Dead Code

In this episode of Dead Code, Jared interviews Ingy döt Net, co-creator of YAML, about its origins, unexpected rise in popularity—especially within the Ruby community—and its evolution into a widely used configuration language. Ingy shares insights into YAMLScript, a new programming language he developed to address YAML’s limitations, enabling more powerful configuration and data transformation through a Lisp-like approach. By leveraging Clojure and GraalVM, YAMLScript offers cross-language compatibility and improves YAML’s usability in environments like Kubernetes and Helm. The conversation explores broader industry trends in serialization, the challenges of maintaining a widely adopted format, and Ingy’s philosophy of acmeism, which promotes language-agnostic tooling. He also discusses YAMLScript’s warm reception at KubeCon and its inclusion in programming education platforms like Exercism.

Links:

YAMLScript Official Website

YAMLScript GitHub Repository

Exercism

Make a Lisp

KubeCon

Prism

Helm

GraalVM

MkDocs Material 

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In this episode of Dead Code, Jared interviews software engineer Joel Drapper about his open-source projects in the Ruby ecosystem. They discuss Phlex, a view framework that allows developers to build HTML components using pure Ruby, eliminating the need for templating languages like ERB. Joel also introduces Literal, a library for reducing boilerplate in object creation with built-in type validation, and Quickdraw, an experimental test runner optimized for multi-core execution. The conversation concludes with Yippee, a SQLite-centric full-stack Ruby framework designed for simplicity and performance, challenging conventional Rails architectures. Joel shares insights on how these projects streamline development while embracing SQLite’s growing viability in production applications.

Links:

Phlex

Literal

Stephen Margheim (@fractaledmind on Bluesky)

Joel Drapper (@joel.drapper.me on Bluesky)

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In this Dead Code episode, host Jared interviews Karl Oscar Weber about revitalizing Camping, a minimalist Ruby web framework originally created by “Why the Lucky Stiff.” Karl shares his 14-year programming journey, his passion for Ruby, and the challenges of modernizing Camping while preserving its compact, esoteric design under five kilobytes. He introduces updates like plugins (“Camping Gear”) and compatibility with newer Ruby features, emphasizing Camping’s educational value and simplicity. Beyond the technical, Karl discusses fostering inclusivity in the Ruby community, countering exclusionary attitudes, and creating spaces that welcome underrepresented developers. Jared commends Karl’s efforts to honor Ruby’s quirky, fun spirit while addressing cultural issues, highlighting the broader impact small projects can have on shaping tech communities.

Links:

Camping GitHub Repository

Why’s (Poignant) Guide to Ruby

Sequel Gem Documentation

Roda GitHub Repository

Cuba GitHub Repository

Andrew Tate Background (Wikipedia)

Metroid Series Overview (Wikipedia)

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In this episode of Dead Code, Jared Norman hosts Ruby developer and consultant Ismael Celis to discuss event sourcing—a data storage model that records historical events to derive the current state of an application, offering benefits like accurate audit trails and reduced complexity. Ismael explains how event sourcing contrasts with traditional CRUD systems by focusing on a flat sequence of events rather than intricate relational models, making it particularly useful in e-commerce and microservices. He highlights his experimentation with event sourcing in Ruby, aiming to combine its simplicity with Ruby’s expressiveness, and mentions existing tools like Rails Event Store, Sequence, and Eventide. Offering practical advice, Ismael suggests starting small with simple Ruby scripts to grasp the concept before adopting established libraries. The episode underscores the potential for event sourcing to streamline debugging and enhance adaptability in dynamic systems.

Links:

Ismael Celis on Twitter

Ismael Celis on GitHub

Ismael’s Website

Rails Event Store

Eventide Documentation

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In this episode of Dead Code, Jared Norman interviews Felienne Hermans, creator of the Hedy programming language and author of “A Case for Feminism in Programming Language Design.” Felienne discusses her experiences of alienation in the programming language design community and critiques its prioritization of mathematical rigor and technical difficulty over accessibility and inclusivity. Highlighting Hedy, a simplified, multilingual language designed for beginners and non-English speakers, she emphasizes the value of user-centered design in making programming more approachable and impactful. The conversation explores the exclusionary culture in programming, such as dismissing spreadsheets and front-end work as “not real coding,” and proposes reimagining programming languages to focus on collaboration, user experience, and joy rather than gatekeeping and status. Felienne calls for a cultural shift to prioritize inclusivity and creativity, showcasing how tools like Hedy can inspire and empower diverse communities.

Links:

The Hedy Programming Language

A Case for Feminism in Programming Language Design

Felienne Hermans’s Personal Website

Programming Language Conference: SPLASH

Elm Programming Language

Edgar Dijkstra’s EWDs

Ruby Programming Language

Rust Programming Language

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In this Dead Code episode, host Jared Norman interviews JP Camara, Principal Software Engineer at Wealthbox, about Ruby concurrency. JP explains that Ruby applications are inherently multithreaded, even when developers assume otherwise, highlighting how background threads from libraries like Sidekiq or monitoring tools can introduce concurrency issues. He discusses the Ruby community's progress in thread safety, driven by tools like Puma and Sidekiq, and contrasts Ruby's "colorless" concurrency model with JavaScript's explicit async/await syntax, emphasizing Ruby's reduced cognitive overhead. JP also shares his experience contributing to Ruby's M:N thread scheduler for macOS, advocating for developers to rely on vetted concurrency tools like concurrent-ruby and async instead of manually managing threads. He concludes by stressing the importance of avoiding global state, breaking tasks into smaller pieces, and approaching concurrency with a thoughtful mindset.

Links:

Wealthbox

JP Camara's Blog

RubyConf

Sidekiq

Puma Web Server

Honeybadger

New Relic

JP's Ruby Concurrency Series

What Color is Your Function?

Async Gem

Concurrent Ruby

Meshuggah – Violent Sleep of Reason

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In this whimsical holiday-themed episode of the Dead Code podcast, Jared dives into the much-anticipated release of Ruby 3.4, framing the technical updates in a festive, poetic rendition of 'Twas the Night Before Christmas. Listeners are treated to a charming narrative where Ruby's creator, "Saint Matz," embodies a coding Santa Claus, delivering these updates to the community with flair.

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In this episode of Dead Code, Jared speaks with Rebecca Murphey, Field CTO at Swarmia, about the critical importance of written communication in engineering organizations. Rebecca shares insights from her experiences at Indeed and Stripe, emphasizing how clear, concise, and audience-focused communication can drive alignment, mitigate risks, and advance careers. She discusses frameworks like SCQA (Situation, Complication, Question, Answer) and practical strategies, including critical reading and trimming unnecessary details, to improve technical communication. The conversation also explores how AI tools like ChatGPT are reshaping written communication, the shifting role of junior engineers in a more constrained industry, and the need to understand broader business contexts. The episode underscores that strong communication is as vital as coding skills for thriving in today’s tech landscape.

Links:

Rebecca Murphey on LinkedIn

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In this episode of Dead Code, Jared Norman and guests Andrew, Sofia, and Senem discuss their experiences with Advent of Code, an annual programming challenge with Christmas-themed puzzles. They share how the challenge fosters creativity, improves coding skills, and allows for unique problem-solving approaches, particularly using Ruby’s powerful tools like Tally and each_cons. The group reflects on their goals, from practicing domain-driven design and test-driven development to simply having fun writing unconventional code. Jared highlights his focus on creativity over competition, streaming his solutions on Twitch, while the guests explore how Advent of Code inspires learning outside their day-to-day work.

Links:

Advent of Code

Jared's Twitch Stream

Super Good

Project Euler

LeetCode

TRICK (The Ruby International Obfuscated Code Competition)

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In this episode of Dead Code, Jared Norman and guest Noah Gibbs, author of Rebuilding Rails and Mastering Software Technique, discuss programming as an art form rather than purely a business or engineering practice. They explore how programming, much like traditional art, thrives on creativity and self-expression, with languages like Ruby enabling this through flexibility and elegance, even at the cost of performance. Noah critiques the modern tech ecosystem for prioritizing profit over innovation, stifling creativity with rigid business structures. Highlighting parallels between programming and traditional art education, he advocates focusing on skill and craft instead of monetary incentives. Jared reflects on how these ideas challenge his perspective as a software company owner, urging listeners to consciously define their motivations and reclaim programming as a creative pursuit. The episode, produced by Mandy Moore, invites developers to rethink their relationship with their craft and the systems shaping their work.

Links:

Codefol.io

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Episode Transcript

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