Missed out on the WeAreDevelopers 2023 event in Berlin? Allow us to bring you up to speed with a recap of the most intriguing themes that captured our focus.
AI
Unsurprisingly, the subject of AI was on many people’s minds.
Sir Tim Berners-Lee referenced AI in his wide-ranging talk. Referencing his Solid project, he pressed home the idea that we should also consider personal security when we submit requests to tools such as Chat GPT. His MIT-backed Solid project aims to radically change how web applications work today, promising true data ownership and improved privacy.
Stack Overflow launched OverflowAI, describing it as the future of community & AI. Essentially a roadmap for the integration of generative AI into their public platform, Stack Overflow for Teams, plus an IDE extension for Visual Studio Code. It will be interesting to see how this move impacts the Stack Overflow platform given the recent turmoil regarding AI-generated content.
At the Sonar booth, numerous developers questioned how AI might impact the landscape for static analysis tools. In his keynote, Olivier Gaudin explained that generative AI expands access to code development, thereby increasing the volume of code produced. This, in turn, creates a higher demand for solutions that can ensure the cleanliness of this code. Olivier also highlighted the misconception that all generative AI-produced code is of high quality and identified the challenge of inexperienced developers placing unwarranted trust in gen AI code. This underscores the importance of adopting a Clean as You Code methodology to ensure all new code is Clean Code.
Clean Code
The understanding that Clean Code is fundamental for both developers and successful solutions continues to grow. This was in evidence at many of the booths at WeAreDevelopers. Defined as code that is consistent, intentional, adaptable, and responsible, Clean Code and the tools to achieve it are visibly entering the mainstream as a base building block. With Sonar defining the standard and the methodology to achieve Clean Code it was humbling to hear from so many developers who have already embraced the Clean as You Code approach.
And because the journey of Clean Code starts in the developer's code editor, our Vulnerability Researchers Thomas Chauchefoin and Paul Gerste presented the result of their work on the security of Visual Studio Code, arguably the most popular IDE, with an estimated 75% market share. Among the vulnerabilities demonstrated live on stage, they came back on Securing Developer Tools: Argument Injection in Visual Studio Code and Securing Developer Tools: Git Integrations. They noted that the deep integration of this editor into every ecosystem to offer the best developer experience possible makes it very susceptible to security vulnerabilities. They recommended users to think twice before opening code from untrusted sources in this editor.
TypeScript
TypeScript was also a talking point circulating during the event. We enjoyed Stefan Baumgartner's talk on the main stage on Lies we tell ourselves as developers which was a look into how you can write seemingly correct TypeScript, yet be very wrong at the same time. The growth of TypeScript continues unabated; when Stefan took to the main stage and asked who was using TypeScript, most of the 2500-sized crowd raised their hands. Our own Phil Nash also delivered a talk outlining the 4 steps from JavaScript to TypeScript where he provided a blueprint for a project transition, outlining the many benefits of each step.
Thank you!
And finally, we want to emphasize our appreciation to all the developers who stopped by for a chat and an ice cream, including the renowned John Romero of Doom and Quake fame. We truly value the thousands of interactions WeAreDevelopers provided. You can find a list of all the events we will be visiting here.