Hanselminutes with Scott Hanselman

In this episode of ACM ByteCast in association with Hanselminues, Scott Hanselman welcomes research scientist, software engineer, and entrepreneur Yaw Anokwa. Yaw is the founder and CEO of ODK, the offline data collection platform that helps fight disease, poverty, and inequity. He holds a PhD in computer science from the University of Washington and likes to keep his bio short and sweet.

Yaw describes how he felt the urge to pivot his career into a direction of positive social impact as a graduate student at the University of Washington. A volunteer experience with Partners in Health in Rwanda and a software engineering internship at Google showed him the potential for technology to empower people and change lives—specifically through ODK—which became his chief project and passion. Yaw and Scott discuss ODK’s main differentiator, “powerful offline forms,” as well as user interface affordances made to customize ODK for its users, such as rural farmers in Uganda. He also shares the joy of working on a product that focuses on public good and some principles that have helped him to succeed.

Eden Full Goh is the CEO and Founder of Mobot, a venture-backed company that automates testing of mobile apps using robotics technology. Previously, Eden built products that spanned the energy, healthcare and government sectors at Palantir Technologies and Butterfly Network. Eden studied Mechanical Engineering and Computer Science at Princeton University.

In association with Outside In, we are thrilled to share this conversation with Randall Munroe and Scott Hanselman. The #1 New York Times bestselling author of What If? and How To answers more of the weirdest questions you never thought to ask!

• Buy What If 2
• Watch the video of Randall and Scott on YouTube

When engineer and author Sameer Doshi interviewed remotely for his current job at Microsoft, he was nervous about only one thing: Telling his future employer that he’s blind. He was offered the position, and even after starting he didn’t mention that he’s blind until he needed to put in a request for the special software that helps him do his job. Four years later, he has moved up the ranks to a management position and is thriving. He talks to Scott about tech accommodation, and his new sci-fi book The Work Ahead!

The classic guide to how computers work has been updated with new chapters and interactive graphics! Code: The Hidden Language of Computer Hardware and Software, 2nd Edition by Charles Petzold is now available. Charles explains why he added chapters, reordered content, incorporated new examples, and updated descriptions in his best-selling book. 

https://www.codehiddenlanguage.com/

Kirsten Westeinde is a technology enthusiast and a lifelong learner. She is a development manager at Shopify, where she solves challenging web development problems every day. She talks with Scott about her career at Shopify moving from Software Developer to Senior Software Development Manager. They also chat about the Shopify's Journey from Monolith...to something different!

Sonic Pi is a new kind of musical instrument which enables exciting new learning pathways in the classroom! Not only can you create music quickly and "live code" your music to change when performing, but you can also use Sonic Pi as a way to learn coding in a more creative way rather than focusing on abstract concepts or working with data.

• https://sonic-pi.net/

C64 OS has one goal. Make a Commodore 64 feel fast and useful in today’s modern world. It's a very high bar. The C64 was introduced in 1982 and has an 8-bit, 1MHz, 6510 CPU with just 64 kilobytes of directly addressable memory. It has a screen resolution of 320x200 pixels, and a fixed palette of 16 colors. But, it is an incredibly versatile machine. And it enjoys an active userbase and a great variety of modern hardware expansions. How did Gregory Naçu do it in 2022?

Buy https://c64os.com now!

The demoscene is an international computer art subculture focused on producing demos: self-contained, sometimes extremely small, computer programs that produce audiovisual presentations. When was the last time you coded something that fit in 4k? How about just 1024 bytes? Bilgem Çakır is one of many folks still making the Commodore 64 sing and do things you'd never expect, 40 years after the computer was released. Why is this kind of coding important or interesting in 2022? Bilgem offers his perspective as game studio CTO, long time demoscener, and C64 demo record holder.

This episode is sponsored by BetterHelp. Give online therapy a try at http://betterhelp.com/hanselminutes and get on your way to being your best self.

Gustavo Pezzi wants to teach YOU (and everyone) how to code...in 6502 assembly on 40 year old machines! There's something amazing about coding on the absolute metal and owning the entire machine/stack. https://pikuma.com teaches the learn the fundamentals of computer science and mathematics in creative and dynamic ways using older game consoles and teaches things like graphics and physics without large frameworks.