FTSE plunges to three-month low and sheds another 240 points as Trump steps up threats to Iran
Investors are retreating after Trump's threats over the weekend to 'obliterate' Iran's power plants if it did not reopen the Strait of Hormuz by the end of today.
'Elizabethtown' and 'Attleetown' are among seven new towns being built under Labour plans - is one popping up near YOU?
'Elizabethtown' and 'Attleetown' were named by the government and are set to see between 15,000 and 40,000 new homes built in each location.
Bee Gees star Maurice Gibb's 'secret son' hits back at Lulu's 'curious' claims the late star conceived him during their two-year marriage
Bee Gees star Maurice Gibb's 'secret son' has hit back at Lulu's claims her late former husband fathered him with during their six-year marriage.
Will AI Force Source Code to Evolve - Or Make it Extinct?
Will there be an AI-optimized programming language at the expense of human readability? There's now been experiments with minimizing tokens for "LLM efficiency, without any concern for how it would serve human developers."
This new article asks if AI will force source code to evolve — or make it extinct, noting that Stephen Cass, the special projects editor at IEEE Spectrum, has even been asking the ultimate question about our future. "Could we get our AIs to go straight from prompt to an intermediate language that could be fed into the interpreter or compiler of our choice? Do we need high-level languages at all in that future?"
Cass acknowledged the obvious downsides. ("True, this would turn programs into inscrutable black boxes, but they could still be divided into modular testable units for sanity and quality checks.") But "instead of trying to read or maintain source code, programmers would just tweak their prompts and generate software afresh." This leads to some mind-boggling hypotheticals, like "What's the role of the programmer in a future without source code?" Cass asked the question and announced "an emergency interactive session" in October to discuss whether AI is signaling the end of distinct programming languages as we know them.
In that webinar, Cass said he believes programmers in this future would still suggest interfaces, select algorithms, and make other architecture design choices. And obviously the resulting code would need to pass tests, Cass said, and "has to be able to explain what it's doing." But what kind of abstractions could go away? And then "What happens when we really let AIs off the hook on this?" Cass asked — when we "stop bothering" to have them code in high-level languages. (Since, after all, high-level languages "are a tool for human beings.") "What if we let the machines go directly into creating intermediate code?" (Cass thinks the machine-language level would be too far down the stack, "because you do want a compile layer too for different architecture....")
In this future, the question might become 'What if you make fewer mistakes, but they're different mistakes?'" Cass said he's keeping an eye out for research papers on designing languages for AI, although he agreed that it's not a "tomorrow" thing — since, after all, we're still digesting "vibe coding" right now. But "I can see this becoming an area of active research."
The article also quotes Andrea Griffiths, a senior developer advocate at GitHub and a writer for the newsletter Main Branch, who's seen the attempts at an "AI-first" languages, but nothing yet with meaningful adoption. So maybe AI coding agents will just make it easier to use our existing languages — especially typed languages with built-in safety advantages.
And Scott Hanselman's podcast recently dubbed Chris Lattner's Mojo "a programming language for an AI world," just in the way it's designed to harness the computing power of today's multi-core chips.
Read more of this story at Slashdot.
Parents in 'race against time' to save two-year-old daughter diagnosed with 'childhood dementia'
Gus and Emily Forrester's daughter Leni has Sanfilippo syndrome, a neurodegenrative disease that affects one in 70,000 children. There is no cure but a US trial is due to begin later this year.
Britain's Got Talent viewers sink claws into 'unbearable' Stacey Solomon as she makes judging debut - complaining they 'can't take to her at all' just minutes into episode
The television personality and singer, 36, filled in for Simon Cowell during Saturday's episode of the ITV show.
Mahmood planning to 'deport foreign criminals and failed asylum seekers before they can appeal decision'
Using laws drawn up by Tony Blair's Labour government, the Home Secretary plans to remove migrants as soon as their asylum claims are rejected, so they can only appeal once deported.
Essex University wins award for robot which picks Wilkin and Sons' strawberries
Essex University has won a national award for its robotics research which saw a robot pick Wilkin and Sons’ world-famous strawberries.
Essex University wins award for robot which picks Wilkin and Sons' strawberries
Essex University has won a national award for its robotics research which saw a robot pick Wilkin and Sons’ world-famous strawberries.
The drone swarm is coming, and NATO air defenses are too expensive to cope
Ukraine's battlefield lessons show quantity and affordability now trump exquisite hardware
NATO is unprepared to deal with attacks by cheap, mass-produced drones and urgently needs layered, affordable air defense systems to counter the threat, taking a cue from the experience gained by Ukrainian forces over the past four years.…
The quiet community who can no longer leave their homes on the weekend because their town is overrun by 'feral' teens
For months, shopkeepers in Ashton-in-Makerfield have been subjected to harassment by the group who spend every evening cruising through the town centre on mountain bikes.
'Poldark reborn as an 18th-century French love machine? I didn't know whether to guffaw or gasp!' JAN MOIR was first in line to watch Aidan Turner's return to the West End in Les Liaisons Dangereuses
On Saturday night at the National Theatre in London, Aidan Turner was on stage for the first public performance of Les Liaisons Dangereuses, the famous 18th-century French novel.
STEPHEN GLOVER: I believe Trump will declare victory soon. He can't afford to let this war go on. But we will be left with an even more vengeful Iran
The shocking news that Iran has missiles that may be able to reach London should make even critics of Trump's war - among whom I number myself - ponder deeply.
Urgent recall on porridge over 'mice contamination'
A major porridge brand has recalled some of its products because they may have been contaminated by mice at their manufacturing site.
Cabinet minister is dubbed a 'hypocrite' for letting staff work four-day weeks on full pay
Communities Secretary Steve Reed wrote to all council leaders in England at the end of last year warning them not to introduce four-day working weeks.
Rocket scientist and Air Force general linked to UFOs vanish under similar strange circumstances five months apart
US General William Neil McCasland was last seen in February. The news has fueled the mystery, as Monica Reza, who had worked on a rocket project overseen by McCasland, also went missing.
Zelensky says he has a 'very bad feeling' about the war in the Middle East scuppering peace in Ukraine
The Ukrainian president highlighted that Russian leader Vladimir Putin'will want a long war' in the Middle East as it helps weaken the former's country.
Nine people killed and 15 injured as tour bus through Peruvian mountains plunges off the road
Local firefighters said around 25 tourists and their guides were on the vehicle which was about 10 miles from the famous 17,969ft Rajuntay mountain when it crashed.
New £600m historical theme park would be a 'significant strategic opportunity' for Oxfordshire, says Blenheim Palace
Puy du Fou - a historical attraction in Pays de la Loire, western France - is planning to create a British version. And the CEO of a nearby UNESCO site has voiced his support.
Travellers who built wall topped with giant horse statues accuse 'racist' neighbours of 'not liking Gypsies' after losing bitter planning battle
Brandon Rawlings, 27, and his wife Paige, 25, insist complaints over their equine-themed frontage in Kingsclere, Hampshire, were driven by locals who 'don't like Gypsies'.