Deno released version 2.1 on Thursday and the big change is that it now allows for direct WebAssembly, aka Wasm, imports. Wasm allows developers to write code in other, non-browser compatible languages and compile it for the browser.
“While Deno has always had Wasm support, Deno v2.1 makes it significantly simpler, more ergonomic, and more performant to import Wasm modules,” the Deno team explained.
Previously, a Wasm module had to be loaded manually, but now Wasm modules are part of the “module graph,” which Deno can analyze and cache for faster use, the team stated. Deno can also understand exporting Wasm modules and will type check their use, the post added.
This release also includes:
Speaking of Deno, it’s only been two weeks since Deno’s major 2.0 release. If you’re interested in the upgrades, Ryan Dahl created an introduction video detailing the changes.
GitHub Copilot is known to increase the speed of developer coding, but it doesn’t necessarily follow that it improves code quality. To determine whether it made code better or worse, GitHub conducted a randomized controlled trial “to understand how functional, readable, reliable, maintainable, concise, and likely to be approved code authored using GitHub Copilot is,” GitHub states in a recent blog post.
For the first phase of the study, GitHub recruited 243 developers with at least five years of Python experience and randomly assigned them to either use GitHub Copilot or not. Each group completed a coding exercise for a web server of fictional restaurant reviews, with 10 unit tests to assess functionality. Researchers received valid submissions from 202 developers: 104 with GitHub Copilot and 98 without.
What it revealed is that 61% of Python developers were able to complete a coding exercise that passed a battery of 10 units tests. That compares to only 39% of those who couldn’t use Copilot for that exercise.
Furthermore, Copilot users were able to write more code while demonstrating small but statistically significant increases in the readability of the code.
Android released the first developer preview for its next major release, Android 16, on Tuesday, marking a shift toward a more frequent API release schedule that is meant to drive innovation and stability.
The faster release cadence will allow developers to start compatibility testing earlier, better aligning with the device launch schedules across the Android ecosystem so that users can get the major release of Android sooner, according to a spokesperson for Android.
Android 16 logo
Also, Android 16 will be released a quarter earlier than usual, in Q2. That’s to better align with the schedule of device launches across the ecosystem, enabling more devices to get the major release sooner, the team stated. Therefore, Android developers will need to do annual compatibility testing a few months earlier than in previous years to ensure those apps are ready for the upgrade.
There will be another API release in Q4 2025, which will include new developer APIs. However, the Q2 major release — Android 16 — will be the only release in 2025 to include planned behavior changes that could affect apps, the team stated. Quarterly Android releases will continue as usual.
This preview includes new APIs that enable more functionality in the photo picker, which provides a built-in way for users to grant an app access to selected images and videos from both local and cloud storage instead of their entire media library. The developer preview includes new APIs that enable apps to embed the photo picker into their view hierarchy, which allows it to feel like a more integrated part of the app while still allowing the users to select media without overly broad permissions, the blog noted.
Developers will need to use the Android Jetpack library to add the embedded photo picker.
There’s also a developer preview of Health Connect, which contains an early version of APIs that allow apps to read and write medical records in FHIR format with user consent. Developers can currently join an early access program for Health Connect.
Finally, this release also includes the latest version of the privacy sandbox on Android. For more information, check out Android’s getting started page for the privacy sandbox.
As we mentioned in last week’s Dev News, Angular upgraded this week with incremental hydration. But Angular v19 also includes other productivity and performance improvements.
For instance, there are new experimental APIs that are based on signals and designed to enhance reactivity. These include linked Signals and resource functions.
Google Engineer and Product Lead Minko Gechev, who heads the Angular team, highlighted the following Angular changes in his blog post:
There’s also an embedded video featuring the Angular team members that provides context around the changes.
Angular users can use automatic refactoring tools to help transition existing code to the new APIs.
