10 articles to become more data science savvy
When LinkedIn released its third annual Emerging Jobs report, engineers everywhere said, "Amen." More than half the list consists of engineering roles, with new fields like robotics appearing for the first time.
But data science had a strong showing as well. The role shows 37% annual growth, topping that aspect of the Emerging Jobs list for the third year in a row.
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How the Zen of Python handles errors
Handling "exceptional conditions" is one of the most debated issues in programming. That could be because the stakes are high: mishandled error values can bring down even the largest systems. Since "exception conditions," by nature, are the least tested but occur with unpleasant frequency, correctly handling them can often distinguish a system that horror stories are told about to a system that "just works."
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Top 10 Raspberry Pi articles of 2019
Since its introduction, the Raspberry Pi has been one of the hottest topics on Opensource.com. This trend continued in 2019 with an impressive list of over 30 articles about various Raspberry Pi projects. The top 10 articles are covered below, but if you are a true Raspberry Pi aficionado, I encourage you to check out out our entire selection of Raspberry Pi articles.
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How to run a business with open source: Top reads
Open source is ready to get to work, and in 2019, Opensource.com had many great articles about how organizations have adopted open source software or open methods to drive their business. As open source matures, we've seen open source not just replace proprietary software, but create entirely new business models.
Check out this list of five outstanding articles from Opensource.com in 2019 about running a business with open source.
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12 open source resources for kids and young adults
Are you looking to challenge your children (or even yourself) to learn new things about open source technologies? Whether you're in elementary school, high school, or college, or even a parent or teacher, Opensource.com has some great reading about open source technologies suitable for the younger generation. Here are our top 12 articles from 2019 on open source for students (and those who love them).
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Making trade-offs when writing Python code
Software development is a discipline rife with trade-offs. For every choice, there is an equally defensible but opposite choice. Make a method private? You're encouraging copy-paste. Make a method public? You're committing prematurely to an interface.
Software developers make hard choices every minute. While all the principles in the Zen of Python cover trade-offs to some extent, the following principles take the hardest, coldest look at some trade-offs.
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5 security tips from Santa
If you're reading this in 2019, it's almost Christmas (as celebrated according to the Western Christian calendar), and, like all children and IT professionals, it's time to write your letter to Santa/St. Nick/Father Christmas. Don't forget: those who have been good get nice presents and those who haven't get coal. Coal is not a clean-burning fuel, and with climate change well and truly upon us,1 you don't want to be going for the latter option.
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Chill out with the Linux Equinox Desktop Environment
I haven't used the Fast Light Toolkit (FLTK) for anything serious yet, but I'm a fan of the C++ GUI toolkit that's pretty simple to learn and (in my experience) reliable even across updates. When I found out that there was a desktop environment built with FLTK, I was eager to try it—and I was quickly glad I did. The Equinox Desktop Environment (EDE) is a fast and simple desktop written in C++ and FLTK for Unix desktops.
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Top articles for learning Python in 2020
Python had a big year in 2019. According to popular resources like GitHub and Stack Overflow, it's trending as the second most popular language in the world.
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Why your Python code should be flat and sparse
The Zen of Python is called that for a reason. It was never supposed to provide easy-to-follow guidelines for programming. The rules are specified tersely and are designed to engage the reader in deep thought.
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Top 5 articles on the modern organization in 2019
The open organization community at Opensource.com published more than 50 articles in 2019. That's more than 50 new, openly licensed resources to help you explore the ways open principles are changing the way we work, manage, and lead in modern organizations.
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Get back to basics with the TWM Linux desktop
The most humble of window managers, TWM, is a little akin to those sample photographs you get when you buy a picture frame. It's basic, almost a bare-minimum proof of concept that Xorg ships with the X11 Windows System to demonstrate that a desktop can indeed be created for a graphical user interface (GUI).
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10 articles to learn Linux your way
The year 2019 has been good for Linux with Opensource.com readers. Obviously, the term "Linux" itself is weighted: Does it refer to the kernel or the desktop or the ecosystem? In this look back at the top Linux articles of the year, I've intentionally taken a broad view in defining the top 10 Linux articles (for some definition of "top" and some definition of "Linux"). Here they are, offered in no particular order.
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10 resources to become a better Bash user
As another great year wraps up at Opensource.com, my fascination with all things Bash has me looking back at the top 10 Bash articles we published in 2019. These articles include basic how-to articles, tools, shortcuts, and even a way to build your own command-line game with Bash.
I didn't select these articles based solely on the number of hits they had but rather on a number of criteria. In the true spirit of top 10 countdowns, the top Bash article from 2019 is at the end for the final reveal.
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Prioritizing simplicity in your Python code
"Il semble que la perfection soit atteinte non quand il n'y a plus rien à ajouter, mais quand il n'y plus rien à retrancher."
"It seems that perfection is finally attained not when there is no longer anything to add, but when there is no longer anything to take away."
—Antoine de Saint-Exupéry, Terre des Hommes, 1939
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Create a unique Linux experience with the Unix Desktop Environment
When the UDE project started in 1996, the developers took on a bold name—Unix Desktop Environment (UDE)—and held high hopes of reinventing what a desktop could be. They weren't just trying to redefine Unix desktops; they were trying to change the way users interacted with applications on their system.
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Why your Python code needs to be beautiful and explicit
Python contributor Tim Peters introduced us to the Zen of Python in 1999. Twenty years later, its 19 guiding principles continue to be relevant within the community. We start our Pythonukkah celebration—like Hanukkah, a festival of lights—with the first two principles in the Zen of Python: on beauty and explicitness.
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Customize your Linux desktop with KDE Plasma
The Plasma desktop by the KDE community is a pinnacle among open source desktops. KDE got into the Linux desktop market early, but since its foundational Qt toolkit did not have a fully open license at the time, the GNOME desktop was created. Since then, Qt has become open source, and KDE (and its derivatives, like the Trinity desktop) has thrived.
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Eliminating gender bias in open source software development, a database of microbes, and more open source news
In this edition of our open source news roundup, we take a look at eliminating gender bias in open source software development, an open source database of microbes, an open source index for cooperatives, and more!
Testing your Bash script
In the first article in this series, you created your first, very small, one-line Bash script and explored the reasons for creating shell scripts. In the second article, you began creating a fairly simple template that can be a starting point for other Bash programs and began testing it.
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