Hot New Web Dev – January 2023

Welcome to Hot Web Dev January 2023, featuring the latest web development technologies. This month we will talk about Artificial Intelligence and whether it will take over the world. We also discover some shady Android apps. The web tool of the month is a User Interface fit for any Vue.

The Future is AI

If you look all around you on the web you will see the word AI popping up much more than in previous years. We also hear questions like AI will make developers lose their jobs. This is partially true as things become more automated. Remember when supermarkets had a row of checkouts with a person at each checkout?

Now only a few of the checkouts are manned and the rest are self-service. Technology replaced humans in this case and as AI advances we may see a shift in what types of jobs are available. Software developers are familiar with changing and learning new skills as technology advances so there is plenty of work available.

Have you had a go at Chat GPT yet? I asked it the following

Will AI make developers lose their jobs?

Here is the answer.

AI has the potential to automate certain tasks that were previously performed by humans, including some tasks performed by software developers. However, AI is not expected to completely replace the role of software developers. Instead, AI is likely to change the nature of software development work and make it more efficient.

Developers with skills in areas such as AI, machine learning, and data science will likely see increased demand for their services, as companies look to incorporate these technologies into their products and services. At the same time, developers will also need to continually reskill and upskill to keep pace with the rapidly evolving field of AI.

Overall, while AI may lead to some job losses in the software development field, it is also expected to create new opportunities and demand for workers with relevant skills.

Shady Android Health Apps

The new year sees a rise in people wanting to get fit. Whether it’s a new years resolution or simply eating too much over the festive period. The likelihood of trying a new app to help with your fitness goals is high. With the rising popularity of fitness apps would one that also earns you money whilst getting fit seems perfect?

Enter 3 Google Play apps with over 20 million downloads.

• Lucky Step – Walking Teacher
• Walking Joy
• Lucky Habit: Health Tracker

In exchange for watching adverts, you are awarded coins. These coins can be apparently converted to gift cards. From what I gather none of these coins has ever been exchanged successfully making the apps a massive scam.

If I were you I would delete them right away and avoid similar reward apps unless they have been tested fully.

Source – Bleeping Computer

Coding Resources

Astro 2.0 has been released bringing a host of new features. If you are not familiar with Astro you can use it to develop dynamic sites such as a blog or as a static site generator. One of its cool features allows you to include any Vue, Svelte, Preact, or React components.

Its new features include automatic type-safety for markdown and MDX files. This will help eliminate an error in a single file from crashing your website. Other new features include upgrading to the latest version of Vite. For a full list of all the new features check out the release notes on the Astro Blog.

Web Tool Of The Month

The web tool of the month for January is Vuestic UI which is a framework with over 60 components that supports Vue and Nuxt. The new additions to the latest stable release include a tree view, split panel, skeleton, and dropdown components. It also features a new dark mode.

The Best of the Rest in January 2023

• College Algebra with Python
• Review of CS50 – Harvard’s Introduction to Computer Science Course
• 6 Cheat Sheets Every Developer Should Have
• 5 Websites to help you learn Frontend Web Development Faster
• Python Basics: Object-Oriented Programming