Factorio
06 Dec 2025
Contributed by Lukas
Ben's new TCP backpressure explanation: conveyor belts full. Matt zooms out and mistakes his factory...
Vibe Coding and Robot Teammates
13 Nov 2025
Contributed by Lukas
Ben worries replacing juniors with LLMs creates a future hiring crisis - who'll train the robot-wran...
Conference Talks: Some Assembly Required
12 Oct 2025
Contributed by Lukas
Matt returns from CppCon with a cold, three talks, and a keynote title Reddit hates. Ben immediately...
Running Programs
12 Sep 2025
Contributed by Lukas
Matt and Ben discuss running in production; from running processes in screen to battling systemd con...
Squashing Compilers
10 Aug 2025
Contributed by Lukas
Matt uses you as his therapist to vent about three days fighting systemd and boot time. Ben patientl...
The Benefits of Experience
18 Jul 2025
Contributed by Lukas
Matt and Ben explore how experience lets you run across water instead of drowning in options. Ben ex...
Is Football Possible Anymore?
12 Jun 2025
Contributed by Lukas
Ben recounts his 2007 startup building a database chatbot (before LLMs were cool). Matt tries their ...
C++ and Rust: Different Tools for the Job
09 May 2025
Contributed by Lukas
Matt and Ben discuss programming language debates sparked by an old talk that went viral. They explo...
Observable Metrics
10 Apr 2025
Contributed by Lukas
Matt and Ben explore the intersection of testing, metrics, and observability in performance-critical...
Pair Programming with HAL?
16 Mar 2025
Contributed by Lukas
Matt and Ben explore the new world of AI-assisted coding: is it like pairing with junior developer? ...
Passing Messages
14 Feb 2025
Contributed by Lukas
Ben and Matt wade into the deep waters of messaging systems, get utterly lost in time synchronizatio...
Getting CRUFTy
12 Jan 2025
Contributed by Lukas
Ben unveils his latest acronym-based software discussion framework while Matt patiently waits for th...
Are We Remotely Productive?
14 Dec 2024
Contributed by Lukas
Matt and Ben unpack the mysteries of remote work and programmer productivity, with a side of two's c...
Are Dirty Hands Right?
23 Nov 2024
Contributed by Lukas
Matt and Ben preach the gospel of "dirty hands are right," then spend 30 minutes explaining why that...
Sequence Locks
26 Oct 2024
Contributed by Lukas
Matt talks about a work thing, called a sequence lock. Ben suggests some dumb ideas about that work ...
The Joy of Programming
11 Sep 2024
Contributed by Lukas
Matt and Ben realize they love their jobs, and decide to keep doing them. Flow state, to the point w...
Deploy First Development
17 Aug 2024
Contributed by Lukas
Our hosts congratulate themselves on finally having decent microphones. Matt quizzes Ben on his "Dep...
Programming Under Pressure
21 Jul 2024
Contributed by Lukas
Ben and Matt come up with a podcast on the spot, which they do every month but also this month too. ...
Avoiding Abandonware
17 Jun 2024
Contributed by Lukas
Matt and Ben explore the unfortunate death and rebirth pattern of software systems. Ben botches a qu...
Is Optimization Refactoring?
15 May 2024
Contributed by Lukas
In flagrant violation of Betteridge's Law, Ben and Matt consider the question 'Is Optimization Refac...
The Future of Compiler Explorer
17 Apr 2024
Contributed by Lukas
Matt ponders the future of his accidentally eponymous hobby project. Ben offers thoughtful considera...
Strong ARM
18 Mar 2024
Contributed by Lukas
Ben and Matt discuss their transition to using ARM-based Apple Silicon laptops for their day jobs. B...
make podcast
17 Feb 2024
Contributed by Lukas
Matt and Ben describe how to build a developer automation interface with Make, a ubiquitous build to...
Technical Debts
15 Jan 2024
Contributed by Lukas
Ben and Matt discuss the original definition of technical debt a metaphor created by Ward Cunningham...
Copypasta
19 Dec 2023
Contributed by Lukas
Matt and Ben talk about when it's OK to copy and paste code. Matt explains how helpful compilers tak...
Iter-Mental Development
19 Nov 2023
Contributed by Lukas
Ben and Matt compare iterative and incremental approaches to software development. To everyone's ast...
Compression
23 Oct 2023
Contributed by Lukas
Matt and Ben talk about how compression works, specifically deflate, which is apparently everywhere....
Questionable Comments
18 Sep 2023
Contributed by Lukas
Ben and Matt comment on different types of comments in code. Join our hosts and they explore both go...
Ben Walks A Tree
22 Aug 2023
Contributed by Lukas
Ben ventures into the forest, finds a tree traversal problem, and then fails his will save and gets ...
Video Games and Other Diversions
17 Jul 2023
Contributed by Lukas
Matt and Ben talk about what they would do if they founded a game studio. And ASICs. And testing bec...
Yak Shaving, Part 2, Also Live!
20 Jun 2023
Contributed by Lukas
Ben and Matt finish shaving the yak from the prior episode. While waiting for DNS certificate valida...
Yak Shaving, Live!
22 May 2023
Contributed by Lukas
Matt and Ben hit the record button while shaving a yak and then attempt to pass it off as a podcast ...
Integration Tests are a Scam
18 Apr 2023
Contributed by Lukas
Ben and Matt borrow a title from J.B. Rainsberger and talk about how integration tests want to take ...
The Compiler Explorer Problem
20 Mar 2023
Contributed by Lukas
How do you solve a problem like Compiler Explorer sponsors? Matt digs into a surprisingly interestin...
Slightly Less Terrible Tech Interviews
17 Feb 2023
Contributed by Lukas
Ben and Matt descend like Orpheus into the horrifically awful world of tech interviews, to try and e...
Not Invented, Hear?
17 Jan 2023
Contributed by Lukas
Matt and Ben explore their mutual tendency to favor build over buy. Instead of using open source sof...
Time For Computers
18 Dec 2022
Contributed by Lukas
Ben and Matt examine how fast computers are by comparing them to humans. Turns out they're mind-bogg...
A Bit Rusty
16 Nov 2022
Contributed by Lukas
Matt and Ben discuss the Rust programming language, recall some hobby projects they've used it for, ...
Swift (with Doug Gregor)
12 Oct 2022
Contributed by Lukas
Ben and Matt chat about the Swift programming language with special guest (and Swift creator) Doug G...
Carbon Footprint
14 Sep 2022
Contributed by Lukas
Ben and Matt talk Carbon, the new language backed by Google, designed to be a successor to C++. Matt...
Weird Webapps
15 Aug 2022
Contributed by Lukas
Matt and Ben discuss the idiosyncratic way that they learned to build web applications for trading. ...
Virtual Infrastructure
15 Jul 2022
Contributed by Lukas
Ben and Matt compare container technologies like Docker to virtual machines, and discuss the tradeof...
Golf for Hackers
19 Jun 2022
Contributed by Lukas
Matt and Ben talk, about uh...golf? What? Is this right? Did you check this? Apparently, in this epi...
Async Whatevers
18 May 2022
Contributed by Lukas
Ben and Matt talk about various styles of asynchronous programming, ranging from Node.js, Ruby's Eve...
Terrible Business Ideas
16 Apr 2022
Contributed by Lukas
Matt and Ben both recall their prior adventures founding companies that sold tools for software deve...
Java and/or C++?
22 Mar 2022
Contributed by Lukas
Ben and Matt have a work conversation spill over into podcast. Join our hosts as they compare Java a...
Compile-Time Programming (with Hana Dusíková)
20 Feb 2022
Contributed by Lukas
Ben and Matt are joined by Hana Dusíková and discuss panoramic photographs, Matt's career peak, an...
Performance
03 Feb 2022
Contributed by Lukas
Our most efficient podcast ever. Ben and Matt talk performance testing and optimization in fewer tha...
Building Games Two Ways
02 Jan 2022
Contributed by Lukas
Matt and Ben talk about their experiences creating games, both digital and analog. Matt recalls buil...
Lint and Other Fuzzy Bits
27 Nov 2021
Contributed by Lukas
Matt and Ben talk about code linters, and meander into various topics. Matt describes the (approxima...
The Language Menagerie
01 Nov 2021
Contributed by Lukas
Ben and Matt explore the world of programming languages. So many! Why are there so many? Wait, there...
Pull Requests and Pair Programming, Part 2
01 Oct 2021
Contributed by Lukas
Hey Ben, when are you going to release the second part of that podcast on pull requests and pair pro...
Pull Requests and Pair Programming, Part 1
15 Sep 2021
Contributed by Lukas
Matt and Ben compare different methods of collaboration, and how they work for different personaliti...
CPUs are Clever
19 Aug 2021
Contributed by Lukas
Matt and Ben discuss the kinds of things modern CPUs do behind the scenes. Branch prediction, cachin...
Boring is Awesome
18 Jul 2021
Contributed by Lukas
Ben and Matt think boring things are good, and provide a few examples. Databases, for example, are b...
Unix Commands for Wizards
22 Jun 2021
Contributed by Lukas
Matt and Ben discuss their favorite *nix command line tools, and make various movie references while...
Source Control and Conway's Law
12 May 2021
Contributed by Lukas
Matt and Ben compare monorepo vs multi-repo layouts, explain Conways Law, talk about what a 'team' i...
Pictures and Candy with Arduino
26 Apr 2021
Contributed by Lukas
Join our hosts as they talk about hobby hardware projects, past and present. Matt explains how he's ...
Slow Builds and Fast Feedback
06 Apr 2021
Contributed by Lukas
Ben and Matt talk about builds and build systems, mostly in C++. Matt talks about lots of different ...
Semi-Solid Principles
24 Mar 2021
Contributed by Lukas
Matt and Ben join an argument on the Internet, which is always a productive and rewarding use of one...
Reverse Engineering the 6502
02 Mar 2021
Contributed by Lukas
Ben and Matt stop talking about testing, and everyone is relieved. Matt describes the process for re...
Special Guest: Clare Macrae
04 Feb 2021
Contributed by Lukas
Ben and Matt trick another live human being into joining them on the podcast. Clare Macrae joins to ...
Manual Testing and Observability
26 Jan 2021
Contributed by Lukas
Matt and Ben discuss whether the city of Portland exists, and decide they don't care. Ben argues tha...
Special Guest: James Grenning
13 Jan 2021
Contributed by Lukas
Our first guest! We speak with James Grenning about his work (re)building embedded systems using Tes...
Testing in C++
07 Jan 2021
Contributed by Lukas
Matt and Ben talk about the eXtreme Programming engineering practices, such as Test Driven Developme...
Episode 0 - The Origin Story
24 Dec 2020
Contributed by Lukas
Matt and Ben talk about how their careers were on the same path in the late 90's, but then diverged ...