Send us a text Joel and Collin discuss a variety of topics ranging from road trips and procrastination to coding tools and AI advancements. They share personal experiences from recent travels, delve into the challenges of productivity, and reflect on their conference experiences. The discussion also touches on the evolution of coding tools, the fut…

In this episode of Dead Code, Jared chats with Nora, a Rust contributor, about operator precedence and the trade-offs between code clarity and conciseness across programming languages. Nora, inspired by her blog post “Don’t Play the Precedence Game,” explains how languages like C and Rust handle operator order differently, particularly around equal…

In this episode of Dead Code, Jared speaks with software engineer Nicole Tietz-Sokolskaya about the ethical complexities of large language models (LLMs). Nicole shares her mixed experiences with LLMs—finding brief personal value but little long-term usefulness in her work—and critiques their environmental impact, reliance on questionable training d…

Send us a text We follow-up with an audio based piece of feedback on the Australian pronunciation of "Pinnochio." Collin is sick with shingles 🥺 Testing and security MVVM in Ruby desktop app development Performance in server design And of course, talk about British and American food. Join the Discord Follow us on Mastodon: Rooftop Ruby Collin Joel …

In this episode of Dead Code, Jared talks with Kevlin Henney about the importance of immutability in software development, particularly as a strategy for reducing bugs related to state and concurrency. Kevlin explains that while many programming languages default to mutable state, treating state change as a privilege—not a right—can lead to more ma…

In this episode of Dead Code, journalist Joan Westenberg joins host Jared to explore the political and ethical consequences of our tech choices, advocating for decentralized, open-source platforms over corporate-controlled ecosystems like Google and Meta. Joan shares her path from tech journalism to founding The Index, a reader-supported publicatio…

In this episode of Dead Code, host Jared Norman speaks with Jean Boussier, a key contributor to the Ruby community and Shopify engineer, about the challenges of concurrency in Ruby, particularly the Global VM Lock (GVL). Jean explains that while the GVL was originally implemented to simplify Ruby’s design, it now limits parallel execution, sparking…

In this episode of Dead Code, Jared interviews James Gayfer about data modeling and the challenges of structuring databases effectively. James, who prefers raw SQL over ORMs, explains how many database models merely mirror table structures, leading to inefficient APIs and excessive data fetching. He discusses the concept of complete versus incomple…

In this episode of Dead Code, Jared explores the world of roguelike game development with guests Mark R. Johnson and Darren Grey from Roguelike Radio, discussing the history, appeal, and technical challenges of the genre. They dive into the upcoming Seven-Day Roguelike Challenge, where developers create a game in a week, emphasizing the importance …

In this episode of Dead Code, Jared interviews Tim Riley about Hanami, an alternative Ruby web framework that prioritizes separation of concerns, modular components, and maintainability over Rails’ monolithic approach. Tim explains how Hanami’s repository pattern for database interactions reduces unintended ripple effects, while its built-in depend…

Send us a text Joel explains why he loves Svelte 5 so much and Collin talks about an iOS app he put on GitHub. Collin realizes relating everything back to how it's like Swift might only be a useful comparison for himself. Links: Svelte Turbo Mount Inertia Rails Join the Discord Follow us on Mastodon: Rooftop Ruby Collin Joel Show art created by JD …

In this Dead Code podcast episode, Cyrus Omar and Andrew Blinn discuss Hazel, an innovative programming language and editor designed to handle incomplete programs by providing continuous feedback and partial code execution, similar to dynamic languages, while maintaining a robust type system. Hazel’s unique graphical editor allows domain-specific v…

In this episode of Dead Code, Jared interviews Ingy döt Net, co-creator of YAML, about its origins, unexpected rise in popularity—especially within the Ruby community—and its evolution into a widely used configuration language. Ingy shares insights into YAMLScript, a new programming language he developed to address YAML’s limitations, enabling more…

In this episode of Dead Code, Jared interviews software engineer Joel Drapper about his open-source projects in the Ruby ecosystem. They discuss Phlex, a view framework that allows developers to build HTML components using pure Ruby, eliminating the need for templating languages like ERB. Joel also introduces Literal, a library for reducing boilerp…

Send us a text Exciting News! We're both unemployed! Someone hire us 🥺 You could even hire both of us—a dream team for hire, you might say. This week, Collin accidentally deletes his Application Support folder on his Mac, and we talk Xcode, text editors, and Difftastic. Joel goes in-depth on Tree-sitter and writing a SQLite parser. Plus, we discuss…

In this Dead Code episode, host Jared interviews Karl Oscar Weber about revitalizing Camping, a minimalist Ruby web framework originally created by “Why the Lucky Stiff.” Karl shares his 14-year programming journey, his passion for Ruby, and the challenges of modernizing Camping while preserving its compact, esoteric design under five kilobytes. He…

In this episode of Dead Code, Jared Norman hosts Ruby developer and consultant Ismael Celis to discuss event sourcing—a data storage model that records historical events to derive the current state of an application, offering benefits like accurate audit trails and reduced complexity. Ismael explains how event sourcing contrasts with traditional CR…

In this episode of Dead Code, Jared Norman interviews Felienne Hermans, creator of the Hedy programming language and author of “A Case for Feminism in Programming Language Design.” Felienne discusses her experiences of alienation in the programming language design community and critiques its prioritization of mathematical rigor and technical diffic…

In this Dead Code episode, host Jared Norman interviews JP Camara, Principal Software Engineer at Wealthbox, about Ruby concurrency. JP explains that Ruby applications are inherently multithreaded, even when developers assume otherwise, highlighting how background threads from libraries like Sidekiq or monitoring tools can introduce concurrency iss…

In this whimsical holiday-themed episode of the Dead Code podcast, Jared dives into the much-anticipated release of Ruby 3.4, framing the technical updates in a festive, poetic rendition of 'Twas the Night Before Christmas. Listeners are treated to a charming narrative where Ruby's creator, "Saint Matz," embodies a coding Santa Claus, delivering th…

In this episode of Dead Code, Jared speaks with Rebecca Murphey, Field CTO at Swarmia, about the critical importance of written communication in engineering organizations. Rebecca shares insights from her experiences at Indeed and Stripe, emphasizing how clear, concise, and audience-focused communication can drive alignment, mitigate risks, and adv…

In this episode of Dead Code, Jared Norman and guests Andrew, Sofia, and Senem discuss their experiences with Advent of Code, an annual programming challenge with Christmas-themed puzzles. They share how the challenge fosters creativity, improves coding skills, and allows for unique problem-solving approaches, particularly using Ruby’s powerful too…

Send us a text Thanksgiving, mince pies, and Joel is giving up on semantic versioning. Versioning systems on Wikipedia Join the Discord Follow us on Mastodon: Rooftop Ruby Collin Joel Show art created by JD Davis.By Collin Donnell, Joel Drapper

In this episode of Dead Code, Jared Norman and guest Noah Gibbs, author of Rebuilding Rails and Mastering Software Technique, discuss programming as an art form rather than purely a business or engineering practice. They explore how programming, much like traditional art, thrives on creativity and self-expression, with languages like Ruby enabling …

In this episode of Dead Code, host Jared Norman shares highlights from RubyConf in Chicago, reflecting on its exceptional programming and his personal connection to the venue, dating back to RailsConf 2014. Memorable talks included Matz’s keynote on Ruby's future, Aaron Patterson’s optimization insights, Enrique Mogollan’s exploration of Ruby's bou…

Send us a text Collin and Joel discuss where they’ve been, Collin’s broken wrist, getting into film photography, and the release Literal 1.0. Join the Discord Follow us on Mastodon: Rooftop Ruby Collin Joel Show art created by JD Davis.By Collin Donnell, Joel Drapper

In this Dead Code episode, Jared Norman hosts Aji Slater, Development Team Lead at thoughtbot, to discuss “incremental automation,” a concept that advocates for gradually automating tasks by refining them with small steps rather than investing large amounts of time upfront. Aji explains that capturing each step of repetitive tasks enables developer…

In this Dead Code episode, Jessica Kerr (Jessitron) joins host Jared Norman to explore the evolving nature of experimentation and learning in software development. Jessica reflects on her shift from valuing software’s determinism to embracing the unpredictability of distributed systems and human factors. She explains that traditional scientific met…

In this episode of Dead Code, host Jared Norman talks with Andrew Atkinson, author of High Performance Postgres For Rails, about the benefits and recent updates to Postgres. Andrew shares why he prefers Postgres for its reliability, extensibility, and independence from corporate control, making it ideal for applications with complex or fluctuating …

In this Dead Code podcast episode, Jared Norman interviews Chael Wright-Munn (ChaelCodes) about the benefits of working openly through activities like live streaming and contributing to open-source projects. Chael emphasizes how creating a "library of examples" through public coding can enhance a developer’s skills, build their professional network…

In this episode of Dead Code, host Jared Norman interviews Garrett Dimon about the benefits of using Rails generators for automating tasks and maintaining consistency in Rails applications. Garrett, a seasoned developer, shares how he transitioned to Ruby and Rails and delved deep into using generators to simplify repetitive tasks, automate file cr…

In this episode, Jared speaks with Coraline Ada Ehmke, a veteran software developer and creator of the Contributor Covenant and Hippocratic License, about the ethics of open-source software. Coraline discusses common justifications developers use to avoid accountability for the potential harm their software may cause, such as the "freedom zero" arg…

In this episode, host Jared Norman and SuperGood teammates and guests Mat Harvard, Sofia Besenski, Noah Silvera, and Chris Todorov recap their experiences at Rails World 2024. They discuss the unique venue in Toronto, key takeaways from David Heinemeier Hansson's keynote on making Rails more accessible, and the shift towards on-prem solutions over …

In this episode of Dead Code, J.B. Rainsberger discusses the pitfalls of integrated tests, calling them a "scam" due to their tendency to complicate rather than solve testing problems. He advocates for writing smaller, more focused tests, like unit tests, to simplify debugging and avoid tangled code. J.B. emphasizes that test-driven development (TD…

In this episode of Dead Code, Jared interviews Kevin Newton, Staff Software Engineer at Shopify, about his work on Ruby's new parser, Prism. Kevin explains how Prism was created to address the limitations of Ruby's original parser by providing a portable, error-tolerant solution that unifies the ecosystem, replacing multiple outdated parsers used a…

In this episode of the Dead Code Podcast, Jared Norman talks with Stefanni Brasil, a Senior Software Developer at thoughtbot and co-founder of hexdevs, about career growth, open source, and mentorship in tech. Stefanni shares her non-traditional path into software development and her passion for helping mid-level developers advance through her prog…

Hilary Stohs-Krause and Jared discuss the importance of applying accessibility principles to coding environments, emphasizing how it benefits both developers and end-users. Hilary, a senior software engineer, shares insights from her talk at Madison Ruby, highlighting how small changes, like using descriptive variable names, avoiding acronyms, and …

In this episode of "Dead Code," Jared and Harmony, a self-taught programmer with extensive experience in Ruby, explore the benefits of experimenting with unconventional programming languages. They discuss Fennel, a Lisp that compiles to Lua, highlighting its simplicity and versatility for applications like game modding. Jared shares his experience …

In this episode of "Dead Code," host Jared Norman interviews Jim Remsik, a Ruby developer and founder of the consultancy Flagrant. Jim shares his journey from .NET to Ruby on Rails, reflecting on the early days of the Ruby community and the impact of its vibrant, collaborative environment on his career. He discusses the importance of mentorship and…

In this episode of the Dead Code podcast, Jared welcomes RailsConf speakers Joël Quenneville and Stephanie Minn, both from thoughtbot and co-hosts of The Bike Shed podcast. Stephanie discusses her talk on the stages of change model, initially about codebase changes but ultimately focusing on adopting testing practices, highlighting the evolution of…

In this episode of the Dead Code Podcast, Jared interviews his brother Alistair Norman and colleague Senem Soy about their experiences with conference talks. Alistair recently spoke at RailsConf in Detroit on mentorship and pair programming, choosing the topic for its broad relevance and personal interest. He prepared for the talk by biking 750 kil…

In this episode of the Dead Code podcast, host Jared Norman interviews Robby Russell, the CEO of Planet Argon and creator of Oh My Zsh, who shares insights from his extensive experience in software development, particularly Ruby on Rails. Robby discusses the challenges of software maintenance and technical debt, emphasizing the importance of unders…

Send us a text Join the Rooftop Ruby Discord! Fahrenheit versus celsius? How many degrees fast is a race car? The new "it" in Ruby, and why do unnamed block parameters start with _1? We're going to be at Madison Ruby! Join the Discord Follow us on Mastodon: Rooftop Ruby Collin Joel Show art created by JD Davis.…

What does Quora.com think of TDD? Guests: Noah Silvera (she/her), Benjamin Wil (he/him) Jared Norman: Mastodon, Twitter, Threads Dead Code: Mastodon, Twitter, Threads Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

What's going on with the TDD heads these days? Byron Alley: Website, Twitter, Mastodon Jared Norman: Mastodon, Twitter, Threads Dead Code: Mastodon, Twitter, Threads References: The Tweet Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

A short preview of what you can expect from future episodes of Dead Code. I promise better editing and mic position in the future. Dead Code Socials: Mastodon Twitter Threads Jared Norman Socials: Mastodon Twitter Threads References: Oddly Influenced, Episode 40 Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.…

Send us a text Quickdraw (Joel's testing library) QuickDraw (2d graphics library for classic Mac OS) Russian doll caching N+1 queries and how to solve it Join the Discord Follow us on Mastodon: Rooftop Ruby Collin Joel Show art created by JD Davis.By Collin Donnell, Joel Drapper

Send us a text Joel and Collin are back and better than ever! We talk about what and when to outsource, what we've both been up to, Collin's drivers license finasco, TypeScript, and more. Join the Discord Follow us on Mastodon: Rooftop Ruby Collin Joel Show art created by JD Davis.By Collin Donnell, Joel Drapper

Send us a text Rachael Wright-Munn (ChaelCodes) joins to talk everything from coding games to RubyConf to App Store policies. chael.codes (all Rachael's links) Rachael on Mastodon Battlesnake ChaelCodes on Twitch Join the Discord Follow us on Mastodon: Rooftop Ruby Collin Joel Show art created by JD Davis.…

Send us a text Collin and Joel are joined by friend of the show Roman to talk about the conference, before being joined by special guest Catherine Ricafort McCreary to discuss Artists Who Code. Artists Who Code in the LA Times Join the Discord Follow us on Mastodon: Rooftop Ruby Collin Joel Show art created by JD Davis.…