

The next standard is already being worked on!

Which database do you recommend the most?

The right one, of course.

There are different needs and those needs justify different directions.

However, if you ask about a safe base to get started with modern SQL, then I suggest using PostgreSQL.

Did you enjoy here in Bulgaria? What do you think about the developers here? Did you have the chance to talk more with any on the topic around SQL, Query, etc.?

Being the “SQL Renaissance Ambassador” involves a lot of traveling and, unfortunately, sight seeing is not among my duties :/

In other words: I like what I’ve seen: The airport, taxis, the conference venue and the hotel 🙂

The reason I’m going to conferences is to interact with people. I’ve talked to quite some developers and I’m happy I could convince them to have a second look at SQL.

Can you share your vision on the future of technology? What would be the next big thing?

I actually prefer to take the opposite approach because I cannot see into the future. When a new hype comes up, don’t ask “what’s next” — ask what will remain once the hype is over. It is still a question difficult to answer, but the answer is something which is worth learning.

I see a lot of young people hunting one hype after the other. After a few years, all they have is a bunch of obsolete technologies on their CV. This is not limited to JavaScript frameworks, although it is most obvious there.

I like to think in terms of “half-life period of knowledge”. If you learn If you learn something new, ask you self how long that know-how will be useful. I hope you trust me when I say the half-life period of an internationally standardized language like SQL is longer than that of the hottest NoSQL system you just saw on HackerNews.