Author: Infoworld

Salesforce has released Einstein 1 Studio, a set of low-code development tools that allow Salesforce admins and developers to customize the Einstein Copilot conversational AI assistant for CRM and embed AI functionality into apps.Einstein 1 Studio was unveiled March 6. The toolkit features Copilot Builder, for building custom AI actions to accomplish specific business tasks; Prompt Builder, for building custom prompts in the flow of work; and Model Builder, for building and managing AI models. Model Builder allows users to choose from large language models (LLMs) managed by Salesforce or bring their own models.Last August, Salesforce began offering Einstein Studio…

As reported on InfoWorld, Java 22 introduces several new thread-related features. One of the most important is the new ScopedValue syntax for dealing with shared values in multithreaded contexts. Let’s take a look.Structured concurrency and scoped valuesScopedValue is a new way to achieve ThreadLocal-like behavior. Both elements address the need to create data that is safely shared within a single thread but ScopedValue aims for greater simplicity. It is designed to work in tandem with VirtualThreads and the new StructuredTaskScope, which together simplify threading and make it more powerful. As these new features come into regular use, the scoped values feature is intended…

Most respondents to a recent survey on Java productivity said their companies plan to add Java developers this year, while a bit less than half plan to increase their Java tool budget.These findings were included the 2024 Java Productivity Report from development tools provider Perforce Software, released March 5. Overall, the survey found that investments in Java tools and talent were on the rise. Sixty percent of respondents said their companies planned to add Java developers this year and only 13% said their companies did not (27% were unsure). Developer tool budgets look to be holding steady, with 42% planning…

Cloudflare has announced the development of Firewall for AI, a protection layer that can be deployed in front of large language models (LLMs) that promises to identify abuses before they reach the models.Unveiled March 4, Firewall for AI is intended to be an advanced web application firewall (WAF) for applications that use LLMs, comprising a set of tools that can be deployed in front of applications to detect vulnerabilities and provide visibility into the threats to models.Cloudflare said Firewall for AI will combine traditional WAF tools such as rate limiting and sensitive data detection with a new protection layer that…

Gleam, a programming language designed to ease the development of type-safe, scalable systems, is now available in version 1.0.0, the language’s first stable release.Compiling to Erlang or JavaScript, Gleam was created by London-based developer Louis Pilfold. Gleam 1.0.0 was announced March 4. Developers can try Gleam from the Gleam Language Tour page. Public APIs can be found in the main GitHub repository for Gleam, covering areas such as language design, compiler, build tool, and the package manager. There are 234 packages available for the language. In a post describing the language, Pilfold said Gleam has a small surface area that makes…

Apryse, provider of the cross-platform Leadtools toolkit for building document and image processing capabilities into applications, has released Leadtools 23, which introduces a new Excel API and .NET MAUI support.Released March 5, Leadtools 23 features an Excel API that allows developers to build and save Microsoft Excel sheets programmatically, while the Excel Web Editor integrates into HTML/JavaScript applications. Both enable editing, formatting, formula creation, styling, merging, and saving of Excel files.A new PDF engine in Leadtools, meanwhile, allows developers to load, view, and save PDFs at a more affordable cost, the company said. Leadtools is powered by patented AI and…

Are you a cloud architect, engineer, or neither? The question will get you more blank stares than good explanations due to the confusion around two roles that perform separate but equally important duties.I’ve held both roles. I was a software engineer early in my career, then morphed into an architect, then an executive architect. The trouble is that we tend to conflate both roles these days. The lines between engineering and architecture have blurred. We’re obtaining engineering certifications that say “architect” and architecture certifications that say “engineer.” The former is the most common, leading to considerable confusion.First, I don’t care…

Generative AI is estimated to add between $2.6 trillion to $4.4 trillion in economic benefits to the global economy annually, according to McKinsey. This forecast is based on 63 new use cases that could deliver improvements, efficiencies, and new products for customers across multiple markets. This is a huge opportunity for developers and IT leaders alike.At the core of the generative AI promise is data. Data enables generative AI to understand, analyze, and interact with the world around us, fueling its transformative capabilities. To succeed with generative AI, your company will need to manage and prepare its data well.At the…

I’ve never been a big fan of annual performance reviews. Frankly, I think they ought to be utterly unnecessary. No one enjoys the process. I’m at a loss why a company would spend all those person-hours on a process that no one really wants.Any competent manager should be meeting regularly with all of her direct reports, and should make sure that each employee knows clearly where they stand and how they are performing. Continuous and timely feedback is vastly superior to annual reviews. If a manager provides continuous and timely feedback, then the performance review process should be a complete…

Folks, we have an open source problem. And, no, it’s not the problem some think. You’ll hear people rail against corporations that falsely describing their code as open source. Sometimes they’re correct. You’ll hear others bemoan the influx of venture-backed companies diluting the meaning of open source to fuel corporate gains. Sometimes they’re correct.But the problem isn’t the companies. At least, not the primary problem. We’ve always had businesses try to piggyback on open source branding in pursuit of commercial gains. The difference during the past few years, however, is that free and open source software lost its way, leaving developers (and…