Another year, bringing fresh challenges for the world: Ongoing warfare in Ukraine and Gaza (those are just the two that make the daily news), massive wildfires in California, a rapidly changing climate worsening fires, floods and hurricanes, and a new administration taking over a deeply divided United States of America. Isn’t there any good news?
Sure. As Albus Dumbledore is reported to have said,
"Happiness can be found even in the darkest of times, if one only remembers to turn on the light."
I don’t have a solution for world peace, nor for the religious divisiveness behind many of the ongoing conflicts. Though I do like the quote, variously attributed to Mahatma Gandhi, Jimi Hendrix, and others:
“When the power of love overcomes the love of power, the world will know peace”.
There are new children born every day, some of whom will change the world for the better, and maybe some for the worse. So: Teach Your Children Well.
In my own realm, I do know that things seem to be mostly going well in the tech area.
In the Java realm, there are new releases and several conferences coming soon: JChampionsConf at the end of January, 2025 (I’m speaking at that one). DevNexus in Atlanta March 4-6. And JavaOne in Redwood Shores (just south of San Francisco) March 18-25. JavaOne will coincide with the official release of Java 24 and the release of the latest edition of my own Java Cookbook, updated for Java 24. All of these feature top-notch Java developers talking about their work.
In Flutter, the portable mobile/desktop application environment, there’s another new release and a community fork that has pledged to stay in sync while moving ahead more rapidly.
And, of course, there’s the rise of AI, Artificial Intelligence. This is probably the most disruptive technology since social media. Or maybe since the printing press - it depends on who you talk to. It can be helpful. It can be harmful. All we know is that big tech is racing all over each other to be the leader here. We shall see.
And of course Apple continues to increment their Mac and iPhone lines. Google continues to build on Android. In fact, just about every other technology stack continues to add features, fix bugs, and introduce new bugs to keep the security researchers (and the malware authors and users) busy. Security will see continued improvements from OpenBSD, Linux, and all the language developers and the real security researchers.
Medicine sees continuing advances in preventing and curing diseases. In fact, just about every area is making gains.
Time, as the radio says, marches on.