Code with Jason

On this episode, Wisen Tanasa joins me to talk Test Driven Development.  We discuss why TDD is intuitive, translating specifications into tests, the balance between design and execution, developing a walking skeleton, the value of learning design principles and UX, minimizing the need to use willpower with positive feedback loops, and understanding what TDD is. Growing Object-Oriented Software Gui...

On this week's episode, Thiago Massa joins me for a conversation about international pizza styles, life in Berlin as compared to São Paulo, guitars and playing music, writing books, and reading well to write well.   Thiago Massa on LinkedIn Thiago Massa on Twitter The Complete Guide to Rails Testing by Jason Swett My snail mail newsletter

This week I'm joined by Prarthana Shiva for a discussion of defensive programming.  We talk guard clauses, assertions, null tricks, secure coding, offensive programming, and loud failure.  We also get into debugging processes, Prarthana's background, and my upcoming book on AI assisted programming. Prarthana Shiva on LinkedIn

Mark Shead joins me for a discussion on effective communication as an engineering leader.  We also get into how understanding your client's needs can help you work efficiently, the difference in difficulty between creating something completely new and iterating on an existing design, how early and frequent feedback helps make the development process more efficient, and focusing on the value d...

This week, Josh Doody joins me for a conversation on the ins and outs of salary negotiation.  We also discuss increasing your value as an employee, negotiating raises, the importance of precision in professional communications and avoiding pronouns for proper nouns, using positive language as opposed to negative language, and the effect of building goodwill wherever you work. How to Win Friends an...

This week I'm joined by Amanda Perino, Executive Director of the Rails Foundation.  We discuss the upcoming Rails World conference in Amsterdam on October 5th & 6th.  We also discuss what makes for a great conference experience, learning new languages and studying abroad, cultural differences between the US and Europe, and what's new at the Rails Foundation. The Rails Foundation Rail...

Today, I'm joined by Yeong Sheng Tan. We discuss his work as a coach and a consultant, how he integrates himself with a team to gain insight into workflows and to gain buy-in on his recommendations.  We also get into test design, taking small steps and making frequent commits, epistemology, Bayesian reasoning, and multiple assertions in test cases.  99 Bottles of OOP by Sandy Metz, Katrina Ow...

This week, I'm joined by Dan Ribbens for an in-depth conversation about his headless CMS software Payload CMS.  We also discuss other CMS platforms and Dan's experience with Y Combinator.  Payload CMS Payload CMS on Twitter Payload CMS on Discord DanRibbens.com Dan Ribbens on Twitter Sin City Ruby

On this episode, Andrew Atkinson returns for a conversation centering on partitioning in PostgreSQL.  We also discuss his upcoming book High Performance PostgreSQL for Rails, Sin City Ruby and some of the benefits of attending conferences, and "getting reps in."  High Performance PostgreSQL for Rails by Andrew Atkinson (coming August 2023) The Rails Way by Obie Fernandez pgslice Partitio...

On today's episode, Ernesto Tagwerker returns for a conversation that touches on my upcoming Sin City Ruby conference (March 21-22 2024, in Las Vegas), addressing technical debt, particularly at small companies, defining technical debt, test coverage metrics, code metrics, the meaning of code quality, and "good enough" software. Ernesto Tagwerker on Mastodon.social Fast Ruby.io Ruby...

Today I welcome back Evil Martians CEO Irina Nazarova for a discussion of her travels, the relentless march of time, changes we expect to see in the future of large language models, preparing for AI tools of the future, the most effective ways of using ChatGPT, AI as a performance enhancing drug, the upcoming Sin City Ruby conference (March 21-22, 2024), the support of the Ruby community and the i...

On today's episode, I'm joined by Sin City Ruby Keynote Speaker Obie Fernandez for a discussion of AI.  We talk about his AI project Olympia and the utility of opinions in an AI model.  We also get into the suspension of disbelief that AI is capable of engendering, the function and necessity of politeness in AI models, the feasibility of custom AI models, next steps for AI, and social in...

This week, Jimmy Miller joins me for a discussion that touches on layoffs, the pitfalls of vulnerability reporting, our paths to programming, YJIT and performance, why we need as many programming languages as possible, writing clever code, collective ownership of code, duplication, and the value of liberalizing your education. Jimmy Miller on Twitter Jimmy Miller on Twitch Future of Coding Code Co...

This week, Vladimir Dementyev returns for a discussion of test suite performance. We talk profiling your test suite, looking for commonalities between tests, using TestProf to identify the slowest parts of your tests, and dividing your tests by type.  We also get into how ChatGPT can be used by developers, specialized versions of ChatGPT for development use, how I've used ChatGPT to assist wi...

This week Moiz Ali and I talk ChatGPT and its likely impact on the programming profession.  We look at how ChatGPT has already impacted our workflows, potential use cases, using ChatGPT to explain programming concepts to you, software engineers becoming prompt engineers, why AI is unlikely to completely replace human interaction with code, and why programming is like farming. Moiz Ali on Twitter M...

On today's episode, Ufuk Kayserilioglu returns for a discussion of what he's been up to with the Ruby infrastructure team at Shopify, the challenges of parsing Ruby, how AI tools like ChatGPT will change programming, the likelihood of AI replacing programmers, and how AI is democratizing programming.  Ufuk.dev Ufuk Kayserilioglu on Twitter Ufuk Kayserilioglu on GitHub

Lee McAlilly returns for a discussion of his experiences using ChatGPT, strategies for using ChatGPT in your work, how getting correct answers isn't the only value to be derived from ChatGPT, what the future of programming with AI tools looks like, the potential downsides of AI technology, and how AI will or will not affect employment.  Ruby on Rails Tutorial by Michael Hartl Enlightenment No...

On today's episode I'm joined by Dan Manges, founder of RTX, to discuss strategies for diagnosing and fixing flaky tests. What causes flaky tests How I fix flaky tests Dan Manges on Twitter RWX RWX Captain

In today's episode I'm joined by J. B. Rainsberger for an assessment of what value can be derived from using ChatGPT as a programming tool. We also discuss why you should write your tests backwards, using ChatGPT to make tests pass, and J. B.'s philosophy and approach as a consultant.  Finally, we get into the benefits of joining J. B.'s JBrains Experience mentoring group. Extr...

In this episode, Nick Schwaderer returns for a wide-ranging discussion that touches upon the weather in Belfast, my trip to France, cocktail recipes, the thrill of receiving snail mail, my new newsletter, ChatGPT and the alleged end of programming, and Nick's new project Scarpe. Nick Schwaderer on Twitter Schwad.github.io Rebuilding Rails by Noah Gibbs Nobody Knows Shoes by Why the Lucky Stif...

In today's episode, Patricio Arluciaga and I discuss working together on separating the what from the how in software development.  We also touch on Patricio's time in the printing industry and his subsequent transition into programming. Patricio Arluciaga on Twitter  Cosmos by Carl Sagan Contact by Carl Sagan

On today's episode, I'm joined by Lucian Ghinda, creator of Short Ruby Newsletter.  We discuss tactics for reading technical books on unfamiliar topics, consistently delivering quality programming to production, programming as a mix of engineering and art, understanding the reasons why an approach was used rather than applying rules to determine whether code is "good" or "...

This week, Irina Nazarova and I discuss the way we think about building features.  We get into the kinds of questions you should ask at the beginning of a project, using feedback loops to make sure you understand the user's needs, the propensity of users to muddle through using software rather than reading documentation, releasing smaller chunks of work frequently to limit risk, and focusing...

On today's episode, I'm joined by Vitor Oliveira for a discussion including learning spoken languages and whether that relates to programming,  testing and QA, the false dichotomy of perfect vs. good code, the types of defects (bugs, design defects, & missing features), and code review.  Napice Vitor Olivera on LinkedIn

This episode, Jeremy Smith and I get together for an in-depth conversation on his approach to freelancing.  We also discuss his upcoming conference Blue Ridge Ruby (June 8-9).  Hybrd JeremySmith.co Blue Ridge Ruby Jeremy Smith on Twitter Jeremy Smith on ruby.social Million Dollar Consulting by Alan Weiss Software Estimation by Steve McConnell