Swift Memory Ownership Manifesto

According to Chris Lattner, Swift creator and Swift team lead before moving to Tesla, defining a Rust/Cyclone-inspired memory ownership model is one of the main goals for Swift development. Now that Swift 4 has entered its phase 2, the Swift team has published a manifesto detailing how Swift memory ownership could work.

Android Studio 2.3 Brings Build Cache, Improved Constraint Layout, and More

Google has released version 2.3 of Android Studio, its official IDE for Android development, which adds a number of new features across the whole development phases.

Hosting Alexa Skills on AWS is Almost Free Now

Amazon has announced a program to subsidize the hosting of Alexa skills that use AWS Lambda and incur use charges beyond what is provided by the AWS free tier. Only developers having at least one skill live are eligible to apply.

Apple Quietly Upgrades the File System of Millions of iOS Devices

With the release of iOS 10.3 to the general public, millions of devices will be upgraded to Apple’s new file system, APFS, in what is a bold, yet not risk-free move, according to several commentators.

Swift 3.1 Improves Language, Package Manager, and Linux Implementation

Staying true to its plan, the recently announced Swift 3.1 is source compatible with Swift 3.0. Still, it includes a number of changes to the language, the standard library, and improved Linux implementation.