If you come to a fork in the road, take it! Two’s Complement is a programming podcast, hosted by Matt Godbolt and Ben Rady; two programmers who both grew up wanting to make video games. One of them did, one of them didn’t, but now they both work together despite coming from very different backgrounds.
Lint and Other Fuzzy Bits
Matt and Ben talk about code linters, and meander into various topics. Matt describes the (approximately) 37 different ways to cast variables in C++. Ben argues that continuous integration was better in the 19th century.
The Language Menagerie
Ben and Matt explore the world of programming languages. So many! Why are there so many? Wait, there's a Java Mobile Edition? Who would use such a thing? The hosts of the #1 top ranked programming podcast that my mom listens to, that's who.
Pull Requests and Pair Programming, Part 2
Hey Ben, when are you going to release the second part of that podcast on pull requests and pair programming? I've really been looking forward to it. Oh, I don't know. I need to come up with a witty description first. Hopefully some time this week.
Pull Requests and Pair Programming, Part 1
Matt and Ben compare different methods of collaboration, and how they work for different personalities. Ben is not a psychologist, but plays one on this podcast. Matt gets very close to explaining what makes for a good pull request, and then doesn't.
CPUs are Clever
Matt and Ben discuss the kinds of things modern CPUs do behind the scenes. Branch prediction, caching, speculation, out-of-order processing, hyper-threading, register renaming... Lots of things most people don't need to know. Matt gets overly excited, and Ben channels Larry King to try and keep him on track.
Boring is Awesome
Ben and Matt think boring things are good, and provide a few examples. Databases, for example, are boring...but even more boring options exist! Matt explains how boring tools make it easy to automate local development tasks on his funny side project. Ben reverts your commits because he wants you to be happy.
Unix Commands for Wizards
Matt and Ben discuss their favorite *nix command line tools, and make various movie references while doing so. Included in this episode are references to both Sergio Leone and gunzip, although the two are surprisingly unrelated. Matt recalls using System Tap to discover latency in a trading system. Ben explains a method for writing Wireshark plugins that sparks joy.
Source Control and Conway's Law
Matt and Ben compare monorepo vs multi-repo layouts, explain Conways Law, talk about what a 'team' is, and what Visual Source Safe isn't. Ben defines how big a service should be. Matt recalls a brief interlude with Clojure.
Pictures and Candy with Arduino
Join our hosts as they talk about hobby hardware projects, past and present. Matt explains how he's building a digital picture frame out of a Raspberry Pi Pico and E-Ink display. Ben talks about building a Halloween candy dispenser using devices both serial and cereal. Matt and Ben discover they both liked MP3s in the early 00's.
Slow Builds and Fast Feedback
Ben and Matt talk about builds and build systems, mostly in C++. Matt talks about lots of different ways to speed up builds for C++, and is very helpful. Ben questions whether you want a build that never fails, which is moderately helpful.
Semi-Solid Principles
Matt and Ben join an argument on the Internet, which is always a productive and rewarding use of one's time. They discuss the SOLID principles from two different perspectives, and judge them. Listen in for the verdict. Then, Ben ponders how programmers learn, and whether sailors are happy. Matt gets a new puppy.
Reverse Engineering the 6502
Ben and Matt stop talking about testing, and everyone is relieved. Matt describes the process for reverse engineering microchips by stripping off layers of silicon to look at the transistors with a microscope. With this forbidden knowledge, he explains how to defeat the copy protection on a childhood video game. Ben pretends like he understands.
Special Guest: Clare Macrae
Ben and Matt trick another live human being into joining them on the podcast. Clare Macrae joins to talk about her work with approval testing, her experiences dealing with legacy Fortran and C++ code, and an upcoming Webinar she's doing on refactoring-to-testability using CLion.
Manual Testing and Observability
Matt and Ben discuss whether the city of Portland exists, and decide they don't care. Ben argues that you should test your code manually. Matt talks about when government regulators made him build an observable system, and how great it was. Really, it was great!
Special Guest: James Grenning
Our first guest! We speak with James Grenning about his work (re)building embedded systems using Test Driven Development. Then we ask James about his involvement with the creation of the Agile Manifesto in Feburary of 2001, and find out how 'Agile' has changed over the last 20 years.