Lukas Fittl, performance expert of Postgres, discusses database indexing, queries, maintenance, scaling, and stored procedures. They cover the importance of indexing, improving query performance with indexes, vacuuming and database maintenance, and upcoming releases and performance features in Postgres.

Dr. Daniel Zingaro and Dr. Leo Porter discuss using large language models (LLMs) in the classroom, including reducing syntax errors and the need to memorize APIs. They address ethical concerns of relying on commercial tools and cheating, and emphasize the importance of skills like reading code and test cases.

Zach Lloyd, CEO of Warp.dev, discusses implementing and using command-line terminals. They cover how terminals work, using the Warp terminal with GPU and AI, the trade-offs of using Rust, setting up and customizing a terminal, integrating Warp with command line apps, using Warp AI for stack traces, and exploring the trade-offs of a local-first model.

Josh Doody, author of Mastering Business Email, shares strategies to improve business communication for software engineers. Topics include various communication modes, effective communication platforms, writing business emails, creating PowerPoint presentations, navigating cross-cultural communication challenges, and using positive language.

Arun Gupta, VP and GM of Open Ecosystem Initiatives at Intel, discusses open-source strategy and community, fostering open-source culture in big tech companies, the benefits of open-source contributions, the difference between intellectual knowledge and property, the importance of asking questions in software development, and Intel's involvement in open source and AI.

Ori Mankali, senior VP of engineering at Akeyless, talks about secrets management and distributed fragment cryptography. They discuss the challenges of managing secrets at scale and the need for access policies and audit capabilities. They explain the concept of distributed fragment cryptography and its role in boosting security. The podcast also covers the downsides of relying on clients, cryptography standards, integrating Ikylas with major cloud providers, and the challenges of secrets management in Kubernetes and CICD platforms.

Casey Muratori, software developer, discusses the trade-offs between performance and maintainable code. They explore the impact of code architecture on runtime behavior and performance. They discuss the challenges of reading code in libraries and the impact of abstraction on code readability. They delve into the potential performance issues in microservices architecture and the importance of considering technology choices. They emphasize the significance of performance in software development and the need for a cultural shift towards prioritizing performance knowledge.

Jens Neuse, founder of Wundergraph, joins SE Radio host Jeff Doolittle for a conversation about back ends for front ends, or BFF. Jens begins by explaining how a heavy integration burden is often placed on front-end development teams. When multiple APIs must be integrated, it can be challenging for client development in web, mobile, and desktop environments. Explaining how APIs should be treated as dependencies, just like packages, the episode explores BFF patterns and use cases, as well as the future potential emergence of a “git for APIs” standard. This episode is sponsored by ClickSend. 

Nir Valtman, co-Founder and CEO at Arnica, discusses pipelineless security with SE Radio host Priyanka Raghavan. They start by defining pipelines and then consider how to add security. Nir lays out the key challenges in getting good code coverage with the pipeline-based approach, and then describes how to implement a pipelineless approach and the advantages it offers. Priyanka quizzes him on the concept of "zero new hardcoded secrets," as well as some ways to protect GitHub repositories, and Nir shares examples of how a pipelineless approach could help in these scenarios. They then discuss false positives and handling developer fatigue in dealing with alerts. The show ends with some discussion around the product that Arnica offers and how it implements the pipelineless methodology.

Chad Michel, Senior Software Architect at Don’t Panic Labs and co-author of Lean Software Systems Engineering for Developers, joins host Jeff Doolittle for a conversation about treating software development as an engineering discipline. They begin by discussing the need for engineering rigor in the software industry. Chad points out that many developers lack awareness of good engineering practice and are often unaware of resources such as the Software Engineering Body of Knowledge (SWEBOK). Among the many topics explored in this episode are design methodologies such as volatility-based decomposition and the work of David Parnas, as well as important topics such as quality, how to address complexity, designing for change, and the role of the chief engineer. This episode is sponsored by ClickSend. SE Radio listeners can get a $50 credit by following the link.