Digital Signage Challenges in Government

There’s much more at play behind these high-resolution screens than meets the eye. In the government domain, digital signage technology has to deal with several challenges, such as grappling with obsolete legacy content systems, streamlining updates across geographically dispersed locations, and ensuring that network security is high enough to prevent vandalism and malicious tampering. Municipalities must also solve the problems with outdated devices and software that usually are not compatible with newer platforms. As a result, often governmental institutions have to use a fragmented system where one department’s signs operate independently of another’s. This creates inconsistent user experiences for both employees and visitors.

Another issue is accessibility, which also factors heavily into the equation. City officials are aware of how important the accessibility of information is. All the displays must provide information in an understandable way to everyone, including people with disabilities. For this purpose, signage solutions must incorporate audible instructions, high-contrast visuals, and easily navigable interfaces. It’s a complex balancing act for organizations, one that requires not just technical expertise but also a strong understanding of what the community needs. Often, even when substantial funds are allocated for the infrastructure update, integrating new technologies with old frameworks can feel like trying to fit a square peg into a round hole.

IT Education and Real-World Problem-Solving

As all these issues accumulate, organizations can find fresh ideas and creative solutions in the academic world. In IT educational institutions, teachers embrace project-based learning techniques to better prepare their students for life after graduation. Previously, classroom exercises were concentrated on hypotheticals and controlled scenarios, but today many professors encourage students to think about real-world applications as part of their coursework. Often, institutions partner with local governments or nonprofit organizations that need unique perspectives from students. Students, in their turn, create truly meaningful projects for these organizations.

This evolution of approaches to studying allows scholars to move beyond just isolated coding exercises and into the realm of real-life applicable public service. When training centers tie curriculum to actual societal challenges, such as designing signage software for public libraries or creating intuitive user interfaces for city halls, learners gain a sense of purpose. They understand the practical meaning of their efforts and how their work can have a direct influence. With the aim to deliver a product that people rely on every day instead of just learning how to code or design digital screens, students improve the life of their own communities.

Student-Led Innovations for Government Digital Signage

The most successful classroom projects are not just theoretical solutions — they go well beyond that and produce tangible results. Let’s take a team of undergraduate IT students sitting in a lab who brainstorm how to improve the digital signage at a nearby train station. The conditions of this task are aggravated by the fact that this station is notorious for confusing arrival-departure boards. To solve this task, students dive into research, interview city officials at the governmental institutions, transportation managers, and everyday commuters to understand the root of the problem. After doing so, they discover that chaos at peak travel times was a result of combined problems such as inconsistent content delivery, slow refresh rates, and absence of bilingual support.

Guided by this understanding, the students create a prototype for a new signage system that can integrate train schedules from multiple data sources, automatically adjust languages based on the time of day, and even instantly deliver emergency alerts. Then, they test their solution in a controlled environment, run usability tests with volunteers, and refine the interface until it’s simple, responsive, and reliable. By the end of the semester, students will not only have a passing grade but also be able to offer their project as an actionable solution for local authorities to pilot in a real station.

Collaborations Between Institutions and Government Agencies

Such success stories are often the result of strategic partnerships between educational institutions and local government agencies. Both parties are interested in this collaboration: IT schools are aware that real-world projects are worth more than any textbook exercise, and government institutions need creative thinking and original insights to solve their problems. 

During the collaborative work, government agencies provide data sets, explain problems, and offer mentorship from experienced staff. Professors assist students through the coding process, and teach them how to manage complex requirements, troubleshoot technical issues, and design solutions that comply with strict industry standards and legal regulations. The students, for their part, bring an enthusiastic approach, imagination, and a desire to experiment with new technologies and trends in the IT industry. When all these parties work together, they significantly transform the public landscape.

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Unique Nature of Government Digital Signage

Old-fashioned digital signage concentrates on brand messages, promotion, and wayfinding navigation. However, government digital signage must support a different set of objectives, including public service announcements, policy updates, emergency alerts, and real-time transportation data in transit hubs. All these installations should be compliant with strict accessibility standards and regulations: for example, a government building’s lobby might display a constantly updated feed of public health metrics, ensuring that citizens stay informed about vaccination clinics or possible environmental hazards. Other kinds of displays might showcase employment opportunities, voting deadlines, or traffic conditions that help the public make informed decisions.

Incorporating Emerging Technologies and Trends

Digital signage in government is not static; it’s a constantly growing and evolving field. Innovations and new trends such as artificial intelligence and machine learning help prepare students for the challenges of the future. Education of personnel for such spheres as government means not only teaching them current industry standards but also nurturing a growth mindset that is ready for change.

The typical curriculum may involve studying emerging technologies such as real-time data integration with the help of edge computing, AI-driven translation services for multilingual signage, or even augmented reality overlays to enhance the navigation of visitors through complex government buildings. For example, lessons could explore the way in which AI-driven sentiment analysis influences the content displayed when foot traffic decreases because the guests are confused about navigation. In this case, signage could adjust to the renewed data and show more maps and clearer directions to visitors to guide them through intricate buildings. Educational institutions should encourage students to think about all these innovations early in their education to ensure that they enter the workforce ready to experiment, iterate, and improve on existing solutions.

Hands-On Experience with Real-World Projects

Practical application of knowledge is the best way of studying, as nothing cements knowledge quite like rolling up your sleeves and applying it. To prepare students for careers in government digital signage, practical, project-based learning is vital. Established partnerships between an educational institution and local government bodies can help you yield mutually beneficial projects. Students can get hands-on experience in government organizations, while the agencies gain fresh ideas and potential employees. Let’s consider a city’s transportation department that collaborates with a university. This department aims to develop digital signage for the display of bus arrival times, city bike availability, or news of upcoming road closures or openings. Here, IT students could work in teams to handle various aspects of the project from hardware integration to handling cloud-based data services, contributing to front-end design, and content management. Thanks to hands-on experience on real projects, students will not only refine their technical skills like programming or using APIs, but also learn about important business nuances such as negotiations with vendors, complying with budget constraints and security requirements, and chain-of-command decision-making processes that are specific to the public sector. Therefore, students with such experience gain much more than just academic achievements — they get real-world skills, broadened perspectives, and networking opportunities.

Continuous Professional Development and Partnerships

Graduation is not the final destination for those who seek to realize their potential in the sphere of government. In order to stay relevant and effective, IT experts must commit their lives to constant learning and self-improvement. Educational institutions prime students for working in this industry by introducing them to professional organizations, conferences, and certification programs on the topic of digital signage. Thanks to establishing relationships with industry associations and government consortia, educational institutions can give students the opportunity to enjoy guest lectures held by government CIOs and communication directors. They can share their experience and firsthand insights into job responsibilities, industry expectations, and emerging trends in digital signage. Besides, these professionals can also host workshops or bootcamps on specialized topics that are interesting for students, such as cybersecurity or the integration of IoT into existing infrastructure.

Soft Skills for a Government Setting

Hard tech skills are not enough to thrive in the government settings. For those who aspire to excel in the public sector, communication and collaboration skills are not less important. They should be able to explain complex tech jargon in words that are comprehensible for non-tech people. Often it includes tech writing, presentation skills, and engagement with stakeholders. IT students who want to pursue a career in government should learn how to communicate about such industry-related topics as project timelines, budgets, and design decisions. The work for the government may also include the necessity to communicate with different audiences, from department heads who have no IT backgrounds to end users who worry about their confidentiality and data integrity.

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Welcome to the weird, wonderful, slightly terrifying world of website scalability.

But before you panic-order another cup of coffee (or let’s be real, your third for the day), take a breath. Building a scalable WordPress site isn’t as impossible as it sounds. It takes a little planning, a little tinkering, and maybe a few techie terms you’ll eventually understand (or at least pretend to when explaining them to your friends). Here’s how to make it happen without losing your sanity—or your audience.

The Humble Beginnings of Every Big Website

Let’s start with a confession: I once had a WordPress blog. It was a chaotic little corner of the internet where I documented my obsession with weird kitchen gadgets and obscure indie movies. It was simple, small, and honestly kind of adorable.

Then one day, a post I wrote about this ridiculous avocado slicer went semi-viral. Suddenly, people were emailing me. Real people. A food blogger linked to me. A gadget review site picked it up. I was living the dream—until my site crashed, taking all my avocado-related glory with it.

Why? Because my cute little blog wasn’t built to handle traffic. It was like trying to drive a go-kart down a highway. Fun, but completely unsustainable.

Lesson One: Start Thinking Big Before You Need To

If there’s one thing I learned from my avocado-induced disaster, it’s this: plan for growth before growth happens. Yes, even if you’re running a tiny blog that only your mom and three friends visit. Because trust me, growth can sneak up on you like a cat trying to pounce on your keyboard.

So, how do you prepare for a surge of visitors without going full Doomsday Prepper?

Pick the Right Hosting Provider (Yes, It Matters)

If you’re still on that bargain-basement $3/month hosting plan, we need to talk. Shared hosting might be fine for the early days, but it’s like renting a single chair at a party—you’re going to need more space eventually.

Look for hosting providers that specialize in WordPress and offer scalability. Managed WordPress hosting (think WP Engine, Kinsta, or SiteGround) is like having a personal butler for your site—automatic updates, backups, and better performance without you lifting a finger.

Optimize Like You Mean It

Remember those overly ambitious resolutions to “declutter your life”? It’s time to apply that to your WordPress site. Plugins are amazing, but too many will slow your site to a crawl. (Guilty confession: I once had 27 plugins running on a single blog. Don’t be me.)

Stick to the essentials. Get rid of plugins you don’t use. Look for multipurpose plugins that can handle several tasks instead of using separate ones for everything. And while we’re at it, consider lightweight themes that won’t bog down your site. Your visitors will thank you, even if they don’t know why.

The Dark Art of Speeding Things Up

Let’s talk about speed for a second. Have you ever clicked on a website, waited longer than two seconds, and thought, “Eh, I don’t care enough to stick around”? Exactly. Your visitors feel the same way.

Use a CDN (Because Geography Matters)

A Content Delivery Network (CDN) is basically like having your site’s content stored in multiple locations around the globe. So when someone in Tokyo visits your site, they’re not waiting for a server in New York to wake up and deliver the goods. Faster loading times = happier visitors.

Cache Like a Pro

Caching is like pre-packing your suitcase before a trip—your site serves up preloaded content instead of scrambling to pull it all together at the last second. Plugins like WP Rocket or W3 Total Cache can help you with this, and trust me, they’re worth it. (Bonus: no actual suitcase required.)

When Growth Gets Serious (a.k.a. Things You’ll Eventually Need)

If your site keeps growing, you’ll hit a point where you need to step up your game. This isn’t a bad thing. It’s like graduating from a cozy starter apartment to a house with an actual backyard—more work, but totally worth it.

Consider a CDN Load Balancer

This is the fancy cousin of regular CDNs. A load balancer makes sure that no single server gets overwhelmed by spreading traffic across multiple servers. It’s like assigning seats at a dinner party so nobody has to squeeze into the one broken chair.

Use a Staging Site for Testing

Once you start getting serious traffic, every little change on your site can feel like a high-stakes gamble. What if a plugin update breaks something? What if a new feature slows everything down? Staging sites are like your site’s personal sandbox—test all the changes you want without risking the live version.

Real Talk: You’re Going to Mess Up (And That’s Okay)

Can I let you in on a secret? Even the most successful websites have had their fair share of oops moments. Maybe you’ll install a plugin that tanks your site speed. Maybe your traffic spikes and your server gives up like an overworked barista. It happens.

The key is to learn from those moments. Treat every crash, every hiccup, and every “Oh no, what did I just do?” as a learning experience. The good news? The internet is full of people who’ve been there, done that, and written about it. Forums, YouTube tutorials, and WordPress communities are your best friends.

Bonus Tips from Someone Who’s Been There

• Backups Are Your Safety Net
  Backups are like flossing—everyone tells you to do it, and you’ll regret it if you don’t. Use a plugin like UpdraftPlus or Jetpack to automate backups, and store them offsite just in case.
• Monitor Your Traffic Like a Hawk
  Tools like Google Analytics or Jetpack’s site stats aren’t just for nerds. They’re how you spot trends, prepare for surges, and figure out what’s working (or what’s not).
• Know When to Call in the Pros
  Look, WordPress is amazing, but it’s not magic. If you’re in over your head, hire a developer who knows their way around code and server setups. Think of it as investing in your sanity.

The Moral of the Story: Growth Is Messy, but Worth It

Scaling a WordPress site is a bit like raising a puppy. There are moments of chaos, a steep learning curve, and occasional feelings of, “What was I thinking?” But with patience, effort, and a few missteps along the way, you’ll end up with something you’re proud of.

And hey, even if you never plan on becoming the next big thing in your niche, building a site that can handle whatever comes your way feels pretty darn good. So go forth, optimize, and scale like the internet hero you are. And if you ever need a reminder that even the pros started small, just think back to my avocado slicer debacle. It’s proof that every crash can lead to a comeback.

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The product development process is a very complex thing that needs a lot of attention to detail and experience in how to make it right. There are multiple engagement models like Fixed Price and Time and Materials, there are few options for hiring like in-house or outsourcing, and there are various methodologies like Agile and Waterfall for running your project. 

Whatever road you choose, there is one thing in common for projects like simple mobile applications or sophisticated Big Data solutions for an enterprise. This thing is the risk, and you need to learn how to deal with it. Why? 

According to Finances Online, proven project management practices reduce the risk of budget waste up to 30 times, compared to companies that ignore those practices. 

As you see from the graphic, based on the data from PMI, there are ten causes that might lead to the failure of your product. You can’t influence some of them, like the changes in the priorities of your organization, but you can fix aspects like opportunities and risks to ensure the success of the project. 

Risk management software engineering is an important topic that deserves an article of its own. According to a survey by Safran, 92% of CEOs that completed a survey, believe that information about the risks is critical for the long-term success of the software project. 

But how do you obtain the information about possible threats to the project in time? This is exactly what we will talk about in the following sections, as we will be sharing our expertise and experience in risk management in software project management.

“Expect the best, plan for the worst, and prepare to be surprised.”

— Denis Waitley

What is risk management in software engineering?

The primary purpose of risk management is to identify, assess, prevent and control possible risks that might affect negatively the product development process. For an effective risk management process, you should set a competent person that will be responsible for possible threats to the project. 

It is important to have a plan that will address possible threats and act before they will be able to cause any damage. While you have to have one expert focused on dealing with risks, it shouldn’t be your sole responsibility. The risk management process in software engineering should involve multiple parties to reach the maximum efficiency:

• Project Manager should facilitate the risk and arrange a meeting
• The team on a project should decide who will take the roles of recorder and timekeeper
• Stakeholders must participate in risk mitigation and avoidance strategies
• You could also include part-time subject-matter experts that will participate in the project while solving the risks
• The sponsor of a project may be involved depending on a situation, size and the scope of the project

Process of risk management in software engineering

Every business scenario is unique, and there is no unified solution that will fit all the cases, industries, and businesses. Risk management can be taken in different ways, however, there is a basic formula that can become a great start. Here are the essential steps: 

Determine the threats

Figure out what possible risks exist, that already materialized and could have a negative impact on your company. Some examples of risks may include natural disasters, and power or utility outages. You should include all possible factors during the risk assessment process. 

Find out who or what might be affected

Discover what assets of your company might be in danger when the potential threat will become a reality. The list of things you might protect can include employee safety, the reputation of your business, critical infrastructure, IT infrastructure, and overall business operations.  

Plan and set preventive measures

After you identified the threats and their possible targets, you should figure out what steps need to be taken in order to prevent risk or minimize the consequences. 

Record your results

When you successfully dealt with a threat, it will be a good idea to store your findings for your company to have an actionable strategy in case the risk occurs again sometime in the future. 

Conduct regular reviews

From time to time, and make a review of a current risk situation in your company, as your business is constantly evolving and expanding, there could be more possible threats that might pop up. 

Now, that we talked about how to practice risk management in software engineering, let’s discuss more closely what specific threats you might face during the development of your product. 

What are the potential threats to every software project?

Innovative technologies

When you introduce new, nascent technology into your processes, you take your chances to surpass the competitors, but put your business in danger automatically. The truth is, that most software projects work with innovative technologies to some degree anyway. We don’t talk about some groundbreaking Artificial Intelligence and Machine Learning techniques (but don’t exclude them, either). Things like protocols, standards, and tools are changing all the time, so your tech team must keep up with the advancements. The best advice to deal with this risk is to train your employees, so they would be able to deliver the best results. 

Changes in functional and user requirements

Software requirements illustrate all needs of the users in the form of features and functions of the product. Defining requirements for a particular project can take a lot of time and effort, and become a complex thing. The bad news here is that the requirements might change on the fly after the discovery, prototyping, and integration phases. These changes in requirements could potentially lead to disruptions in the development process, so they should be carefully planned in the first place. 

Changes in the architecture of the system

There is always a threat of making bad decisions in choosing a platform, a particular component, or an entire architecture for your project. To deal with technological risks, you should form a team of proficient experts right from the very start that will make the correct design choices. If you go with outsourcing, it is vital not to compromise on the abilities of your employees, because fixing their mistakes can cost you a lot more in the long run.  

Performance issues

Conduct benchmarks and threshold testing of the product to ensure that the development process is going according to the expectations of you and your partners. If the product fails any key tests, you will be able to identify the lack of performance and fix things.

Management problems

There are a lot of things that can go wrong from a managerial standpoint. Make sure to set effective communication among all participants of the development process to get the best results out of your team and prevent any possible issues of this type. 

Types of risks in risk management with practical examples

Example of an internal risk

Imagine one of the team members being unable to work on the project, and it might seriously affect the end result. To prevent this issue, all of your developers must be aware of what each team member is doing to substitute for another, when necessary. 

Example of an external risk

There could be a moment when an external provider will change a particular policy in your country. The good news is, that software developers are usually aware of possible problems that might occur with the provider, and are ready for the worst-case scenario. The best you can do here is to talk with your developers and be aware of what this scenario is. 

Example of an external and internal risk

Commitment is one of the most important aspects of the software development process, and it is closely connected to communication. The lack of commitment in one department will result in a lack of performance in the other. For example, when developers won’t finish the necessary part of code in time, the UX/UI designers will have nothing to do, and the stakeholders won’t get a demo when they expect it. 

To prevent this from happening, it is important to have a product owner role as well. This expert should be in charge of effective and close cooperation between all departments that are responsible for creating a software product. Having a product owner won’t solve all possible issues that your development team might have, but this person will alert you when anything will go wrong, and you will have time to act. 

Principles for all types of risk management in software engineering

FAQ

What is risk management in software project management?

This is a process that focuses on dealing with potential problems that might occur during the development of your project. Those problems can be divided into the usage of new technologies, changed functional and user requirements, changes in the architecture, lack of performance, and different organizational issues. There is no single formula to deal with all possible threats, however, there are certain approaches that will help you to start setting up a risk management process.  

What are the 5 stages of risk management?

Five main stages include: determining the threats, figuring out the possible consequences, planning preventive measures, recording results, and conducting regular reviews. 

Why is risk management important in software projects?

It is important because it can save tons of money for your organization and can be a deciding factor in making sure that the entire project will be successful and will be delivered on time and within budget, according to specs. The absence of the process will put your entire product in danger, and it can become a victim of unforeseen circumstances. 

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The process of choosing a partner is implemented as in Tinder: you “swipe” the lines of code to the left and the rest to the right. In the case of a match, the program will provide an opportunity to correspond in chat. The service can be used with the Visual Studio Code Editor, which is available on iOS and Android.

The main evaluation material will be an excerpt of code that users will review – a maximum of 600 characters.

In order to register, the user will need an Apple ID or GitHub, from where the service will take the programmer’s photo, name and description. It is also necessary to specify the programming language, age, purpose of registration and allow access to the location, so you can find partners nearby.

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The company needs an experienced programmer with detailed knowledge of the RISC-V command system and the Vector Arm command system. He will join the Vector and Numerics Group (VaNG) team, which is part of the Core Operating Systems group. The Vector and Numerics Group team is responsible for developing and improving all kinds of embedded subsystems running on iOS, macOS, watchOS and tvOS.

Known for its secrecy, Apple does not say directly what solutions it intends to implement using RISC-V, but the job description states that the programmer should work with machine learning, computer vision, and natural language processing systems. Some background in low-level, high-performance programming is required, and indeed the job description itself mentions that Apple is already working with RISC-V. It’s stated explicitly that they would be working in a team which is already “using innovative RISC-V solutions.

Today, Apple has dozens of all kinds of products. For example, high-performance products like the Mac, including the MacBook, iPhone smartphones, iPad tablets and Apple TV set-top boxes use chipsets based on custom Arm Cores. In addition, devices like the Apple Watch, AirPods and Homepod Mini use Arm SiP technology, and Arm cores are also used in controllers like the T2, W3 and U1.

In addition to chipsets for high-performance devices, each Apple device uses multiple Arm cores (although individual devices still use chips based on x86 architecture). Apple pays licensing fees for the use of each core, and as the number of cores in devices like SSD controllers and smartwatches continues to increase, we have to pay more and more. In this regard, the use of open and accordingly free RISC-V architecture looks extremely attractive, it could save the company millions of dollars in royalties.

At the same time, integration of custom cores based on RISC-V architecture into Apple’s ecosystem requires software preparation and verification of hardware and software compatibility. This is where programmers familiar with both RISC-V and Arm are needed.

Considering that Apple is already working on RISC-V based solutions, it is still a matter of time before some core types are replaced by an alternative architecture. It is known that RISC-V is mostly used today for auxiliary solutions with low performance, but with the evolution of technologies we cannot rule out more interesting solutions.

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According to the developers, Codex can now significantly simplify the work of experienced programmers, as well as help to train beginners. Artificial Intelligence literally turns a stream of words into real software like websites or rudimentary games. For example, a user can describe the basic appearance of a site or its functionality by listing requirements like the location of menus or text boxes using plain spoken English, and Codex will generate a finished product based on its own “insights” into what needs to be accomplished.

In this variant, programming skills are not required at all in some cases. However, basically Codex will only work as an “assistant” or “deputy” programmer, implementing the conceptual ideas of the “creators” in the simplest way possible.

According to Greg Brockman, the technical director and co-founder of OpenAI, the new tool is intended for a wide range of programmers. First of all, it will allow them to get rid of monotonous repetitive work using libraries, functions and APIs.

Codex is based on the GPT-3 algorithm – created by OpenAI for generating “meaningful” texts based on analyzing many terabytes of text material on the Internet. However, it can provoke a negative reaction from developers who put free and open source software online. The algorithm uses additional data that was literally “shoveled” from free software repositories for subsequent analysis.

OpenAI has said it does not violate any copyright or related rights laws. Nevertheless, many people expect criticism from volunteers who created countless lines of code – the company intends to cash in on the efforts of the community, who posted their software to be parsed and used for free. So far, the programmers do not have a common or at least dominant position on the newly created tool.

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At the same time Microsoft released Visual Studio 2022 Preview 5 for the users who wish to receive new functions that are not available in the stable versions of the application earlier than others. According to the available data, after November 8 this version of the product will become Visual Studio 2022 17.1 Preview 1 and it will be possible to use it within the framework of the user’s existing license.

As for the innovations, we should mention the appearance of 64-bit version of the IDE, as well as NET 6 and C++20 support. Developers have optimized the work of some functions and improved performance of diagnostic and debugging tools. Live Share text chat has been integrated and there are some improvements to the IntelliCode model. The macOS version of the product has an updated user interface.

Microsoft will hold a virtual event dedicated to the launch of Visual Studio 2022. It will be broadcasted on November 8 at 8:30 local time (18:30 Moscow time). Representatives of the software giant’s management are expected to speak within the framework of the product presentation.

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Miguel Ojeda, who wrote the particle gas pedal software for the Large Hadron Collider and worked on security for programming languages, will reportedly be writing parts of the Linux kernel in Rust. Google will pay for the contract through the nonprofit organization Internet Security Research Group.

Adding modules written in Rust to the Linux kernel is expected to reduce the likelihood of vulnerabilities caused by insecure memory handling. At the time of its release in 1991, Linux was written in C, a language which is more vulnerable than modern programming languages. Linux kernel creator Linus Torvalds has said he is ready for a change if the value of using Rust for Linux is proven. So far, Ojeda has proposed 13 changes, which are necessary to run Rust modules on Linux.

Google thanked the Linux community programmers who are working on this project. “The community has already done and continues to do a great job of adding Rust support to the Linux kernel,” Google said in a statement.

As for the Rust language, it was developed by Mozilla, but is currently being developed by the nonprofit Rust Foundation. It pays special attention to secure memory handling. Microsoft’s security division stated back in 2019 that “Rust represents the best alternative to C and C++.”

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The new product is called GitHub Copilot. The tool uses source code uploaded to the GitHub code-sharing service, which Microsoft acquired in 2018. Open AI, an artificial intelligence research startup, participated in the implementation. Microsoft invested $1 billion in it in the summer of 2019.

Researchers at Microsoft and several other companies have been trying for decades to teach computers to write their own code. GitHub Copilot is a big step in that direction. The product relies on a large amount of code in many programming languages and Azure’s enormous computing power. Nat Friedman, CEO of GitHub, says GitHub Copilot can almost completely replace a programmer’s partner. The tool looks at existing code and comments on it, as well as the location of the cursor, and suggests adding one or more lines depending on the context. As the programmer accepts or rejects the suggestions, the model learns and becomes much more sophisticated and intelligent over time.

Friedman says the GitHub Copilot significantly speeds up programming. Hundreds of developers on GitHub, he says, have already appreciated the product’s capabilities and don’t shut it down all day long.

Experts point out that the main advantage of GitHub Copilot is that it saves the programmer from having to study piles of documentation, thereby saving precious hours. Copilot is reported to work best with JavaScript, Python and TypeScript at the moment. The tool will initially appear in Microsoft Visual Studio Code, a free open-source product, before the company plans to include it in a commercial version of Visual Studio.

Open AI co-founder Greg Brockman says the Codex model behind GitHub’s Copilot is a descendant of the powerful GPT-3 model, which the company’s experts have trained on many terabytes of publicly available code. Copilot, according to GitHub staff, has a number of security mechanisms built in, giving confidence that the product will generate high-quality code. Microsoft reportedly plans to release a version of the product in the future that companies can train to understand their own programming styles. For now, Microsoft offers a service that is only trained on code stored in publicly available repositories.

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