Spiria Tech Recap - № 378 - Cobol to Java, Code Llama by Meta, Python in Excel, SeamlessM4T, Atari 2600+, etc.
Watsonx: AI tames Cobol
Watsonx. © IBM.
COBOL, a language in use for more than sixty years, is immortal. COBOL developers, on the other hand, are only human, and their numbers are dwindling rapidly. Which is alarming, not least because many large, mission-critical systems around the world still run on COBOL. One solution is to modernize these systems by translating the software into Java, but this is a herculean task. Kyle Charlet, IBM’s CTO for zSystems software, explains:
“Some clients … have spent years and millions trying to modernize their COBOL code, and despite all that, only a fraction has been modernized. It takes lots of developers and painstaking manual work to rewrite COBOL. People have tried many different ways to modernize these applications, and in my experience, with varied results. None are exemplary.”
IBM struck on the idea of using artificial intelligence to speed up the process. Its IBM Watsonx wizard, soon available for Z, analyzes, refactors and validates product code. As Watsonx.ai has reportedly been trained in over 100 coding languages, we can expect that other generative intelligence co-pilots for venerable mainframe code will follow.
⇨ YouTube, “IBM watsonx Code Assistant for Z product demonstration”
⇨ Ars Technica, Kevin Purdy, “IBM’s generative AI tool aims to refactor ancient COBOL code for its mainframes.”
2023-08-23
Meta does coding assistance
Your next coding assistant. © iStock.
After GitHub’s Copilot and Amazon’s CodeWhisperer, you get Meta’s Code Llama. This large language model (LLM) uses text prompts to generate and analyze code. Like other assistants, it seeks to make workflows faster and more efficient for developers, and to lower the entry barrier for people who are learning to code. The model is distributed free of charge under an in-house license. It is based on the Llama 2 language model, and thanks to its specific training, it can generate code and natural language about code, taking its cue from code and natural language prompts (for example, “Write me a function that produces the Fibonacci sequence”). It can also complete code and debug it. It supports many of the most popular current programming languages, including Python, C++, Java, PHP, Typescript (Javascript), C#, and Bash.
The model comes in three sizes, with 7, 13 and 34 billion parameters respectively. The last two were trained with FIM (fill-in-the-middle) capability, which allows them to insert code into existing code. Your choice of model will depend on your available computing power and desired latency. Meta mentions that the 7B model can be served on a single GPU. Then there are two specialized variants: Code Llama - Python and Code Llama - Instruct. The former, as the name suggests, is optimized for programming in Python, and the latter is optimized for understanding natural language instructions. Meta remains tight-lipped about where its training data comes from, as usual.
⇨ Meta Newsroom, “Introducing Code Llama, an AI tool for coding.”
2023-08-24
Python excels
Python in Excel. © Microsoft.
Microsoft is giving Insider 365 program participants a preview of a feature that lets users manipulate and analyze Excel data using Python. “You can manipulate and explore data in Excel using Python plots and libraries, and then use Excel’s formulas, charts and PivotTables to further refine your insights,” explains Stefan Kinnestrand, general manager of modern work at Microsoft.
Back in 2000, Python worked in Excel as an OLE automation language but as it presented considerable security risks, that functionality was dropped. Now, Microsoft extols the security benefits of Python in Excel running on Microsoft’s cloud. The company says the language runs in isolated containers without access to devices, user networks or user tokens. Python and Excel only really communicate through limited xl() and =PY() functions, which can only return results, not macros, VBA code, etc.
⇨ YouTube, “Python in Excel: a powerful combination for data analysis and visualization”
⇨ Ars Technica, Kevin Purdy, “Excel gets containerized, cloud-based Python analytics and visualization powers.”
2023-08-22
Meta’s SeamlessM4T, a new translation model
Engaging with the H’Mông people in Vietnam. © iStock.
In an effort to build a universal translator, Meta released a new translation model called SeamlessM4T. M4T stands for Massively Multilingual and Multimodal Machine Translation, of course. The model can work with nearly 100 input/output languages, including 100 languages for written outputs, but only 35 for synthetic speech outputs. It is published under the Creative Commons CC BY-NC 4.0 license, which gives researchers the opportunity to improve on it. Meta said that SeamlessM4T represents “a significant step forward” because this new model performs the entire translation task from A to Z, whereas other large translation models split the various steps between different systems. Also, the system can detect language changes within a text, and even within a single sentence. Translation is crucial for companies like Meta that employ thousands of people to moderate the flood of messages posted in different languages on its various platforms.
⇨ The Verge, Emilia David, “Meta releases multilingual speech translation model.”
⇨ Ars Technica, Benj Edwards, “Meta’s ‘massively multilingual’ AI model translates up to 100 languages, speech or text.”
2023-08-22
Android’s ARTwork
© iStock.
Android RunTime (ART), which compiles Java and Kotlin to bytecode and runs it, can now be updated independently of the operating system. These surgical updates allow Google to improve the speed of apps without launching into a full operating system update. With the rollout of ART version 13, Google said it saw “real-world app start-up improvements of up to 30% on some devices.” ART, which can be updated singly in the Play Store, officially became a modular part of the operating system (an APEX module) since Android 12. Given current Android distribution figures, around 31% of users (or 600 million people) regularly enjoy a better and faster application engine.
⇨ Ars Technica, Ron Amadeo, “Google says its Android runtime makes apps faster, even without an OS update.”
2023-08-22
NUCs not dead after all
NUC 12 Extreme Desktop. © Intel.
Earlier, we reported that Intel was folding its NUC-branded (Next Unit of Computing) mini-PC series. Now, it appears that Asus will resume the manufacturing, marketing and support of NUCs, including support for current NUCs using 10th, 11th, 12th and 13th generation Intel processors, via a non-exclusive license granted by Intel. Asus already sells its own line of mini desktop computers (PN Series, PB Series), and even some models intended for gaming (ROG Strix). Not clear yet whether Asus will continue to maintain these series alongside the NUCs.
⇨ Ars Technica, Andrew Cunningham, “Asus takes over everything about Intel’s current and future NUC mini PCs.”
2023-07-20
Atari launches replica 2600 console
Atari 2600 Plus. © Atari, Inc.
On November 17, Atari will relaunch the legendary Atari 2600 console priced at USD 130, with pre-orders already underway. Its redesign is similar to that of 1977, but at a slightly more compact, 8/10th scale of the original version. Joysticks are optional for an extra USD 25 for the CX40+ and USD 40 for the CX30+ pair. The console accepts original Atari 2600 and 7800 cartridges as well as new ones. It comes with a cartridge including ten games such as Adventure, Combat, Missile Command, Haunted House, and Yars’ Revenge. Some features of the console were updated, for example with an HDMI output for video and a USB-C plug for power. In order to keep it affordable, it is powered by a Rockchip 3128 SoC, which is a low-power quad-core chip capable of running old Atari games via an emulator (a technological choice made to offer an affordable product; using an FPGA [Field-Programmable Gate Array], a modern chip that can emulate the original chip, would be more expensive).
⇨ Ars Technica, Andrew Cunningham, “Atari launches replica 2600 console to go with all its replica 2600 cartridges.”
2023-08-22
