Programming: "User", Choice of Language, SpiceyPy and Firefox Development

• Never use the word “User” in your code

  To begin with, no software system actually has “users”. At first glance “user” is a fine description, but once you look a little closer you realize that your business logic actually has more complexity than that.

• How many programming languages have you used?

  In the 1940s, Grace Hopper was in the Navy Reserves doing programming at the machine level, bit by bit. She realized how limiting it was for humans to use a language meant for machines and wanted to radically change the process by which we program. Without a change, she knew that computing would never reach its potential. "Once humans could learn to speak programming languages and once compilers began translating our intentions into machine language, it was like opening the floodgates," says the host of the Command Line Heroes podcast, Saren Yetbarek. Learn more about Grace Hopper and why there are so many programming languages, plus history on the first open source compiler, by listening to Episode 2 of Command Line Heroes Season 2.

• Writing Solar System Simulations with NAIF SPICE and SpiceyPy

  Someone asked me about my Javascript Jupiter code, and whether it used PyEphem. It doesn't, of course, because it's Javascript, not Python (I wish there was something as easy as PyEphem for Javascript!); instead it uses code from the book Astronomical Formulae for Calculators by Jean Meeus. (His better known Astronomical Algorithms, intended for computers rather than calculators, is actually harder to use for programming because Astronomical Algorithms is written for BASIC and the algorithms are relatively hard to translate into other languages, whereas Astronomical Formulae for Calculators concentrates on explaining the algorithms clearly, so you can punch them into a calculator by hand, and this ends up making it fairly easy to implement them in a modern computer language as well.) Anyway, the person asking also mentioned JPL's page HORIZONS Ephemerides page, which I've certainly found useful at times. Years ago, I tried emailing the site maintainer asking if they might consider releasing the code as open source; it seemed like a reasonable request, given that it came from a government agency and didn't involve anything secret. But I never got an answer.

• These Weeks in Firefox: Issue 45

Games: Steam Play, Valve, PlayOnLinux and Lots of Native Ports

• Linus Tech Tips: "Linux Gaming Finally Doesn't Suck"

  Like him or hate him, Linus (not that one) has his audience, many of whom are now being swayed to try out gaming on Linux. Last month, Valve introduced a new version of Steam Play allowing Linux users to run Windows games thanks to Proton, a modified distribution of Wine. While framerates are obviously no match for the intended OS, Linus shows that at least a handful of popular games, which include DOOM and Skyrim, run well enough to play through.

• Valve Has Been Working On A HUD For The RADV Vulkan Driver

  It hasn't been merged to Mesa 18.3-devel yet nor even published on the Mesa-dev list for review, but it turns out Valve's Samuel Pitoiset has begun working on a heads-up display (HUD) for the driver. Many have requested having a RADV HUD similar in nature to the Gallium3D HUD while it seems as one of many projects being worked on by the Valve Linux driver team is indeed this option.

• PlayOnLinux has a new alpha release out with an overhaul of the interface

  PlayOnLinux 5.0 alpha 1 code-named "Phoencis" includes a completely redesigned user interface, along with moving their scripting system from bash to JavaScript. They're also now storing the scripts POL uses to install and setup games and applications on GitHub, so that if there's problems with their own infrastructure you can still use POL.

• Space sim 'Helium Rain' to leave Early Access next month, along with a major update now available

  They recently released one of their final updates, which includes a few notable new features including: a new Artifact system, which has you scan planets for some research points and lore, a new economy model, AI improvements, some updated graphics, new sectors and so on.

• Turn-based rogue-like RPG 'Depth of Extinction' confirmed to release on September 27th

  We knew that the rather good rogue-like RPG Depth of Extinction was releasing soon and now we know how soon, this week on Thursday it will be available across a number of stores. Inspired by the greats like XCOM: Enemy Unknown and FTL: Faster Than Light, it follows you trying to save humanity from some sort of vicious AI. You will have to build up a mighty squad of soldiers, level them up and get some decent equipment as you travel through a future set around 500 years after rising water caused humanity to edge on the brink of extinction.

• The rather good 2D action RPG 'Chronicon' just had a major upgrade

  Being completely honest here, I absolutely love this game! The 2D action RPG Chronicon has a new update with some major improvements. As a reminder, the game is still currently in Early Access. The latest update, released a few days ago moves the game from GMS 1.4 to GMS 2.1.5 which is pretty huge by itself considering how old that version of GameMaker Studio was. This should hopefully improve compatibility with other Linux distributions. In addition, the game has been through a lot of performance-focused work to make as much of the game as smooth as possible. For me, it already performed well and now it's excellent.

• What even more developers think of Valve's Steam Play

  You think we were done writing about Steam Play? Wrong. Here's what Godot Engine's Rémi Verschelde and Marc Di Luzio (previously Feral Interactive, now at Unity) think about it. First up, a few reminders on things we've already covered: our interview with the creator of DXVK, one of the projects that makes up Steam Play; our little chat with Linux game porter Ethan Lee; what Subset Games thought about it and my own personal thoughts can be found here.

• The beautifully weird hidden object adventure game My Brother Rabbit is out, it's really sweet

  My Brother Rabbit from Artifex Mundi is an absolutely beautiful adventure game that has shocked me with how good it is.

• Sunless Skies to leave Early Access on January 31st, 2019 also now out is a free pen and paper RPG system

  Failbetter Games have announced that Sunless Skies is set to leave Early Access on January 31st, 2019. They've also released a free pen and paper RPG system. “We’ve used the time in Early Access to fill the world with the most glorious stories, and to refine the play experience: improving combat, tweaking the skyfaring experience, and closing in on a dark and dread-soaked atmosphere.” says CEO Paul Arendt. “The next update, due on 10th October, will include a complete overhaul of the Reach region and extended mechanics for Terror, fuel, hunger and crew.”

Android Leftovers

• OnePlus 6 Gets Android 9 Pie In Just 45 Days

• Google's Android turns 10

• Time to celebrate: Google Android is now 10 years old

• Google's first Android phone rivaled the original iPhone like earlier brands never could

• Motorola One Power quick review: Android One goodness

• BlueStacks teams up with MSI to offer PCs with Android gaming capability built in

• YouTube Music for Android Now Receiving Streaming, Download Quality Controls: Report

• Kotlin Job Postings on Meteoric Rise Thanks to Android

Zynq UltraScale+ module runs Linux at industrial temperatures

iWave’s “iW-RainboW-G30M” compute module runs Linux on a quad -A53 Zynq UltraScale+ SoC with 192K to 504K FPGA logic cells. The module ships with 6GB DDR4 and 8GB eMMC and supports -40 to 85°C temperatures. iWave has posted details on a computer-on-module built around Xilinx’s 64-bit, hybrid Arm/FPGA based Zynq UltraScale+ MPSoC. Unlike the SODIMM-style iW-RainboW-G28M that iWave shipped earlier this year based on the dual Cortex-A9 Zynq-7000 FPGA SoC, the new iW-RainboW-G30M is a larger, 95 x 75mm module with dual 240-pin board-to-board interfaces. There’s an optional Zynq Ultrascale+ Development Kit, but no details were available.