In this episode, host Jonathan "J." Tower and his guest, Mary Grygleski, delve into the intricacies of event streaming within distributed systems. They explore the definition of event streaming, its comparison with traditional messaging techniques, and the unique features of platforms like Apache Pulsar and Kafka. The discussion highlights the synergy between AI and event streaming, the challenges of debugging distributed systems, and practical advice for newcomers looking to get started in this field.

Guest Bio:

Mary Grygleski is the Director of Emerging Technologies at Callibrity. With over 20 years of engineering experience, Mary has become a leader in developer and customer advocacy. She has worked for major companies like IBM, US Cellular, Bank of America, and Chicago Mercantile Exchange. She is Java Champion, serves as President of the Chicago Java Users Group, and is Co-Lead for AICamp’s Chicago Chapter.

In this episode, host Jonathan "J." Tower sits down with Guy Royse to explore the power of Redis, an in-memory data store designed around classic data structures. They discuss how Redis enhances application performance and simplifies architectural complexity.

The conversation extends to more advanced Redis topics, including its support for data structures like lists and sets, as well as use cases such as session storage, PubSub messaging, and event streams. They also examine Redis' evolving role as a lightweight document and vector database. Finally, they delve into persistence options, clustering and replication strategies, and best practices for managing connection limits and memory usage.

Guest Bio:

Guy Royse is a Developer Advocate at Redis. With decades of experience in software development and a passion for teaching, Guy is a familiar face in developer communities worldwide. He runs a JavaScript meetup in Ohio, has served on conference selection committees, and has even taught programming in a central Ohio prison.

In this episode, host Jonathan "J." Tower speaks with Sarah Dutkiewicz about Event Storming and how it helps teams unravel complex systems. They discuss the origins of Event Storming in Domain-Driven Design (DDD) and its effectiveness in bridging communication gaps between technical and non-technical stakeholders. Sarah explains the different types of Event Storming—big picture, process modeling, system design, and refactoring—and shares best practices for facilitating a session. They also compare Event Storming with UML and ERP modeling, highlighting its flexibility and focus on collaboration.

Guest Bio:

Sarah Dutkiewicz, known as "Sadukie," is a software developer, mentor, and technical community leader. She has extensive experience in software architecture, data solutions, and developer education. Passionate about knowledge sharing, Sarah speaks at conferences, organizes community events, and helps teams navigate complex technical challenges. She is also an advocate for improving documentation and communication in software projects.

References:

• EventStorming by Alberto Brandolini

• The EventStorming Handbook by Paul Rayner

• EventStorming.com

• 50,000 Stickies Later – Alberto Brandolini (Explore DDD 2017)

• 100,000 Stickies Later – Alberto Brandolini (Øredev 2019)

In this episode, host Jonathan "J." Tower speaks with Carey Payette about Terraform and Infrastructure as Code (IAC). They discuss the benefits of using Terraform for managing cloud infrastructure, including its declarative approach, multi-cloud capabilities, and integration with CI/CD pipelines. Carey emphasizes the importance of managing environment drift, utilizing modules for reusability, and best practices for secrets management. The discussion also touches on comparisons with Ansible, ARM templates, and Bicep, providing insights into when to use each.

Guest Bio:

Carey Payette is a Senior Software Engineer with Trillium Innovations (a Solliance partner), an ASPInsider, a member of the Progress Ninja program, a Microsoft Certified Trainer, and a Microsoft Azure MVP. Her primary focus is Cloud integration and deployment for the web, mobile, big data, AI, machine learning, and IoT spaces. Always eager to learn, you will find her tinkering regularly with various sensors, microcontrollers, programming languages, and frameworks. Carey is also a wife and Mom to three fabulous boys.

In this episode, host Jonathan "J." Tower speaks with fellow Trailhead partner John Waters about the latest features in .NET 9. They dive into the platform’s new capabilities, exploring how updates like performance enhancements, expanded platform support, and cutting-edge tooling empower developers to build scalable, high-performance, modern applications. John shares his insights on which features stand out the most and how they can be leveraged effectively in real-world scenarios. Tune in to discover how .NET 9 can elevate your software development projects.

Guest Bio:

John Waters is a seasoned technology leader, accomplished architect, and founding partner at Trailhead Technology Partners. With decades of experience in software architecture and a career spanning the U.S. and Sweden, John has delivered innovative solutions for many different industries including public transit, finance, and healthcare.

John was previously recognized as a Microsoft MVP three times, speaks at conferences worldwide, and is fluent in English, Swedish, and proficient in French. He is also a licensed pilot, bringing the same precision and focus to the skies as he does to software development.

In this podcast episode, host Jonathan “J.” Tower speaks with Carson Gross, creator of htmx, about simplifying web development with hypermedia-based design. Carson shares the story behind htmx, a JavaScript library that enhances HTML for interactivity without the need for complex JavaScript frameworks. Tune in to learn how htmx can help you simplify your web development through its easy-to-use extensions to HTML that power AJAX-driven interactions.

Guest Bio:

Carson Gross is a software developer, educator, and author with a passion for web development and hypermedia. He is the Principal at Big Sky Software and teaches Computer Science at Montana State University. Carson is co-author of the book Hypermedia Systems, which explores building distributed applications with hypermedia, using tools like htmx.

In this episode, host Jonathan “J.” Tower speaks with Steve Sanderson and Javier Calvarro Nelson about Blazor, a web UI framework for .NET. They explore the various capabilities of Blazor, including its support for WebAssembly, server-side rendering, and mobile applications via .NET MAUI. Steve and Javier discuss the different modes Blazor can operate in, such as server, WebAssembly, and auto mode, and how these modes enhance flexibility and performance. They also delve into the challenges and solutions related to SEO, security, and state management in Blazor applications. Tune in to learn how Blazor can help you build versatile and efficient web applications using .NET.

Guest Bios:

Steve Sanderson is a developer/architect on the .NET team at Microsoft. He’s worked on web applications and frameworks for most of his career, creating one of the original popular SPA frameworks (knockout.js) and later Blazor, the leading .NET web UI framework.

Javier Calvarro Nelson is a Principal Software Engineer at Microsoft with over a decade of experience working on ASP.NET and Blazor. He has been a key developer on the Blazor project since its inception, making significant contributions across all its variants: Server, WebAssembly, and Hybrid. Additionally, he has enhanced the ASP.NET ecosystem with features such as Razor Class Libraries, Static Assets support, and Static Server-Side Rendering for Blazor applications. Javier is passionate about creating innovative solutions that empower developers to achieve their goals.

In this episode, host Jonathan “J.” Tower speaks with Luis Quintanilla about ML.NET, an open-source, cross-platform machine learning framework within the .NET ecosystem. They delve into the capabilities of ML.NET, including building data transformation pipelines and training custom models. Luis explains how ML.NET simplifies the machine learning process for .NET developers, making it accessible without needing extensive data science expertise. Tune in to learn how ML.NET can help you incorporate machine learning into your .NET applications efficiently and effectively.

Guest Bio:

Luis Quintanilla is a Program Manager at Microsoft, based in New York, with a deep focus on machine learning and software development. He currently works on ML.NET, helping .NET developers train, test, and use machine learning models in their applications. Outside of work, he enjoys experimenting with different technologies and sharing his insights with the broader tech community.

In this episode, host Jonathan "J." Tower speaks with Neal about architectural fitness functions and how they can serve as unit tests for your software architecture. They explore how incorporating fitness functions into your development process ensures that your system's architectural characteristics remain consistent and reliable over time. They also look at why automating these checks allows you to catch deviations early and maintain a high standard of quality in your projects.

Guest Bio:
Neal Ford is a Director and Software Architect at Thoughtwork and an internationally recognized expert in software development, focusing on agile engineering techniques and software architecture. Neal has authored nine books including Fundamentals of Software Architecture and Building Evolutionary Architectures. You can find him sharing his expertise at software events around the world as well as on his website, nealford.com.

In this episode of Blue Blazes, host Jonathan "J." Tower speaks with Jimmy Bogard about vertical slice architecture (VSA) and how using it in your software projects can help make them more predictably successful. We delve into how VSA organizes your code by feature, allowing you to more easily and reliably make the most common type of changes to your application.

Guest Bio:

Jimmy Bogard is best known for his contributions to open-source software, particularly as the creator of AutoMapper and MediatR. Jimmy is an independent consultant and partner at Solliance, where he helps enterprises build robust and scalable software solutions. He is a 15-time recipient of the Microsoft MVP award. You can find him at many events around the world sharing his expertise.