Computer Science and Programing

Dark mode toggles: two states are enough • Lea Verou (Light, Dark, System). The core argument is that users only seek out theme toggles when something is wrong — not to preemptively express intent — making the 'System' state irrelevant at the moment of interaction. Tri-state toggles expose the underlying data model rather than aligning with actual user goals, adding cognitive load and UI friction for an extremely rare use case. A well-implemented two-state toggle can still represent all three underlying states: the first click overrides to the opposite of the current resolved value, and the second click removes the override and returns to system default. Common mistakes include storing a value that matches the system preference (silently pinning the theme) or removing overrides when the OS preference changes. Exceptions where tri-state controls are appropriate include dedicated settings panels and sites that implement meaningfully different color schemes depending on the OS setting.

BYD says it will have a solid-state car next year, the earliest date anyone has given BYD executive Stella Li claims the company will have a solid-state battery model next year, the earliest date any automaker has cited, though no model, sales plan, or confirmation was given. Toyota targets 2027-2028, Honda and Mercedes around 2030, and LG Energy Solution estimates roughly a decade away for cars. Mercedes and VW's PowerCo are partnered with US-based Factorial Energy, while Taiwan's ProLogium is building a plant in Dunkirk, France. CarNewsChina speculates, via unconfirmed sources, that BYD's car will be a Yangwang flagship rivaling Rolls-Royce. Hyundai's research chief doubts the raw material cost problem will be solved within five years.

Introducing G#: A Go-like language for .NET G# is a new open-source, Go-inspired programming language that compiles to .NET, targeting systems programming and mobile applications while interoperating with existing .NET libraries and NuGet packages. It supports .NET 8 through 10 (10 preferred), offers a VS Code extension with language server support, and blends .NET-style async/await with Go-like fire-and-forget concurrency and channels via an optional extensions package. The language uses packages, funcs, structs and classes, and features like if let and for in for concise null checks and iteration. Beyond general development, it's positioned as an educational language and a lightweight candidate for WebAssembly and Hyperlight microVM scenarios, useful for developers moving from Swift or Kotlin into the .NET ecosystem.

Chrome for Developers Chrome 146 introduces three notable features for web developers. Scroll-triggered animations enable declarative CSS-based control of animations based on scroll position, replacing common JavaScript-based scroll detection patterns. Scoped custom element registries allow multiple custom element definitions for the same tag name within a page, preventing naming conflicts when using libraries from multiple sources. The Sanitizer API provides a built-in way to strip script-executing content from user-supplied HTML, making it easier to build XSS-free web apps — this updated version is also available in Firefox.

Introduction to Solon A comprehensive tutorial walks through building a REST API with Solon, an independent enterprise Java framework, starting from a basic greeting endpoint and extending it into a task management API backed by H2 and MyBatis-Flex. It covers Solon's architecture, dependency injection, configuration layering, HTTP handling, and testing with solon-test, drawing comparisons to Spring Boot concepts throughout. The example uses Solon 4.1.0, Java 21, Maven 3.9.16, and MyBatis-Flex 1.11.8, with full source code available on GitHub.