Twist: A Programming Language for Quantum Computing
Read about MIT’s newly introduced programming language for quantum computing, Twist, and much more in this week’s newsletter
This is the second edition of CrunchX and here are the stories and resources which we thought were worth spending the time.
1. Apple will reportedly let your iPhone turn into a payment terminal
Well, this is both good and bad news. Good for small vendors, but not so great for the companies that were cashing in — literally — on this gap in the market with their small pocketable payment terminals. This could make iPhones a lot more attractive for small business owners than it ever was before. Written by Sareena Dayaram on CNET and editorial selection by Attila Vágó. Read the article here:
2. Untangling wired headphones is tricky in space, too
And this is why wired headphones for casual users are just not a good idea anymore. Wireless all the way, baby! The options are virtually infinite from dirt-cheap to eye-wateringly expensive. If even folks up in space got sick and tired of the wires, it’s time we retire them for good and push tech to lossless wireless sound. Written by Trevor Mogg on Digital Trends and editorial selection by Attila Vágó. Read the article here:
https://www.digitaltrends.com/news/untangling-wired-headphones-tricky-in-space/
3. Beginning with The Wolfram Language
It’s easy to become overwhelmed when you’re faced with a language that contains over 6,000 functions and what looks like a very terse syntax (with many syntactic shortcuts)… but the Wolfram Language (as used in Mathematica) is both extremely powerful and immensely capable — especially if you’re working in a scientific field. I find it of great use in prototyping, exploring new concepts, and displaying complex data more simply. Its lean toward functional style and the whole concept of symbolic computation is excellent.
A relatively recent addition to Wolfram’s site is the “Fast Introduction to Programmers” which is a great way to dip your toe into the language, explore, and see if it can improve your own workflow. Editorial selection by Dr. Stuart Woolley and read the tutorial here:
https://www.wolfram.com/language/fast-introduction-for-programmers/en/
4. Using TimelineView and Canvas in SwiftUI
Ray Wenderlich is a long-time contributor to everything iOS who branched out into many different subjects — his site, materials, and courses are always worth a look. In this article Bill Morefield examines TimelineView and Canvas — both new in iOS 15 — where TimelineView regularly redraws its content at specific points in time and Canvas allows direct 2D drawing on a SwiftUI view. They’re both an integral part of the 3rd version of SwiftUI. If you’re using SwiftUI then you’re going to need to know about both of these new views. Written by Bill Morefield on raywenderlich.com and editorial selection by Dr. Stuart Woolley. Read the article here:
https://www.raywenderlich.com/27594491-using-timelineview-and-canvas-in-swiftu
5. Group of Ghanaian entrepreneurs creates a coding app to democratize science and technology in Africa
This was a great look at how coding and programming are changing society in an impactful way in Ghana. By democratizing the barrier of entry this app that has been created is bridging the gap for the next generation of computer programmers in Africa. Published on Joy Business and editorial selection by Omar Zahran. Read the article here:
6. Twist: MIT’s New Programming Language for Quantum Computing
A look at the new programming language called Twist for quantum computing. This article is an excellent look at what the future of quantum computing looks like and the steps being made to get them through this new language. Written by Rachel Gordon on SciTechDaily and editorial selection by Omar Zahran. Read the article here:
https://scitechdaily.com/twist-mits-new-programming-language-for-quantum-computing/
7. How ‘Java’ Became Coffee’s Nickname and a Programming Language
This is a fun little anecdote article about the word Java and how it became synonymous with two incredibly separate fields: programming and coffee. Written by Alexis Benveniste on NYTimes and editorial selection by Omar Zahran. Read the article here:
8. Top 8 Google AI Tools
Google and the Google Cloud Platform is a great platform to promote AI — here are 8 helpful tools. Written by Iogr Bobriakov on DataScienceCentral and editorial selection by Christianlauer.
Read the article here: https://www.datasciencecentral.com/top-8-google-ai-tools/
9. Building the Data Lakehouse
A full guide for a Data lakehouse. Written by Bill Inmon, Mary Levins, Ranjeet Srivastava on Databricks, and editorial selection by Christianlauer. Read the guide here:
https://databricks.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/10/The-Data-Lakehouse.pdf
10. Visualize BigQuery GEOGRAPHY polygons with Data Studio
A Guide to viz geo data with Google Tools (Try it yourself with the free tier). A hands-on tutorial written and authored by Google and editorial selection by Christianlauer. Read the article here:
Closing Note
That’s our picks for this week. Hope you found something new, inspiring, astonishing, and crazy news going around the tech space. Thank you very much for taking your time to read this edition of CrunchX. Look out for the next edition the following week.
Regards,
CodeX Team
