Crafting Code Podcast

Technical debt is a metaphor which is thrown around a lot, but what is is really? In this episode, Dave and Allan discuss the metaphor and how well it holds up when compared to financial debt. Regardless of the name, we have to spend time and money addressing this unavoidable, perennial problem. So what can we do about it?

Software frameworks are so useful we can hardly imagine working without them. Yet they have an insidious tendency to invade, corrupt, and wrest control away from us. In this episode, your hosts discuss the good and bad of frameworks and offer some suggestions for keeping them at arm's length.

In this episode, your hosts (finally!) share some actual code examples to illustrate some of our thoughts about crafting code. Follow along with the code at https://github.com/crafting-code-podcast/crafting-katas as we discuss how we implemented Conway's Game of Life in multiple languages. Testing strategies, optimizations, and feedback loops all demonstrate that crafting code is ultimately an iterative process.

The works of Edsger W. Dijkstra have made a huge impact on the software industry. In this episode, your hosts dive into his paper, The Humble Programmer ( https://dl.acm.org/doi/pdf/10.1145/355604.361591?download=true ), to discuss how well it holds up to today's programming world. We cover hardware, cleverness, abstraction, proofs, and more. Even when we disagree with his specifics, we find ourselves still nodding in general agreement.

There are many benefits to having communities of practice, so long as the community continues to exist. In this episode, special guests Jon Turner and Neil Sorensen discuss what they've learned over their many years attending and facilitating the Utah Software Craftsmanship group ( http://utahsc.org/ ).

Will using simple tools help you keep your codebase simple? In this episode, your hosts try to draw a distinction between simplicity and ease, then examine how they apply to the tools we use to write code. Unfortunately, simplicity and complexity depend on what level of abstraction you're working at. Sometimes we choose to trade simplicity for easiness, or visa-versa. And maybe there are some simple tools that make your coding life both difficult and complex!

Programming languages are the tools we use to craft code. They have philosophies, environments, ecosystems, and idioms to consider. Picking which languages to use is an important choice for individuals and businesses. Although we all have likes and dislikes, perhaps sometimes we have to leave behind our code baggage to learn something new. But remember most of all: programming is fun!

Software architectures are generally described in broad strokes that make them generally applicable and easier to understand. But this is a lossy process. Whether or not an architecture is good or bad depends on context. So in this episode, Matt, Dave, and Allan share some examples of systems we've worked in to help illustrate architectural decisions.

Starting a new job can be a nerve-wracking experience. There's a lot to learn if you are going to be effective in your new position. Sometimes change is forced upon you, but there are reasons to voluntarily start over. It can be an important part of our personal or career journey.

Despite the near-universal agreement of the importance of software architecture, it is very difficult to define. In this episode, your hosts share what we've learned from holding the architect role (and title) at various companies. For us, the crux of it comes down to figuring out how to deliver technical value for changing business needs over time.