The Stack Overflow podcast is a weekly conversation about working in software development, learning to code, and the art and culture of computer programming. Hosted by Paul Ford and Ben Popper, the series features questions from our community, interviews with fascinating guests, and hot takes on what’s happening in tech. Founded in 2008, Stack Overflow is empowering the world to develop technology through collective knowledge. It’s best known for being the largest, most trusted online community for developers and technologists. More than 100 million people come to Stack Overflow every month to ask questions, help solve coding problems, and develop new skills.
Forget the 10X engineer—it’s about building a 10X culture
Find out why others have joined Shell. Wondering what it’s like to be a developer at one of the world’s biggest energy companies? They’re hiring.Behavior-driven development is a conceptual approach to software development that calls for collaboration and alignment between developers, testers, and domain experts.One of the new technologies James and Tristan helped introduce at Shell is Kafka, an open-source distributed event streaming platform. Check out their docs here.Engineering teams at Shell use Stack Overflow for Teams to capture and share information. Get started for free here.Congratulations to David Snabel, winner of a Stellar Question badge for How do I see which version of Swift I’m using?.
Composable architecture
At Netlify Compose 2023, Biilmann announced their new composable web platform. This isn’t Netlify’s first rodeo—we talked to them for episodes 588 and 456.You can find Matt Biilmann on X or LinkedIn (and perhaps elsewhere). Today’s shoutout goes to Dick Lucas who asked a topical question, How to prevent Netlify from treating warnings as errors because process.env.CI = true?, viewed by over 84,000 people.
Forget "No Code." Adios "Low Code." Say hello to "Yes Code!"
The company says v0 is intended to author the first draft of your site or app, then help you iterate quickly. It won't mean the end of junior web developers, says Lee, as a polished final draft still requires a human touch. And it's not a low code no code approach, as the system allows you to switch easily between the GenAI approach and the actual code.You can learn more about v0 here and head over here to join the waitlist.You can find Lee on LinkedIn or his website.Congrats to Stack Overflow user Jonathon Reinhart, who earned a Lifeboat badge for answering the question: How can I import a static library in Python?
The company making it easier to turn your coffee machine into a robot
Listen to our previous episodes with Eliot here and here.Viam is a software platform for building, monitoring, and managing data from smart machines, including industrial robots, autonomous vehicles, smart home appliances, and IoT devices. Get an overview of the Viam platform or dig into their docs.Connect with Eliot on LinkedIn.Three cheers for Stack Overflow user mattl, who won a Great Question badge with How to remove all contents of a directory using Golang?.
Chatting with the GM of CodeWhisperer, an AI-powered pair programmer for AWS
CodeWhisperer is an AI coding companion trained on Amazon and open-source code that gives you coding suggestions in real time. In addition to being general manager for CodeWhisperer, Doug is also the GM for Amazon CodeGuru Security, which uses machine learning to detect security policy violations and vulnerabilities. Connect with Doug on LinkedIn.Asked and answered: user Manodnya B won a Lifeboat badge for answering Cannot find the Start Button under CodeWhisperer in AWS Toolkit.
Reducing the blast radius of meetings with AI
Clockwise is a time orchestration platform that optimizes schedules to create more time in your day. Clockwise AI, their new GPT-powered scheduling assistant, is launching in beta. Join the waitlist here to get early access. (They’re also hiring!)Ryan wrote a recent article about whether meetings are making developers less productive.Cal Newport’s instant classic Deep Work is about learning to tune out distractions and focus on cognitively demanding tasks.Speaking of classics, Paul Graham of Y Combinator wrote about maker’s vs. manager’s schedules back in 2009.Connect with Matt on LinkedIn.Kudos to Stack Overflow user Joe Caruso, who won a Great Question badge with Get current time in hours and minutes.
Subatomic speed, math misadventures, and the biggest fraud trial in history
California is trying to transform how math is taught. How’s that going?Pierre Agostini, Ferenc Krausz and Anne L’Huillier won the 2023 Nobel Prize in Physics for work that allows scientists to see how electrons move by mapping their positions in an atom. Learn more here and here.As Ben says, speaking of things that are difficult to observe and don’t make a lot of sense, FTX founder Sam Bankman-Fried is on trial for a historically huge amount of fraud. Follow the live trial blog from Wired or check out their explainer.Starting next year, Unity is charging developer fees. We explore the back and forth as they try to find a solution that works for the company and the community.Shoutout to user vasco, who earned a Lifeboat badge by answering How to test abstract class in Java with JUnit?.
How an algo raver stays in key(boards)
If you want to hear more of her work, check out Alexandra’s Instagram. She uses Tidal Cycles and Supercollider to make algorithms that get people to dance. Interested in algoraves? You may be able to find one near you or run your own. Check out Alexandra in her ad for Logitech, then check out her favorite keyboard.
USB-C for all, PHP 4EVA, and what do LLMs actually know (if anything)?
Ben is watching AI Explained, a YouTube channel that covers the latest AI developments and their implications. Read Ryan’s article Do large language models know what they are talking about?.Is language really unique to humans? New research suggests maybe not.Not for the first time, Ryan recommends the work of Noam Chomsky: Why Only Us: Language and Evolution, an evolutionary account of language acquisition in humans written with Robert C. Berwick.OverflowAI search is now available for alpha testing. Learn more here.Good news for your cable clutter: Apple is switching to USB-C charging ports. Here’s when.The WGA (Writers Guild of America) strike ended with an agreement that “allows for artificial intelligence as a tool, not a replacement,” but the arguments about creativity, copyright, and AI are far from over.If you’re interested in working with PHP, head over to the PHP Collective and check out conversations like Most useful new PHP features for version 8?.
How to write high-performance SQL for your Postgres database
pgnanalyze helps users deliver consistent PostgreSQL performance and availability at any scale. Get started with a free trial or explore their docs. You can also find them on YouTube, where Lukas posts a weekly show called 5mins of Postgres.Lukas was a founding engineer of Citus Data. Citus is an open-source extension to PostgreSQL that was eventually acquired by Microsoft. Find them on GitHub.If you’re new to the topic, SQL (Structured Query Language) is a language for querying databases, introduced in the 1970s. Find Lukas on LinkedIn, Twitter, or GitHub.
Being creative with math: The immersive artist who traded a sketchpad for a keyboard
Check out Luyang’s work at his website or in this Youtube playlist. To make these animations, Luyang uses Processing, a 20-year-old language that started out as a visual way to teach programming but evolved into a professional development tool. Logitech selected Luyang as one of the ambassadors to show off what you can do with their MX Keys S Combo. Shout out to George Profenza for dropping a top answer on Position of a vector in coordinate system (Processing/p5.js).
Like Python++ for AI developers
If you missed the first part of our conversation with Chris, listen to it here.Modular’s new programming language, Mojo, is built for AI developers. Check out their docs or find them on GitHub.Connect with Chris on LinkedIn. Shoutout to user DanielGibbs, who earned a Lifeboat badge by answering what is the difference between getType() and getClass() in java?.
Mojo: The usability of Python with the performance of C
Modular built a new programming language, Mojo, for AI developers. Explore their docs or find them on GitHub.Chris is on LinkedIn. Congratulations to user Shengyuan Lu, whose answer to Priority queue ordering of elements merited a Lifeboat badge.
Forget AGI. Let’s built ADI: Augmented Developer Intelligence
If you missed the first part of this conversation, listen to it here.Replit is a browser-based IDE (integrated development environment). Check out their blog or start coding.ICYMI: Stack Overflow recently implemented semantic search, allowing users to search using natural language.Explore Stack Overflow Labs to learn more about OverflowAI and other projects.Amjad Masad is on LinkedIn, Twitter, and GitHub.Congratulations to Stack Overflow user macxpat, whose answer to How to install Linux packages in Replit earned a Lifeboat badge.
Multiplayer programming on mobile: a chat with Replit CEO Amjad Masad
Replit is a browser-based IDE (integrated development environment). See what they’re up to on their blog or just start coding.RIP Google Wave, one of the greats.Find Amjad on LinkedIn, Twitter, GitHub, or via his website.