Legacy becomes legacy only when the memory of how the system works is gone. This is where observability kicks in.
Today we talk with Hunter Madison. Hunter is the cloud architect for Instana, an observability platform for IBM. He has a decade of software development experience covering everything from e-commerce to database development. He tells us about the significance of observability for maintenance work, when using observability is most helpful, and how to adapt observability tools to match the needs of the system.
When you finish listening to the episode, you can reach out to Hunter at hunter.madison@ibm.com.
Mentioned in this episode:
Hunterr’s email at hunter.madison@imb.com
Instana at https://www.ibm.com/cloud/instana
The world as we know it wouldn't exist without open-source software. We have learned to rely and depend on these free products that magically get maintained and updated by communities of volunteers. In our over commercialized world, the very plausibility of projects like Linux, Android, and Apache might seem incomprehensible to some. And yet, they make the world go round.
Today we talk with Naomi Ceder. She helps us understand the longevity and impact of successful open-source projects. Naomi served as the Chair of the Python Software Foundation Board of Directors, and is the recipient of its Distinguished Service Award. Naomi is also a co-founder of the Trans*Code Hack Day - a coding event focused on the trans and non-binary community and its allies.
When you finish listening to the episode, connect with Naomi on Twitter and visit her website at https://www.naomiceder.tech.
Agile has become the mainstream in software engineering, and agile principles should feel natural to legacy code menders.
Today we talk with Michael Toppa, the Senior Engineering manager at FastRuby.io. Michael has been a developer, product owner, and engineering director for over 25 years. He had worked for many organizations, including E-TRADE, Ask.com, the University of Pennsylvania, ActBlue, and many others. He is a passionate advocate of agile and lean practices, and today he tells us how to apply them when working with legacy code.
When you finish listening to the episode, connect with Michael on Twitter or contact him via FastRuby.io.
Imagine if you could refactor legacy code with a single CLI command? Well, you can, at least if you are working with PHP.
Today we talk with Matthias Noback, a long-time web developer and the author of several programming books, including Rector - The Power of Automated Refactoring, which he co-wrote with Tomáš Votruba. Matthias tells us how to use Rector in your daily workflow, how it automates repetitive maintenance and refactoring tasks, and what is the potential of this approach for other programming languages.
When you finish listening to the episode, connect with Matthias on Twitter, visit his website at https://matthiasnoback.nl, and grab his book Rector - The Power of Automated Refactoring.
Mentioned in this episode:
Matthias on Twitter at https://twitter.com/matthiasnoback
Matthias’ website at: https://matthiasnoback.nl
Rector - The Power of Automated Refactoring at https://leanpub.com/rector-the-power-of-automated-refactoring/
The Mikado Method at http://mikadomethod.info
Corgibytes at https://corgibytes.com
There is a lot of buzz around Kotlin, a new Java-based programming language that many think might eventually replace Java. But is all this talk justified, and are the predictions of replacement realistic?
Today we talk with Duncan McGregor and Nat Pryce, the authors of Java to Kotlin. They reveal to us all the advantages of Kotlin, why and when you would want to transition to it from Java, and how to facilitate the refactoring in a painless and efficient way.
When you finish listening to the episode, connect with Duncan and Nat on Twitter and check out their book Java to Kotlin.
Mentioned in this episode:
Duncan on Twitter at https://twitter.com/duncanmcg
Mat on Twitter at https://twitter.com/natpryce
Kotlin to Java, 1st edition at https://www.amazon.com/Java-Kotlin-Duncan-McGregor-ebook/dp/B09CT5KZLM
Kotlin Programming Language at https://kotlinlang.org
Joshua Bloch, Effective Java, 3rd Edition at https://www.amazon.com/Effective-Java-Joshua-Bloch-ebook/dp/B078H61SCH/ref=sr_1_1?crid=3CG84SQ8VU5ET&keywords=effective+java+josh&qid=1653917364&s=digital-text&sprefix=effective+java+josh%2Cdigital-text%2C260&sr=1-1
Corgibytes at https://corgibytes.com
We all want our code to be stable and resilient to future challenges. But we need to strike the right balance between testing our systems and the cost of failure. This is much harder to achieve than it sounds.
Today we talk with Melanie Frank, Managing Vice-President of Cyber Engineering at Capital One. Her teams innovate boldly to secure the enterprise while obsessing over excellence. Before Capital One, Melanie worked at Honeywell at NASA Goddard Space Flight Center, where she tested software that conducted scheduling, command, and control for space network communication satellites.
Drawing from her experience in the aerospace and financial industry, she tells us about the significance of testing and how to do it right for your product.
When you finish listening to the episode, connect with Melanie on LinkedIn.
Mentioned in this episode:
Melanie on LinkedIn at https://www.linkedin.com/in/melanie-frank-06b3675/
Capital One at https://www.capitalone.com
NASA Goddard Space Flight Center https://www.nasa.gov/goddard
Corgibytes at https://corgibytes.com
Empathy in Tech at https://empathyintech.com
We all strive to write an ideal code - easily readable, functional, and clean. We use many tools to achieve this. However, we often forget why we need our code to be tidy.
Today we are talking with Samuel Taggart, President of GDevCon N.A. and the owner of SAS Workshops. Sam is a natural teacher, and he enjoys sharing what he learned with others. We talk with Sam about the tools and methods that make our code clean - refactoring, retrospectives, and style guides. While they are all meant to keep us and our code in check, we forget that these tools and methods also need to be under control. Sam reminds us of a crucial question that will help us do just that.
When you finish listening to the episode, connect with Sam on LinkedIn and Twitter and visit the SAS Workshops website at www.sasworkshops.com.
Mentioned in this episode:
Samuel Taggart on LinkedIn at https://www.linkedin.com/in/taggartsam/
Samuel Taggart on Twitter at https://twitter.com/sasworkshops
GDevCon N.A. at https://gdevconna.org
SAS Workshops at https://www.sasworkshops.com
Mikado Method at https://understandlegacycode.com/blog/a-process-to-do-safe-changes-in-a-complex-codebase/
Legacy Code Rocks - Living Documentation with Cyrille Martraire at https://www.legacycode.rocks/podcast-1/episode/2fd0fdeb/living-documentation-with-cyrille-martraire
Zettelkasten Method at https://zenkit.com/en/blog/a-beginners-guide-to-the-zettelkasten-method/
Corgibytes at https://corgibytes.com
Imagine if you could compare concepts side-by-side between a programming language you know and one you don't. Well, now you can!
Today we talk with Sarah Withee, a polyglot software engineer, international tech speaker, and robot tinkerer. Sarah is also the author of Code Thesaurus, the polyglot developer reference tool. She tells us about the reasons behind the creation of the thesaurus, its continuous development, and what you can do to make the thesaurus even better.
When you finish listening to the episode, connect with Sarah on Twitter and LinkedIn and check out the Code Thesaurus project on GitHub.
Mentioned in this episode:
Corgibytes at https://corgibytes.com
Sarah in Twitter at https://twitter.com/geekygirlsarah
Sarah on LinkedIn at https://www.linkedin.com/in/sarahwithee/
Sarah’s website at https://geekygirlsarah.com
Code Thesaurus at https://codethesaur.us
Code Thesaurus project on GitHub at https://github.com/codethesaurus/
Coders spend most of their time reading rather than writing code. Yet, when you look at the undergraduate programs, boot camps, and conferences, everything seems to be dedicated to code production.
Today we talk with Felienne Hermans. Felienne is an associate professor at the Leiden Institute of Advanced Computer Science at Leiden University and the author of the book The Programmer's Brain. She also developed Hedy, a new programming language that makes it easier for kids to learn textual programming. She tells us how to help young programmers better understand both the code they are working with and their own cognition.
After you finish listening to the episode, connect with Felienne on LinkedIn and Twitter, visit her website at https://www.felienne.com, and make sure to check out her book.
Mentioned in this episode:
Felienne on Twitter at https://twitter.com/Felienne
Felienne on LinkedIn at https://www.linkedin.com/in/felienne
Felienne’s website at: https://www.felienne.com
Hedy Programming language at https://hedycode.com
The Programmer’s Brain at https://www.manning.com/books/the-programmers-brain?utm_source=felienne&utm_medium=affiliate&utm_campaign=book_hermans2_programmers_12_8_20&a_aid=felienne&a_bid=d7c7c538
Empathy in Tech at https://empathyintech.com
Some of the biggest risks for cyber security frameworks come from employees meant to maintain them. The reason for that is simple, and it couldn't be more human - people who don't feel well don't perform well.
Today we talk with Nyota Gordon, the founder, developer, and all-around do-gooder at Transition365, a cyber resiliency firm that helps cybersecurity professionals increase their leadership and life skills.
Nyota digs deep into the intersection between cyber security, resiliency, and personal wellness. She shares with us some mental health strategies that will improve our well-being and, as a consequence, our work performance.
When you finish listening to the episode, make sure to connect with Nyota on LinkedIn.
Mentioned in this episode:
Nyota on LinkedIn at https://www.linkedin.com/in/nyotagordon/
Transition365 at https://transition365.com
Brené Brown, Shame Resilience Theory at https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1606/1044-3894.3483
Symantec Cyber Resiliency White Paper at https://informationsecurity.report/whitepapers/symantec-white-paper-the-cyber-resilience-blueprint-a-new-perspective-on-security
Amy C. Edmondson, The Fearless Organization at https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B07KLT8RKM/ref=dbs_a_def_rwt_hsch_vapi_tkin_p1_i0
Charles Feltman, The Thin Book of Trust at https://www.amazon.com/Thin-Book-Trust-Essential-Building/dp/0988953862/ref=tmm_pap_swatch_0?_encoding=UTF8&qid=1646648424&sr=1-1
Empathy in Tech at https://empathyintech.com
When you finish listening to the episode, connect with Prabhjot on Twitter and LinkedIn and visit Pyze's website at https://www.pyze.com.
Mentioned in this episode:
Prabhjot on LinkedIn at https://www.linkedin.com/in/psinghsf/
Prabhjot on Twitter at https://twitter.com/psinghsf
Pyze at https://www.pyze.com
Today we talk with Clare Sudbery. Clare is a lead engineer at Made Tech, and she is the host of the Making Tech Better podcast. Clare tells why it is so important to be compassionate to ourselves and shares with us some techniques on how to achieve this.
When you finish listening to the episode, connect with Clare on Twitter and dive deeper into the subject of empathy in tech by joining our new community.
Mentioned in this episode:
Clare on Twitter at https://twitter.com/ClareSudbery
Making Tech Better Podcast at https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/making-tech-better-made-tech/id1558845124
Made Tech Academy at https://www.madetech.com/careers/academy/
Self-Compassion by Dr. Kristin Neff at https://self-compassion.org
Empathy in Tech at https://empathyintech.com
Everyone wants their software system to be resilient - to continue carrying out its mission-critical tasks in the face of disruption or adversity. But resiliency has its cost, and not just in a material sense. With resiliency, your system becomes more complex and harder to maintain. That is why we always have to balance our resiliency requirement with other non-functional requirements around the system.
Today we talk with Briana Augenreich, a Senior Software Engineer at HubSpot. Briana wears many hats in the software engineering world, but she officially calls herself backend and infrastructure engineer. Briana has extensive experience working with large and complex mission-critical systems. This gives her unique insight on finding the right measure while striving for resiliency.
When you finish listening to the episode, connect with Briana on LinkedIn.
Mentioned in this episode:
Briana on LinkedIn at https://www.linkedin.com/in/briana-augenreich-93b4a191/
David Woods, The Theory of Graceful Extensibility at https://www.researchgate.net/publication/327427067_The_Theory_of_Graceful_Extensibility_Basic_rules_that_govern_adaptive_systems
We all get excited about that new, shiny code, but more often than not, our company can live without it. On the other hand, some old and boring lines of code laying around are usually the backbone of our entire business system. And while inventors tend to get all the praise, those who keep the wheels running smoothly are content with, well, the wheels running smoothly.
Today we talk with Tramaine Darby, a Senior Manager of Content, Subscriptions, and Insights Engineering at Red Hat. She tells us how to manage teams responsible for maintaining the systems that make companies run and how to defend these systems from hard-cuts and radical changes.
When you finish listening to the episode, connect with Tramaine on LinkedIn and Twitter.
Mentioned in this episode:
Tramaine on LinkedIn at https://www.linkedin.com/in/tramainedarby/
Tramaine on Twitter at https://twitter.com/tdarby4
Red Hat at https://www.redhat.com/