Grey Box Testing – All You Need To Know About

 

Testing plays a vital role in development of stable and secure software solutions and verify that software performs as expected. Most common approaches of software testing are white box testing, black box testing and gray box testing. White box testing and black box testing have their own pros and cons. Gray box testing combines two testing approaches so as to overcome their deficits. It aims to amend the loopholes and shortcomings found in white box and black box testing. It has been developed to be a beneficial blend of the two testing techniques. In Grey box testing, testers have access to the design document and database rather than only the user interface. It is also called translucent testing. This kind of testing can be used to debug software and evaluate vulnerabilities. Before digging to the details of Grey box testing, let us see what is Grey box testing?

What Is Grey Box Testing?

Grey Box Testing

Grey box testing is a testing technique which is a combination of White box testing and black box testing. In white box testing the internal structure of  product is known whereas in black box testing internal structure is unknown to the tester. In Grey box testing internal structure is partially known and it includes access to internal data structures and algorithms to design the test cases. Commonly it focuses on context-specific errors related to web systems. Grey box testing is a great way to find security flaws in programs. It can help to discover bugs or exploits because of the incorrect code structure or incorrect use of applications. 

Grey box tester takes the code-specific approach of white box testing and combines it with various approaches of black box testing such as functional testing and regression testing.

Need Of Grey Box Testing-

• Grey box testing is independent of platform and language
• It can test data domains, internal boundaries and overflow.
• Checks the high level design environment and interoperability conditions
• It can detect defects that are not easily detected by black box or white box analysis, like end to end information flow, distributed hardware/software system configuration and compatibility.
• This testing can uncover several context-specific errors 
• It combines the input of developers as well as testers and improves overall product quality

How To Perform Grey Box Testing?

While performing gray box testing, it is not necessary to design test cases from the source code. Testers can design test cases as per algorithms, internal states or high-level description of code. Let us see the steps to  perform grey box testing.

Steps To Perform Grey Box Testing-

• Identify inputs from Blackbox testing and white box testing and select the appropriate test data.
• Identify the expected outputs from the selected inputs
• Recognize the major paths to traverse through during the testing period
• Identify the sub-functions that are part of main functions to do deep level testing
• Point out inputs for subfunctions
• Identify the expected outputs for subfunctions
• Start execution of test case for subfunctions
• Verify correctness of result

Grey Box Testing Techniques-

1. Matrix Testing-

It begins when developers define variables in their program, status report of the project is stated. Every variable may inherent technical risks, business risk and also can be used with different frequency during its life cycle.

2. Pattern Testing-

It analyses the historical data of previous system defects. Testers inspect the code and try to determine the reason for failure. This can help the team in test case designing and so helps in finding the failures proactively. This kind of test case design gets influenced by coding structure of app.

3. Orthogonal Array-

It is a statistical testing technique generally executed in complex applications. Gray box testing blends the power of statistical testing and elaborate testing to provide proper coverage. This helps to reduce the number of combination to provide maximum coverage with the minimum number of test cases. 

4. Regression-

To check whether the change in the previous version has regressed other aspects of the program in the new version. It will be done by testing strategies such as retest all, retest risky use cases, retest within a firewall.

Black Box Testing vs White Box Testing vs Grey Box Testing-

	Black Box Testing	White Box Testing	Grey Box Testing
1	For black box testing knowledge of internal working structure (Code) is not required.	For white box testing knowledge of internal working structure (Coding of software) is necessarily required.	For Grey box testing, partially Knowledge of the internal working structure is required.
2	Black Box Testing is also known as functional testing, data-driven testing, and closed box testing.	White Box Testing is also known as structural testing, clear box testing, code-based testing, and transparent testing.	Grey Box Testing is also known as translucent testing as the tester has limited knowledge of coding
3	Black box testing approach includes trial techniques and error guessing method because tester does not need knowledge of internal coding of the software.	White Box Testing is proceeded by verifying the system boundaries and data domains inherent in the software as there is no lack of internal coding knowledge.	If the tester has knowledge of coding, then it is proceeded by validating data domains and internal system boundaries of the software.
4	It is difficult to discover hidden errors of the software because errors can be due to internal working which is unknown for Black Box testing.	It is simple to discover hidden errors because it can be due to internal working which is deeply explored in White Box testing.	Difficult to discover the hidden error. Might be found in user level testing.
5	It is not considered for algorithm testing.	It is well suitable and recommended for algorithm testing.	It is considered for algorithm testing.
6	Tester, developer and the end user can be the part of testing.	Only tester and developer can be a part of testing; the end user can not involve.	Tester, developer and the end user can be the part of testing.
7	It is less exhaustive than White Box and Grey Box testing methods.	It is most exhaustive between Black Box and Grey Box testing methods.	Partly exhaustive; depends upon the type of test cases are coding based or GUI based.

Advantages Of Grey Box Testing-

• For grey box testing, there is no need of high programming skills.
• It is non-intrusive.
• Quality of product is improved
• Users and developers have clear goals while testing
• This testing avoids conflicts between tester and developer
• In this type of testing, developers have more time for defect fixing
• Gray box testing is much more effective in integration testing.

Disadvantages Of Grey Box Testing-

• Limited access to internal structure leads to limited access for code path traversal
• Source code cannot be accessed so doing complete white box testing is not possible
• It is not suitable for algorithm testing
• Many test cases are difficult to design
• While performing this kind of testing for distributed systems, defect association is difficult.

Gray Box Testing Challenges-

• Testers may not be given access to the source code so it can result in missing certain critical vulnerabilities.
• It can be unrealistic and time-consuming to check every potential input i.e chances are there that particular program paths will not be tested.
• It needs more time to cover the input path for a large application, this can increase project budget, and can increase project deadline.

Final Words-

Testing plays an important role in software development and grey box testing one of its kind. Here you’ve seen the basics of grey box testing.

Swift Vs Python – Which One Is Best?

 

Technology is changing day by day as per the need of competition and future. Every year or month, we experience modifications in programming languages. Some programming languages become more popular whereas some become outdated. These days, swift and python are two programming languages that have gained popularity in ios development market. What’s more, even their popularity grows consistently and holds a special space among the software developers. As per the recent statistics, Python is the most popular language and preferred by developers. Whereas, Swift is also popular like Python and it will be the next fastest-growing language after python. So finally which will be an iOS leader in 2021? And why? To know the answer of this question, you must know the comparison of Swift vs Python. Let’s see the differences between these two languages. 

Swift Vs Python Comparison-

Can you say that a particular language is best? How can you choose a best programming language for your product? This all depends on various factors like purpose of the product, its features, market you are targeting, and your budget. Sometimes, there are chances to change programming language. So it is necessary to know the differences and similarities between Python and Swift. Here we will see detailed comparison Swift vs Python.

Swift-

Swift is a powerful open-source programming language announced in 2014 by Apple. Due to the open source it has gained a huge popularity. In 2017, Swift increased its roots and grabbed the position under the top 11 programming languages. It is easy to use and anyone with an idea can create something incredible with this programming language.

Various popular companies like linkedin, Clear, Kickstarter, SkyGuide etc. are prominently using Swift as a programming language for their iOS app development.

Know the reasons of – Why enterprises prefer to develop apps in Swift?

Advantages of Swift-

1. Open-source-

Swift became an open-source in the year 2015. This had a major impact on Swift popularity. And in 2015, it became GitHub’s most loved language and in 2016 it came in the 2nd place.

2. Easy Code Readability And Maintenance-

If you are searching a simple and easy to read programming language, Swift will be the best choice for iOS development. Because of less code, Swift is compact and also can be reused to a great extent. It can also maintain everything in .swift file, reducing developer’s headache of maintaining two separate files for single code. When you use Swift for iOS apps, it doesn’t hamper any apps’ performance.

3. Compatibility With Objective C-

Swift is compatible with Objective-C’s libraries and frameworks. Language correlation allows you to import frameworks from Objective-C using Swift syntax. Language correlation allows you to import frameworks from Objective-C using swift syntax. With this, programmers can use Object C APIs and classes.

4. Improved Performance-

Performance of Swift depends on C++ likes, meaning that it is known as one of the fastest programming languages beating Objective C. As per the analysis, Swift language is three times faster than Objective-C and 8 times faster than Python. Also, its compatibility with cross platform and dynamic library support helps it to perform best in terms of speed.

Disadvantages Of Swift-

1. Limited Talent Resource-

As swift is in its initial stage, there is a lack of talented Swift developers. The demand for Swift coders is increasing.

2. Instability-

Many developers point to the same issue. Due to the changes in new versions, Swift is unstable. Means if a developer wants to switch a project to a new version of Swift, they need to rewrite the code. This issue was partly solved by introducing Swift Migration Tool for XCode that makes easy migration from third to fourth version.

3. Less Native Libraries-

Still there is a lack of native Swift tools that can work seamlessly in various versions. Many libraries and frameworks are made for early versions but are useless for new.

Python-

Python is a dynamic high-level programming language released in 1991. With the time it became useful for various purposes, like machine learning, data science and back-end development. In 2017, python was the fastest growing programming language. You can use python for web development, DevOps/system administration/writing automation scripts, data analysis, programming of web parsers/scrapers, educational purpose, machine learning, software testing/writing automated tests etc.

Many popular companies like Dropbox, Netflix, Quora, Reddit, Facebook, Instagram, Spotify use Python.

Advantages of Python-

1. Easy-

Simplicity of code and readability are the two most important benefits of learning Python. It looks like simple english so easy to ready and use by everyone. Python is a suitable and good solution for beginners who want to get to know a programming language regardless of their skill.  

2. Open-Source-

Python is open source, thus one can download and change it’s source code. And this helped to build a strong community that continues improving it.

3. Object Oriented Language-

This programming language consists of both procedural and object oriented languages. Due to the procedural support, developers can reuse code. Also, the object-oriented methodology can access different inheritance and finalizing data and functions into one.

4. Large Standard Library-

Being old in a programming industry, Python comes with a huge range of libraries and frameworks for different purposes. Standard library provides a  set of modules and functions, so developers don’t need to write code again for each single thing. Some popular libraries are- Plotly, NumPy, Pandas, Pipenv for regular expressions, unit-testing and web browsers. It can also include popular frameworks like Django, Flask, CherryPy and PyTorch.

5. Integration With Other Languages-

Python is an extensible and embedded programming language, thus can be easily integrated to C++, C and Java apps.

6. Improved Productivity-

Python is a productive language and because of simplicity developers can focus on solving problems rather than understanding the syntax or behavior of a programming language. You just need to write a few lines of code and achieve more by doing more things.

Disadvantages Of Python-

1. Design Restriction-

Python has some design restrictions. Since, python is dynamically typed language which uses duck typing, it automatically detects a type of variable. Sometimes it creates issues. You have no need to identify the type of variable when declaring it, but it can cause runtime errors. 

2. Not Ideal For Mobile Development-

For mobile app development, Python is not a perfect language. But you can use Kivy- a cross platform Python framework to build mobile apps.

3. Memory Consumption-

Python consumes more memory and so doesn’t support intense memory tasks. 

Which One To Choose?

Both Swift and Python are good at what they do. Apple claims that Swift is  8.4x faster than Python. Python is older in the programming industry and Swift is rapidly gaining popularity in the market. If you are looking for a programming language to develop the best mobile app that work seamlessly with iOS platform then Swift is the best choice. But If you want to develop an artificial intelligence solution, Python will be the best decision for you. From all this, you came to know that choosing Python or Swift for coding depends on your purpose.

7 Best Twilio Alternatives In 2021

 

During COVID-19, virtual communication became an integral part of our daily life. Also it is a top priority for enterprises and startups. To help this upsurge in unexpected demand, communication APIs turned into a go-to option and today they are the most favored technology for virtual communication. To make it scalable and inexpensive there are various options available. Twilio has been one of the top API providers for communication services since 2008. It is popular due to its ease of use and whole suite of enterprise services that it offers. But, the most popular option is not always the best option. So before choosing the best one, you must analyze several options with their pros and cons. Here we came with 7 best alternatives to twilio. Before digging to the alternatives let us discuss- why is there a need for an alternative to Twilio?

Need Of Alternative To Twilio-

Twilio has been helping businesses with customized communication since the beginning of the API era. But there are some limitations to the Twilio. For instance, European Union has strict laws for data exchange with US. As per GDPR(General Data Protection Regulation), data transfer across servers in the US and EU should be safe. GDPR helps to regulate the data transfer. According to the EU court’s latest ruling, it is now illegal to use US-based cloud service provider though it has physical server in Europe. So many European companies are looking towards a Twilio alternative.

Also Twilio has pricing issue, it offers communication API services at high price. Total cost of ownership with Twilio is expensive. At the same time, there are twilio alternatives that offer similar services at low TCO. Let us see the top 10 alternatives to Twilio.

7 Best Twilio Alternatives In 2021-

1. Plivo-

It has a strong network of more than 1600 global operators and connectivity in 195 countries. It offers conference calls, recording and multi-language support for text-to-speech features for more than 50 countries and messaging in 19 countries. Mainly, Plivo can help financial organisations with browser-based call centre SDK for better communication. In Plivo long message, concatenation is available and allows you to send SMS with more than 160 characters. When the sender exceeds the cap, the phone detects it and splits it to two different SMSes. This feature is more interesting because the receiver receives these broken texts as one message.

Pros-

• Get instant user feedback after each call
• You can send up to 40 group messages
• Provides support for long message concatenation
• Offers call routing and there way calling facility
• Amazon connect and SNS

Plivo can help financial organizations like banks, fintech, and credit lenders to utilize browser-based call center SDK for better communications.

2. Nexmo-

It is a best option for businesses with voice services available across Europe and SMS is available in the UK, Sweden and Germany. Nexmo has more than 7 billion people across 225 countries. You get a suite of communication APIs that helps to integrate SMS, MMS, calls, videos and social chat apps. Nexmo offers adaptive routing feature to route the messages to the optimum path. So enables faster delivery to user devices. Carrier network in Nexmo is directly used and with this it is easy for developers to manipulate the data and understand the architecture.

Pros-

• Makes use of the adaptive routing algorithms
• Use the new web-based console
• Put to use a combination of high-end video APIs with the tokbox.

3. Vonage-

Vonage has 7 billion users in 225 countries and global web of more than 1600 networks. It combined Nexmo’s communication prowess with video capabilities of TokBox. Thus, you can get a suite of communication APIs that help to integrate SMS, MMS, calls, videos and social chat apps such as Whatsapp, Facebook Messenger etc. It offers API calls with 99.99% error-free response rate and short data access turnout. Vonage offers a feature called adaptive routing whose algorithm routes messages to the optimum path, enabling faster delivery to user devices. The use of REST APIs eases the manipulation of data and understand the architecture.

Pros-

• Uses adaptive routing algorithm for better messaging
• Use a new web-based console to integrate administrative functions with management reports.
• Integrates social chat options such as Wechat, Viber, Facebook Messenger and Line.
• Receive free inbound SMS and one free shortcode number 

4. Bandwidth-

It provides various services like voice, messaging and call management that allows you to automate phone number ordering, porting and activation. This provides you an access to more than 52 million phone numbers in the US. In this bandwidth’s messaging API support long messages with some extra features like emoji support, pin codes, and push notifications. It also provides 911 APIs with services such as dynamic location, physical addresses and coordinates.

Pros-

• It is has an easy to use user interface with innovative APIs for higher customer experience.
• Supports long messages concatenation, mobile push notifications and emojis with images
• Can integrate 911 services quickly without contact center
• Customizes real-time communication for your business

5. Vexbone-

Voxbone is a cloud-native Tier-1 carrier with services spanning regulatory compliance in more than 60 countries. It allows enterprises the creation of collaborative technology for business operations through virtual phone numbers. App transmission to carrier passes through aggregators that connect app with Tier 1 carriers. To maintain such compliance aggregators charge handling fees for app data. Some of the API providers bounce your app to several providers that increases cost and degrades the transmission quality. Voxbone offers data routing through some aggregators to lower the cost and remove communication lags.

Pros-

• Contract valid across the globe
• Integrates various carriers and APIs to single one
• Enables call and text messages across 30 markets

6. Sinch-

It is an excellent choice toad calling and messaging features. It supports the REST APIs to create easy integrations into android and iOS apps. Simple user interface and quick setup makes it popular developers. Sinch offers A2P(Application to Person) messaging through programmable APIs. 50,000+ developers uses APIs of Sinch and more than 25 billion transactions annually are executed through the platform. SDK solution of Sinch is comprehensive and eliminates the requirements of coding. 

Pros-

• It provides Android, iOS and Javascript SDK with support for REST
• Allows messaging and call verification through API services
• It offers complete SDK solution for developers with less coding
• Has great feature like free instant messaging with higher cap of 25,000 user per month

7. Restcomm-

It supports customer interactions with amazing features like click-to-call and SMS with mobile push notifications. Also it offers integrations of chatbots and real-time communication capabilities. You will look over communication solutions like APIs, SDK for voice, video, messaging, two-factor authentications, Call Queueing, Conferencing, and WebRTC.

Pros-

• If offers a full-stack APIs service for video, audio and SMS
• Enables CPaaS providers to offer programmable APIs.
• It supports tier-1 operators like BT, Verizon, T-Mobile and so on.
• It directly connects with SIP through Bring Your Own Carrier.

Final Words-

Though Twilio is a market leader in communication space, has some weaknesses too. So here we have listed alternatives that offer free inbound SMS, direct carrier connection and live customer support. All these options are cheaper than Twilio in terms of customer support and services. So if you are thinking to use a Twilio for your business or project, you must know its alternatives as listed above

Best Ecommerce UX Tips For 2021

 

User experience is one of the most differentiating factors between  ecommerce businesses. Ecommerce trends are continuously changing and customers are more picky and discerning than ever before. The secret of ecommerce business success is “win over customers and they will take care of the rest.” According to the report, 38% of online shoppers will leave a website if they find design to be unattractive. Smarter businesses focus on this aspect right from the eCommerce development stages. So the businesses are working hard to come up with a website that is clean and easy to navigate so as to make the purchasing process easy and attractive.

Here we’ll see various UX sections that you need to focus on to get most of your eCommerce store. There are some tips about- how to improve UX features and give a better experience to users. Before digging to its details, let us see details of ecommerce ux.

What Is Ecommerce User Experience?

Ecommerce user experience incorporates all the interactions that a customer experiences during the product purchasing process. It begins with them visiting the site or the application and goes beyond the product purchase. It includes post-purchase interactions like product delivery, customer support, return, or exchange of product and so on. In short, anything that a shopper has to do with online store comes under this category.

You should also know the best ecommerce platforms in 2021 at- Top 10 Ecommerce Platforms To Know In 2021.

Need Of Ecommerce User Experience-

Most of the online stores are selling products that can be found on some other eCommerce store too. Some of the times, prices would be similar to these online stores, so just one thing that differentiates online stores is the kind of user experience they provide. This keeps you ahead of others in terms of success. A pleasant ecommerce user experience improves the conversion rate and makes shoppers return to your store for future purchases. Here’s a list of benefits of great UX for eCommerce-

• Improved rates of returning customers
• Reduced cart abandonment
• Reduced customer support cost
• More satisfied customers

Let us see the prominent features of great ecommerce UX and how to implement them to ecommerce store.

Great Ecommerce UX Tips And How To Implement Them-

1. Enhance Load Speed To Increase Conversion Rate-

Page speed refers that the time it takes to load your eCommerce page, whereas site speed is the average time it takes for a page on your website to load. It is important to take care of both. From the UX perspective, fast loading pages add a smoothness to the entire experience. According to researchers, 57% of the customers leave a website after waiting for 3 seconds and 80% of them will never come back to the website. Every customer has their own unique worth; this may create significant losses in terms of revenue.

How to improve page load speed?

1. Optimize images-

Images are important for ecommerce site. There are some of the ways that you can use to optimize images like- compressing the images, decreasing thumbnail sizes, getting rid of unnecessary images, uploading images in CSS sprites and so on.

2. Use CDN-

CDN stores cached versions of website in the global server network and results in faster loading speeds.

3. Code minification-

Poorly written code can adversely affect the load speeds. Minification  process helps you to get rid of poorly written HTML, CSS and Javascript on webpages. This results in optimal performance and increase in page speeds.

2. Product Discoverability Saves Time And Increases Sales-

Product discoverability gets more important when shoppers with higher buying intent are involved. If the customer feel that he/she is wasting their time trying to find the right product in your store, they are more likely to go somewhere else. It is important that they easily find what they are looking for, else they will bounce away.

How to improve Product discoverability?

1. Make useful homepage-

Use the sections on the homepage to help shoppers. For instance, you can show trending products for a region with some great deals. 

2. Focus on navigation-

eCommerce navigation helps visitors to simplify their hunt. If someone is visiting your eCommerce site to purchase shoes, make sure that you are showing them different categories of shoes you have. To do this, use a Flyout menus. 

3. Product attributes-

Product attributes will help your customers to find the products. Rich product attributes makes easy filtering. It brings in the element of multi-faceted search to the equation. Try relying as much information about the product by using  product attributes and you will make shopping easy.

3. Product Description To Build Trust-

Product page tells all about the product. If you neglect to give adequate data, the customer may leave your store. Whereas, if you are providing a misleading information, the reputation of the store will badly affect. Product page should have the right balance between correct and sufficient information.

How to improve product description page-

1. Images are important-

Product images are important for eCommerce UX. You must ensure that displayed images are informative too.

2. Don’t miss out on the variants- 

Provide the variants of product like- color, size.

3. Let user reviews help you-

Honest user review sections on the product page will help you in the long run. 

4. Think For The Ways To Get People Back To Your Website-

Imagine that you have developed a strong website, but what’s next?-

• How will you attract more visitors?
• How do you convert site visitors into customers?
• Also, How do you keep them coming back?

Here are some of the tips to increase customer retention-

• Personalize your website- include customized landing pages, featured sections, voice search or an email subscribe pop-up.
• Highlight new and popular with rich product details
• Give public recognition through social media
• Engage users on regular basis

5. Customer Service Is Important For Online Too-

Offering better customer service results in increase in sales, improved brand and product value, improved retention rates, increase in user trust and so on. 

How to improve customer service?

1. Use chatbots-

Shoppers like smart chatbots so, use them to assist about shopping queries.

2. Self support-

Everyone is not interested in interacting with customer rep. Some people like to handle problems on their own. It is for these people that you should also have self-service portal. It can be FAQ to chatbots.

6. UX For Mobile Commerce Is Also Important-

Mobile commerce is set to make up for more than 50% of online sales by 2021. Working on mobile commerce UX will help you to sell more products. Use the following features for better mobile commerce experience-

1. Use of double tap and pinch- 

People expect images to expand on pitching and tapping on mobile devices. So you must provide a feature to do that.

2. Dial pads for number fields-

Form filling on mobile devices can be made easy by providing dial pad rather than QWERTY keyboard for filling form fields.

3. Provide bigger buttons- 

Small buttons can be tiresome on small screens of mobile devices, when they are very close to each other. So use bigger buttons to add fluidity to the customer journey.

Wrap up-

These are some of the important ecommerce UX sections for better sales. If you are having an ecommerce store and thinking to boost sale with these u strategies or thinking to develop a new ecommerce store with a great UX, consult with Solace experts. We are here to help you through skilled developers. Connect with Solace and get a free quote for an effective and best performing ecommerce web solution development. We will be happy to help you.

Top 7 Artificial Intelligence And Machine Learning Programming Languages

 

Industries have started their revolution towards digital transformation and automation. Artificial intelligence and machine learning are the two main companions they can have for revolution. Most of you may wonder about the fear looming over AI. Despite the fact that AI has its flaws, it is not nothing to be feared. Various benefits of AI overpower its flaws to provide the best business solutions with most extreme accuracy. Adopting AI to your business operations can increase efficiency, agility and reduce costs. 

In future, we can see AI replicating human intelligence. For building efficient AI systems, you should know the programming languages and so here we came with the best programming languages with its features. Let’s have a look.

Also know the reasons to use artificial intelligence for business at- Why you should use artificial intelligence into your business?

Top 7 Artificial Intelligence and Machine Learning Programming Languages–

1. Python-

Python is a leading programming language among artificial intelligence, machine learning and natural language processing. It is a widely used programming language due to its simple syntax and versatility. Near about 57% data scientists use Python regularly. Python is open-source and pretty handy in AI and ML. Means developers can easily modify it. Also there are various built-in Python libraries available for AI and ML. Data scientists use Scikit-Learn extensively for training models. Keras and tensorflow have gained a huge popularity in AI industry. One can build deep learning projects and software with PyTorch. Also, there are thousands of AI and ML models in Python. Simply, Python is pioneer of AI and ML.  

Features-

• No need to recompile the source code, so developers can easily make some modifications and see the results.
• Python is not dependent on any operating system. So one can develop machine learning on any of the OS available in the market.
• This is a simple to read language, so any python developer can easily understand their peers’ code and modify, copy or share it. 
• It has specific libraries for data visualization- for instance, Matplotlib, seaborn etc. One can make any type of graphs and charts with it.

Know the role of Python in artificial intelligence at- Role of Python in Artificial Intelligence (AI).

2. Prolog-

It is one of the oldest programming language that works with three elements- facts, rules and goals. Developer should define these three elements and then Prolog establishes relations between them to reach a certain conclusion by analyzing facts and rules. Algorithm implementation is carried out through logical inferences and searches. Prolog is a great language for developing AI systems since the solutions are logical and not just based on pre-existing statements. Also it is best to create chatbots,voice assistants and graphical user interfaces.

Features-

• It can handle recursion and lists naturally. Also it gives the language an extra privilege.
• Works well for natural language processing. ELIZA, the first chatbot, was developed using prolog.
• This language is declarative in nature and it expresses logic in relations, represented as facts and rules.
• Visual Prolog compiler is an optimized compiler that makes code compilation easier.
• Visual Prolog Integrated Development Environment is Prolog’s IDE, that helps you to make apps and test them. 

3. R: A Statistical Language-

R is the best programming language in statistical computations. People also use it for data visualization. It has a command and IDEs like RStudio and Jupyter. It focuses on ease of use and offer different resources for handling libraries or drawing decent diagrams. 

Features-

• It is open-source, cost free and can be modified and adapted according to user requirements and project.
• This language can produce static graphics and high-quality visualization.
• Doesn’t need a compiler because it is an interpreted language. 
• Has big support from active community
• Comprehensive R Archive Network or CRAN offers more than ten thousand packages to resolve machine learning problems.

4. Julia-

There are lots of artificial intelligence and machine learning programming languages. But none of them are some and efficient at the same time. Julia is a fast and it has easy syntax as compared to others. It is fast like C and easy syntax as Python? So data scientists prefer Julia for AI development.

Features-

• Used for analysis of IoT data. 
• It is handy in recognizing patterns and processing images.
• It is a dynamic language close to Python but competes with static languages in terms of efficiency.
• With Julia, one can call the C object code anytime

5. Java-

Java is one of the most popular programming languages having multitude of open-source libraries. As it is user-friendly and provides an independent platform, considered good for developing AI. Java is a standard and flexible programming language that offers easy code debugging, scalability, the ability to support large-scale enterprises and graphical representation of data. It is easy to learn, versatile and its Virtual Machine Technology enables the development of AI language on various platforms. This principle is called The “WORA” (Once Written Read/Run Anywhere).

Features-

• Java is a strong object-oriented programming language to solve complex problems.
• It has a machine learning library through which one can make machine learning and AI-based models using libraries.
• Helps development of virus-free, tamper-free systems with stable Java feature. Authentication techniques are based on public-key encryption.
• Java compiler is architectural-neutral. One can execute the compiled code on many processors.
• This design feature helps developers to create apps that can run smoothly. 

6. Haskell-

Know more at- https://solaceinfotech.com/blog/top-7-artificial-intelligence-and-machine-learning-programming-languages/

Android 12- Features That You Need To Know

 

Android 12 is here! Google releases a major software update each year to its android mobile operating system. In 2020, it released Android 11. In 2021, it’s announced Android 12 and is now available in the form of a developer preview. With this initial build, users can now install the OS on compatible devices. Google is improving and presenting a host of features in its most recent iteration of Android. Changes to media handling and notification support, improvements to privacy and haptic feedback and more polished notification UI all make the cut. Let’s see the major confirmed features of Android 12.

Features of Android 12-

1. Easy Wi-fi Sharing-

In Android 11, if you want to share your current Wi-Fi connection with anybody, you can create a QR code easily. But in Android 12, you can avoid barcode scanning and just click the “Nearby” button you can below the QR code. This will use Android’s Nearby Share feature to transmit the Wi-Fi credentials to whom you like. While scanning the QR code is quite simple, this new feature allows you to share the connection data to multiple individuals without handling your phone around for everyone to scan. That is certainly more helpful!

2. More Screenshot Markup Options–

With a Pixel device, if you capture a screenshot, you can markup that shot with paintbrush-like tools. With Android 12, you can add text, Emoji and stickers to your screenshots using the same tool. This is not a big change but, it may prevent users from needing a third-party app to do the same thing. 

3. Improved Cookie Management-

Android 12 is adding support for SameSite cookie behaviors to WebView. The SameSite feature enables developers to announce in the case a cookie must be restricted to a specific site. This inclusion must enhance the cookie management of Android 12 across various applications and OS. The top Android browsers already support this feature.

4. AVIF Image Support-

Android 12 launches AVIF image support. It is an image format that promises improved image quality over JPEG without penalty for larger file sizes. The format uses open-source video codec AV1, that was first introduced to Android 10.

5. Compatible Media Transcoding-

Though HEVC is growing in popularity, the video compression standard is not supported by all apps. Now, Google is ready to introduce a transcoding layer to Android 12 that will pet unsupported apps to take advantage of video compression. Video capture apps that don’t support HEVC can now request Android 12 to transcode that file in AVC – a more available video compression format. Google 

Google noticed that this is a stop-gap solution and urges developers  to include HEVC support for their applications. This feature’s performance is dependent on a device’s processing power. For example, a one-minute 1080p video takes nine seconds to transcode on Pixel 4, proposing that it may not be appropriate for spending gadgets. Considering all things, the element will be accessible for all Android 12 gadgets with video capture capabilities.

6. Haptic-Coupled Audio Effect-

Google is allowing developers to mate haptic feedback patterns with audio in Android 12. Duration and strength of vibrations are taken from audio cues, that adds more engaging layer to media playback or alerts. For instance, a video calling app could use custom ringtones to identify caller with haptic feedback, or you could simulate rough terrain in a racing game,” explains Google.

7. Notification Enhancement-

Notification system of Android 12 will be redesigned to enhance usability, functionality and aesthetics. Google is changing controls and drawers and  rebuilding animations and transitions. Also, it has targeted responsiveness. Android 12 will get developers to get rid of transpolines, middle-man broadcast services or receivers. Trampolines bounce users from notification to application. Google needs notification buttons to take users directly to the app itself in Android 12. Also the company is delaying some foreground service notifications’ display by till 10 seconds. This will provide short tasks a comprehensive window to complete before knocking the user.

8. Rich Content Insertion-

Google is offering users more control over rich media through the keyboard, clipboard and drag and drop. New API will allow users to insert and move media from any of these sources. Supported formats will include “plain and styled text to markup, images, videos, audio files and so on per Google. For users, it should rapidly process file sharing or styled text to other or across apps.

9. Double-Tap Gesture For Pixel Phones-

Google could be attempting to bring a double tap gesture to Pixel phones with Android 12. By giving a quick double tap to the phone’s back, can invoke Google assistant but it can be configured for other actions also, like taking a screenshot, pause/resume media playback, open notification shade and open the recent apps view. Double-tap gesture was first spotted last year as a potential android 11 feature. It was rumoured to supplant the “Active Edge” squeeze gesture, however it won’t ever materialise. Google is working to revive the feature, codenamed Columbus, for Pixel phones. 

10. Android 12 Updates Through Google Play

Android Runtime (ART) will be included to Project Mainline – Google’s Play system updates program. This will allow the updates of form push key to ART and other necessary Android 12 services through Google Play, avoiding the necessity for  system updates to change these features. Google also notes that more module updates will be pushed through Project Mainline in the near future, including its transcoding improvements.

11. Permissions Dialog-

Google launched the permission handling feature which is helpful in case you want to stay alert about how applications use your mobile’s sensors and other accesses also. Now, with Android 12, the permissions dialog box needs a shortcut for always allowing access in settings.

12. Hidden Selfie Camera On Pixel 5- 

Detected by Android Police, Google is now giving Pixel 5 users an option to hide the punch hole in Android 12. When setting is enabled in the Developer menu, the selfie camera is hidden by black bar. Status bar will also be displayed in this bar.

13. Easier Debugging And Testing Of Changes-

Simplifying the test opt-in transformations for android developers that can impact their apps, Google has made most of them toggleable. By the use of toggles, developers can forcefully enable and disable the changes separately from adb or Developer options.

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