This is a copy of our weekly newsletter for developers which you can subscribe to here.

Hello contributors,

Since we started putting statistics about Instant Answer performance on the forum (see here for a summary), we've noticed that Fatheads tend to have the highest coverage. This is a helpful insight but what does that mean?

This is a copy of our weekly newsletter for developers which you can subscribe to here.

Hello contributors,

We examined JavaScript progress a couple of months ago but there's so much happening at the moment, let's take another look. The work is now being led by community member Bruno (bfmags), who's guided a number of new Instant Answer (IA) releases, including:

• New JS beautifier
• Improved JSON validator and beautifier
• Updated jQuery docs
• Updated JavaScript docs from MDN
• Updated NodeJS docs

This is a copy of our weekly newsletter for developers which you can subscribe to here.

Hello contributors,

This week let's take a look at the foundation of the billions of web pages out there — HTML. As part of our Programming Mission, the HTML activity is being led by Akansh.

The coverage for HTML (number of HTML-related searches that display an Instant Answer) is already around 27%, thanks mostly to a Fathead Instant Answer (IA) that shows snippets explaining HTML elements. Even so, there's a project open for this IA to be improved further — feel free to dive in and lend a hand!

This is a copy of our weekly newsletter for developers which you can subscribe to here.

Hello contributors,

After announcing new languages for the Programming Mission last week, let's take a closer look at them, starting with Java which is being led by marti1125.

Currently around 8% of Java-related searches show an Instant Answer so there's a good opportunity for improvement. This is already underway and is following the Programming Mission process.

This is a copy of our weekly newsletter for developers which you can subscribe to here.

Hello contributors,

Thank you for the great response to our request for Language Leaders last week. We're pleased to welcome the following DuckDuckHack language leaders!

• rasikapohankar (C)
• sahildua2305 (C++)
• hchienjo (CSS)
• akanshgulati (HTML)
• marti1125 (Java)
• bfmags (JavaScript)
• GuiltyDolphin (Perl)
• gautamkrishnar (PHP)
• PJHampton (Python)
• rajkmaurya111 / raj-maurya (R)
• kotoshenya (Ruby)

Thanks to their help and enthusiasm, we've expanded the programming mission to the following languages: C, C#, C++, CSS, Haskell, HTML, Java, JavaScript, Objective-C, Perl, PHP, Python, R, Ruby, Scala, Swift.

This is a copy of our weekly newsletter for developers which you can subscribe to here.

Hello contributors,

Let's start off with a great tweet, recognising all the hard work that's been put into the programming mission:

We've been getting more and more encouraging messages like this recently — thank you contributors! You can see for yourself how coverage is improving (that's the percentage of search queries that show an Instant Answer), and what Instant Answers are now available for each language in the Overview post on the forum.

This is a copy of our weekly newsletter for developers which you can subscribe to here.

Hello contributors,

I'd like to tell you about a few changes to the DuckDuckHack forum recently which make it easier both to monitor progress and to discover ways you can contribute.

Firstly, we've organized all programming Instant Answers into the following categories:

• Reference: Documentation for the language and major frameworks, libraries
• Libraries: Finding libraries and plugins
• Help: Tutorials and cheat sheets
• Tools: Useful (and fun!) interactive tools like a color picker, JS minifier, JSON validator

This is a copy of our weekly newsletter for developers which you can subscribe to here.

Hello contributors,

We have one more language from our programming mission to get an update for, and it's Swift (including other Apple developer-related searches).

The main sources of data for new Instant Answers so far have been the helpful SwiftDoc.org and Apple's official developer reference. They enable IAs that should greatly help Apple developers.

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DuckDuckGo friends,

We're back, and with exciting news for those who code! Having just passed the milestone of 1,000 Instant Answers, we're now working on becoming the best search engine for developers. We've set up a new forum and are focusing on five languages to get us started: CSS, JavaScript, Perl, Python and Swift.

This is a copy of our weekly newsletter for developers which you can subscribe to here.

Hello contributors,

We're continuing our weekly look into the progress of the programming mission and it's the turn of Python, the only language that let's you fly!

Since the start of the mission, Instant Answer coverage for Python-related queries has increased from 35% to 46%. A lot of this is due to improvements with Python docs, but progress has also been made for Django and with tutorial snippets.

This is a copy of our weekly newsletter for developers which you can subscribe to here.

Hello contributors,

After CSS and JavaScript, it's time to look at Perl this week, the language that powers most of DuckDuckGo.

Since we embarked on the programming mission, Instant Answer coverage using PerlDoc has increased dramatically and MetaCPAN is showing more results, having been upgraded to the v1 API. This means that overall Perl coverage has more than doubled from around 20% to almost 45%!

This is a copy of our weekly newsletter for developers which you can subscribe to here.

Hello contributors,

After concentrating on CSS last week, let's look at another common web language this week — JavaScript.

Similar to other langauges we're focusing on (CSS, Perl, Python, Swift), we initially looked at how many JavaScript-related queries are covered by Instant Answers. At the start of our programming mission it was around 32% but thanks to some cool contributions, it's now over half at 53%! This includes the following new or updated Instant Answers:

• JavaScript reference using Mozilla Developer Network
• jQuery lookup
• JSON validator
• JS and JSON minifier

This is a copy of our weekly newsletter for developers which you can subscribe to here.

Hello contributors,

Over the next few weeks, I'd like to share some of the progress we've been making on the programming mission, including new and improved Instant Answers and the impact they're having. This week, let's turn the spotlight on CSS.

This is a copy of our weekly newsletter for developers which you can subscribe to here.

Hello contributors,

As you know, we have a public list of all live Instant Answers, from cheat sheets to interactive tools, from converters to entertainment data, and more. But did you know that as a contributor to an Instant Answer (IA), you have access not just to that IA's traffic data but also to updating its information?

This is a copy of our weekly newsletter for developers which you can subscribe to here.

Hello contributors,

Firstly, thank you to everyone who's been visiting the new DuckDuckHack forum and joining in the discussions and brainstorming. We've been sharing analysis and todo items for improving programming Instant Answers and we're getting results! There are already merged and soon-to-be-merged pull requests for our five target languages: CSS, JavaScript, Perl, Python and Swift. This week, I'd like to draw your attention to the last of those — Swift.

Over the past few weeks, we've been working with several volunteers from the community to understand the requirements and best practices for developing high quality Instant Answers.

We've learned:

• Usage data and metrics are critical to developing and improving Instant Answers, which must be provided by staff at present.
• Focusing in a single topic area allows staff and contributors to work much closer together and make faster progress.
• The community needs a new place to plan development and discuss ideas.

We're kicking off this new phase of DuckDuckHack by focusing on improving search results for five programming languages: CSS, JavaScript, Perl, Python and Swift. To facilitate analysis and discussion, we're launching a forum, check it out:

forum.duckduckhack.com

This is a copy of our weekly newsletter for developers which you can subscribe to here.

Hello contributors,

We sometimes get messages from people wanting to contribute to DuckDuckHack but not sure what to do. One of the best ways is to "scratch your own itch" and I'd like to share a couple of recent examples of contributors doing just that.

This is a copy of our weekly newsletter for developers which you can subscribe to here.

Hello contributors,

We're fast approaching 1,000 Instant Answers (IAs) (thank you!) so now seems like a good time to have a quick refresher on the four types of DuckDuckGo IAs and what they're for.

This is a copy of our weekly newsletter for developers which you can subscribe to here.

Hello contributors,

I'm very proud that we get lots of people starting their programming lives by contributing to DuckDuckGo. Together with the welcoming community, my hope is that it's an opportunity both to learn new skills and to be part of a greater mission that benefits people around the world.

But programming's not easy and we all run into bugs and errors. That's why we have an #ask-anything Slack channel where you can ask for help with any problem, big or small. To make this easier, however, I have one bit of advice for when you seek help: