Tech Book Podcast

Tech Book Podcast

By AiTechnology
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Tech Book Podcast episodes

  • The Making of Prince of Persia Journals 1985 - 1993

    This episode explores the fascinating journey of Jordan Mechner as he creates the iconic video game Prince of Persia, based on his published journals.●The episode begins in 1985, with Mechner graduating from Yale and facing a pivotal career decision: pursue screenwriting or create another computer game1. Despite the success of his first game, Karateka, Mechner grapples with self-doubt, the allure of Hollywood, and the uncertain future of the Apple II gaming industry23.●Listeners will get an inside look at the challenges of game development in the 80s: from securing a publisher and negotiating royalties to the technical limitations of the Apple II456. Mechner's journals reveal his creative process, his struggles with coding and design, and the invaluable input of friends and colleagues78910.●The episode highlights Mechner's dedication to his craft. He meticulously videotapes his brother's movements for character animation and spends countless hours refining the game's swordfighting mechanics511. His passion for the project shines through, even as he faces setbacks and doubts1112.●As the game nears completion, Mechner navigates the world of marketing, packaging, and platform conversions, offering a glimpse into the business side of the gaming industry131415. The episode captures the excitement and anticipation surrounding Prince of Persia's release, with everyone predicting a smash hit1617.●The episode concludes with the game's launch and early reception, leaving listeners with a sense of the legacy of Prince of Persia and its impact on the gaming landscape. We also get a glimpse into Mechner's future aspirations, including his continued interest in filmmaking and his ideas for a potential sequel1819.
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    This episode explores the fascinating journey of Jordan Mechner as he creates the iconic video game Prince of Persia, based on his published journals.●The episode begins in 1985, with Mechner graduating from Yale and facing a pivotal career decision: pursue screenwriting or create another computer game1. Despite the success of his first game, Karateka, Mechner grapples with self-doubt, the allure of Hollywood, and the uncertain future of the Apple II gaming industry23.●Listeners will get an inside look at the challenges of game development in the 80s: from securing a publisher and negotiating royalties to the technical limitations of the Apple II456. Mechner's journals reveal his creative process, his struggles with coding and design, and the invaluable input of friends and colleagues78910.●The episode highlights Mechner's dedication to his craft. He meticulously videotapes his brother's movements for character animation and spends countless hours refining the game's swordfighting mechanics511. His passion for the project shines through, even as he faces setbacks and doubts1112.●As the game nears completion, Mechner navigates the world of marketing, packaging, and platform conversions, offering a glimpse into the business side of the gaming industry131415. The episode captures the excitement and anticipation surrounding Prince of Persia's release, with everyone predicting a smash hit1617.●The episode concludes with the game's launch and early reception, leaving listeners with a sense of the legacy of Prince of Persia and its impact on the gaming landscape. We also get a glimpse into Mechner's future aspirations, including his continued interest in filmmaking and his ideas for a potential sequel1819.

    Support: https://yazdipour.com/donate

    12 min
  • Designing Event-Driven Systems

    This podcast explores a new approach to building business systems using event-driven architecture and stream processing tools like Kafka. Instead of relying on traditional databases, streaming systems treat data as an evolving stream of events, allowing organizations to build loosely coupled, highly scalable, and resilient applications.

    Each episode will examine key concepts and patterns from the book "Designing Event-Driven Systems" by Ben Stopford, covering topics such as:

    • The limitations of traditional service-oriented architectures and the challenges of sharing data between services.
    • The benefits of event-driven systems for building loosely coupled, scalable, and resilient applications.
    • How a replayable log like Kafka can serve as a central source of truth for an organization's data.
    • Event Sourcing, CQRS, and other stateful patterns for managing data in event-driven systems.
    • The importance of data on the outside, as described by Pat Helland, and how it differs from data on the inside.
    • Practical examples of building streaming services with Kafka Streams and KSQL.

      • Join us as we explore the future of data engineering and learn how to build the next generation of event-driven applications.

      Podcast Title: Data on the OutsidePodcast Description:

      11 min
    • Software Engineering at Google: Lessons Learned from Programming Over Time


      In this episode, we explore the concept of knowledge sharing at Google, drawing insights from the book "Software Engineering at Google".

      • ​Why is Knowledge Sharing Important?: The sources emphasize that no single engineer can be an expert on everything within a vast codebase like Google's. As an organization scales, effective knowledge sharing becomes crucial for maintaining code health, boosting developer productivity, and onboarding new team members.
      • ​Challenges to Learning: Google acknowledges that encouraging knowledge sharing within a large organization presents its own challenges. Many organizations face difficulties moving beyond individual expertise and developing scalable systems for sharing knowledge.
      • ​Psychological Safety: The sources highlight the importance of fostering a culture of psychological safety where engineers feel comfortable admitting gaps in their knowledge and seeking help.
      • ​Methods of Knowledge Sharing: The episode explores various approaches Google employs for effective knowledge sharing:

      ◦Asking the Community: This encompasses tools like group chats, mailing lists, and internal Q&A platforms like YAQS, each with their own strengths and limitations.

      ◦Formal Documentation: From comprehensive design docs and code comments to concise "Tips of the Week" and "Language@Google 101" courses, Google leverages diverse documentation styles.

      ◦Code Readability as Knowledge: The sources posit that well-written, readable code itself acts as a form of knowledge transmission, aiding future maintainers and promoting code health.

      • ​Measuring Effectiveness: While emphasizing a data-driven approach, the book acknowledges the difficulty in quantifying the impact of some knowledge-sharing initiatives. Nevertheless, feedback mechanisms and usage data offer insights into their effectiveness.

      Join us as we uncover how Google cultivates a culture of continuous learning and knowledge dissemination, empowering engineers to thrive within a complex and evolving technological landscape.

      10 min

    About Tech Book Podcast

    From the publisher's feed

    Reviewing tech and engineering books and articles!