AI Gets Mind of Its Own; Could This Be How 'SkyNet' Starts?

IN THIS ISSUE: AI Has a Mind of its Own; Cures for 'It's Working for Me'; Manipulating the DOM; Using AI to Quickly get Up to Speed; Avoid Code Complexity From the Start; Efficiency of the Self-service Kiosk

AI Has a Mind of its Own

This could be AI-takeover, Day One. Researchers in Japan have reported that an app they built to perform tasks within a certain period had attempted to modify its own code to give itself more time to work on solving the problems. 

Cures for 'It's Working for Me'

It's a phrase repeated so often it seems like a running joke. While it's often true that an app might work perfectly well on one machine but not on another, the question is, why? Here's a guide to some of the many factors that could cause this common yet vexing issue. 

Manipulating the DOM 

Sometimes there's just no other way to get what you want. When the original source code is unavailable or too fragile to touch, manipulating the DOM allows the addition of new capabilities to an old app. It's not like conning a DON. That would be DUM.

Using AI to Quickly Get Up to Speed  

Congratulations, that dream job is now yours. Your first assignment is to get up to speed on the 70,000-line app the team is working on. Here's a deep dive into techniques useful for quickly learning large or legacy code bases for a faster road to productivity. 

Avoid Code Complexity From the Start

Another way to help a new development-team members get productive quickly is to write smart and efficient code to begin with. Here's a list of tips for doing just that, along with some real-world horror stories to take as lessons learned.  

Efficiency of the Self-service Kiosk

When did fast-food menus go all-digital? It wasn't too long ago that a burger-fries-drink combo meal was one of a few choices on a big printed list that didn't change every 12 seconds. Today's burger joints look more like the TV department at Best Buy. Here's why and how.