Popular maintainer falls for fake npm support email compromising billions of package downloads, complete Gemini 2.5 Flash Image development guide, and why this generation of programmers could be the last to write code by hand.

View in browser | Past Issue | Subscribe / Unsubscribe

SitePoint Source

Welcome, Developers! πŸ‘‹

This week: Major npm supply chain attack, accessible AI image editing for developers, and why the programming world will split between AI "experimenters" and traditional "guardians." Also, examining why AI productivity claims don't match reality and highlighting writing versus reading code differences.

From our sponsor: SurveyJS

Stop Reinventing Forms. Use SurveyJS instead.

SurveyJS UI components let you handle form creation, rendering, and visualize responses using custom dashboards. All libraries are open-source, extensible, and easily integrate into React, Angular, Vue 3, or plain JS apps.


Define forms in JSON, render them anywhere, and store responses in your own database β€” no vendor lock-in.

Learn More

πŸ”– The Reading Room

Articles we have hand-picked for you:

npm Author Qix Compromised via Phishing Email in Major Supply Chain Attack

Popular npm maintainer Qix fell victim to a convincing 2FA reset phishing email appearing to come from npm support. This compromised multiple foundational JavaScript packages including chalk, debug, and color-convert that collectively receive 2B+ weekly downloads


The malicious code targeted crypto wallets by intercepting transactions and replacing recipient addresses with attacker-controlled ones. Initial reports don't reveal major losses to the point where some say that the hacker fumbled and didn't have a concrete plan after getting in.

By Socket.dev team β†’

How to build with Nano Banana: Complete Developer Tutorial

Google's Gemini 2.5 Flash Image (codename: Nano Banana) brings powerful AI image generation and editing capabilities to developers. This comprehensive tutorial covers everything from basic setup to advanced features like photo restoration, multi-image inputs, and conversational editing.

By Google AI Studio β†’

The Last Programmers

We're possibly witnessing the final generation of programmers who write code by hand. The programming world is splitting into "experimenters" who embrace AI shortcuts and "guardians" who insist on deep code understanding. While experimenters ship faster, guardians build more robust systems. But as technology trends toward convenience, the experimenters' approach will eventually dominate the industry.

By Xipu Li β†’

Where's the Shovelware? Why AI Coding Claims Don't Add Up

If developers were truly 2-10x more productive with AI assistance, we'd see an explosion of new applications and games. Instead, the data reveals no significant increase in software creation since AI tools became mainstream. This gap between marketing promises and reality is hurting real developers' careers and job security.

By Mike Judge β†’

Writing Code Is Easy. Reading It Isn’t.

Writing code is straightforward once you know the syntax, but reading and understanding existing code requires building complex mental models. Like navigating a new city, developers must map out how systems work, trace dependencies, and understand context before making changes. 

By Ibrahim Diallo β†’

⏳ Back in Time

Most clicks from last newsletter:

πŸ”— The Link Lounge 

Unordered finds from around the web:

Find something cool? You can send us links to feature here via email.

🧰 The Toolbox

Tools and products we're excited about today:

Mediabunny 

Mediabunny is a JavaScript media toolkit for browsers and Node.js that reads, writes, and converts popular formats like MP4 and MP3 without FFmpeg dependencies, enabling thumbnail creation, metadata extraction, and video generation.

Learn more β†’

Trivy 

Trivy is a comprehensive security scanner that finds vulnerabilities, misconfigurations, secrets, and software dependencies in container images, filesystems, git repositories, Kubernetes clusters, and virtual machine images across multiple programming languages and platforms.

Learn more β†’

oklch.fyi

oklch.fyi is a color conversion tool that converts colors between formats like sRGB and OKLCH, generates color palettes, and helps create CSS variables using the perceptually uniform OKLCH color model for better accessibility and design consistency.

Learn more β†’

Base 

Base is a SQLite database editor for macOS that provides visual tools for browsing data, editing tables, managing schemas, writing SQL queries, and importing/exporting data without requiring complex SQL knowledge.

Learn more β†’

Stop Reinventing Forms. Use SurveyJS instead.

SurveyJS UI components let you handle form creation, rendering, and visualize responses using custom dashboards. All libraries are open-source, extensible, and easily integrate into React, Angular, Vue 3, or plain JS apps.


Define forms in JSON, render them anywhere, and store responses in your own database β€” no vendor lock-in.

Learn more β†’

🎀 Your Voice

Your feedback shapes what comes next! We read every email, so simply hit reply and tell us what's on your mind.