
Fallthrough
A deep and nuanced conversational podcast focused on technology, software, and computing.
Latest episodes

Jun 16, 2025 • 1h 10min
Go's Error Handling Is Handled
Delve into the heated debate surrounding error handling in Go, as the team reveals their decision to halt new proposals. Explore different perspectives on whether error handling is truly a problem. Discuss the implications of maintaining clear syntax amidst calls for innovation. The conversation touches on Go’s role in cloud computing challenges, especially with tools like Terraform and Kubernetes, and the potential benefits of incorporating WebAssembly for greater flexibility. A must-listen for developers navigating the complexities of error management!

7 snips
Jun 9, 2025 • 1h 18min
A Discourse On AI Discourse
Steve Klabnik, a writer and open-source contributor, joins the hosts to dissect the polarized views on AI. They explore the challenges of meaningful AI discourse, emphasizing the need for clarity in conversations about technology's impact. Klabnik critiques the narrative of technological optimism, describing its implications for creativity and the workforce. The discussion also touches on the evolution of hardware-software integration and the intersection of technology and music, advocating for diverse and balanced approaches to creativity in an AI-driven world.

Jun 2, 2025 • 1h 18min
Building An Open Source Maintenance Company
Filippo Valsorda, the founder of Geomys and former Go security team lead, teams up with Daniel McCarney, a system security engineer, to delve into the world of open source maintenance. They discuss Geomys' mission to provide stable incomes for maintainers, the challenges in managing projects, and the need for sustainable practices. Personal anecdotes blend with insights on preventing burnout, navigating priorities, and the future of Go and Rust ecosystems. The duo emphasizes community engagement and the importance of maintaining motivation in the ever-evolving tech landscape.

19 snips
May 26, 2025 • 59min
Event Driven Architectures
Chris Richardson, a software architect and author of Microservice Patterns, joins Indu Alagarsamy, a principal engineer at the New York Times passionate about event-driven architectures, and Ignacio Castillejos, a staff software engineer in the subscription platform group. They dive into the world of event-driven architecture, discussing its benefits over traditional methods. Key topics include the importance of idempotency, the use of technologies like Kafka and GCP's Event Arc, and best practices for managing distributed systems. Real-world examples highlight the potential for scalability and reliability.

11 snips
May 19, 2025 • 1h 14min
Blown Glass Half-Full of WebAssembly & SQLite
Danielle Lancashire, a Principal Engineer at Fermyon, shares her diverse expertise, from simplifying distributed systems to blowing glass. She discusses the evolution of WebAssembly and its innovative applications, emphasizing experimentation's role in tech. The conversation also covers effective problem-solving strategies and the importance of addressing customer needs. Danielle provides insights on work-life balance, highlighting the therapeutic benefits of engaging in creative hobbies and navigating the challenges of modern bureaucracy.

May 12, 2025 • 1h 37min
A Phoenix's Path to Principal
Evan Phoenix, a longtime Rubyist and former principal engineer at HashiCorp, shares his inspiring tech journey. He recounts his unique beginnings, from coding on a TI calculator to becoming GitHub user #7. Evan discusses the creative parallels between software engineering and writing, along with the importance of mentorship in navigating his career. He reflects on his transition to a principal role, the challenges of work-life balance while remote, and the complexities of open-source funding, making it a must-listen for anyone in tech!

May 5, 2025 • 1h 11min
The Language of Data Visualization
Little languages are powerful. From text processing with AWK to calculations with APL, domain specific languages help us do things more concisely and with more precision than with other languages. Anthony Starks knows this well, as he's designed several little languages, including decksh, the focus of this episode, which allows users to create powerful presentations without the hassle of pushing around pixels in Powerpoint. He joins Angelica and Matt to discuss the background of why he created these languages, how they work, and so much more. And we have some fantastic unpopular opinions to round out the episode.This episode's supporter content is truly fantastic. It includes an extended conversation where the group discusses data visualization in depth, including how Anthony was able to recreate graphics from W. E. B. Du Bois that are challenging or impossible to recreate with regular data visualization tools. Get access by signing up at https://fallthrough.fm/subscribe.Thanks for tuning in and happy listening!Notes:entrhttps://speakerdeck.com/ajstarks/interactive-image-manipulation-with-popihttps://speakerdeck.com/ajstarks/giftsh-a-dsl-and-shell-for-image-editingdecksh object referencedeckshgiftshgiftsh code2025 Du Bois ChallengeDu Bois challenge overviews and recaps:https://speakerdeck.com/ajstarks/du-bois-challenge-2024-recaphttps://speakerdeck.com/ajstarks/challenge2023https://speakerdeck.com/ajstarks/curating-the-number-duboischallenge2022little languagesDu Bois Data PortraitsBlack Lives 1900Fyne Canvas:https://speakerdeck.com/ajstarks/fc-a-high-level-canvas-api-for-the-fyne-toolkithttps://github.com/ajstarks/fcGiocanvas:https://speakerdeck.com/ajstarks/giocanvas-a-high-level-canvas-api-for-giohttps://github.com/ajstarks/giocanvasebiten canvas:https://github.com/ajstarks/ebcanvas"Like"Table of Contents:Prologue (01:29)Chapter 1: Why Make DSLs? (04:49)Chapter 2: decksh (09:57)Chapter 3: Visualizing Data [Supporter Only] (23:34)Chapter 4: Documentation (24:22)Chapter 5: Metaprogramming (37:33)Chpater 6: Good Tools (45:13)Appendix UNPOP: Unpopular Opinions (54:23)Epilogue (01:08:21)Hosts
Anthony Starks - Guest
Angelica Hill - Producer
Matthew Sanabria - Host
Kris Brandow - Producer
Socials:WebsiteBlueskyThreadsX/TwitterLinkedInInstagram
(01:29) - Prologue
(04:49) - Chapter 1: Why Make DSLs?
(09:57) - Chapter 2: decksh
(23:34) - Chapter 3: Visualizing Data [Supporter Only]
(24:22) - Chapter 4: Documentation
(37:33) - Chapter 5: Metaprogramming
(45:13) - Chpater 6: Good Tools
(54:23) - Appendix UNPOP: Unpopular Opinions
(01:08:21) - Epilogue

Apr 28, 2025 • 59min
Maintainers, Monetization, and Making The Time
Maintaining software is challenging, but monetizing it while properly valuing your time complicate matters even more. Doing all of this for open source projects is a challenge that few have figured out. In this week's episode Matt and Angelica are joined by Carlos Becker to discuss maintaining and monetizing open source projects, what it's like to work out an open source company, and how to value your own time. Plus, we've got some unpopular opinions at the end of the episode.Supporters get access to an extended conversation including a chapter on valuing time, the tools Carlos uses, and the groups thoughts on AI tooling! Get access by signing up at https://fallthrough.fm/subscribe.Thanks for tuning in and happy listening!Notes:Carlos's WebsiteTable of Contents:Prologue (01:11)Chapter 1: How Carlos Got Started (03:12)Chapter 2: Open Source Product Management (12:29)Chapter 3: Go Releaser's Architecture (15:47)Chapter 4: Monetization (23:23)Chapter 5: The Value Of Time [Extended Episode Content] (27:05)Chapter 6: Life at Charm (27:37)Chapter 7: Monetizing Open Source Projects (32:38)Chapter 8: Valuing Your Own Time (39:45)Chapter 9: The Tools Carlos Loves [Extended Episode Content] (46:57)Appendix UNPOP: Unpopular Opinions (46:57)Epilogue (56:06)Hosts
Kris Brandow - Producer
Carlos Becker - Guest
Matthew Sanabria - Host
Angelica Hill - Producer
Socials:WebsiteBlueskyThreadsX/TwitterLinkedInInstagram
(01:11) - Prologue
(03:12) - Chapter 1: How Carlos Got Started
(12:29) - Chapter 2: Open Source Product Management
(15:47) - Chapter 3: Go Releaser's Architecture
(23:23) - Chapter 4: Monetization
(27:05) - Chapter 5: The Value Of Time [Extended Episode Content]
(27:37) - Chapter 6: Life at Charm
(32:38) - Chapter 7: Monetizing Open Source Projects
(39:45) - Chapter 8: Valuing Your Own Time
(46:57) - Chapter 9: The Tools Carlos Loves [Extended Episode Content]
(46:57) - Appendix UNPOP: Unpopular Opinions
(56:06) - Epilogue

Apr 21, 2025 • 1h 15min
From TinyGo to Takeoff
Most of us write code for servers and systems with terabytes of storage and gigabytes of RAM. This week, we're talking about Go in the small. Patricio Whittingslow joins Dylan and Angelica to discuss how he got started with Tiny Go; how he's used Go in software ranging from trajectory simulations to rocket fueling systems to rocket engine fuel injectors to 3D modeling; and so much more. To top it all off, he's got some unpopular opinions as well!Supporters get access to an extended conversation including a bonus unpopular opinion from Patricio, conversations about getting a mechanical engineering degree, and more! You can get access by signing up at https://fallthrough.fm/subscribe.Thanks for tuning in and happy listening!Notes:3Blue1BrownTeach Yourself Go In 24 HoursGopherCon 2023: Cognitive Load and Go - Patricio WhittingslowAutomate Your Home Using Gosoypat/lnetoLTerra#44253 proposal: spec: generic parameterization of array sizesTable of Contents:Preface (01:23)Chapter 0: Mechanical Engineering (Supporter Only)Chapter 1: Pato's Early Years (02:16)Chapter 2: Simulating Rocket Trajectories in Go (09:52)Chapter 3: Fueling Rockets with Go (14:21)Chapter 4: What Makes Go Great? (15:24)Chapter 5: Trying to catch (19:01)Chapter 6: An Early Unpop! (Supporter Only)Chapter 7: TinyGo! (26:40)Chapter 8: 3D Design (42:01)Chapter 9: Back to aerospace (53:52)Chapter 10: Solving Interesting Problems with Go (56:12)Appendix UNPOP: Unpopular Opinions (01:06:05)Epilogue (01:10:29)Hosts
Patricio Whittingslow - Guest
Dylan Bourque - Host
Angelica Hill - Producer
Kris Brandow - Producer
Socials:WebsiteBlueskyThreadsX/TwitterLinkedInInstagram
(01:23) - Preface
(02:16) - Chapter 1: Pato's Early Years
(09:52) - Chapter 2: Simulating Rocket Trajectories in Go
(14:21) - Chapter 3: Fueling Rockets with Go
(15:24) - Chapter 4: What Makes Go Great?
(19:01) - Chapter 5: Trying to catch
(25:58) - Chapter 6: An Early Unpop! (Supporter Only)
(26:40) - Chapter 7: TinyGo!
(42:01) - Chapter 8: 3D Design
(53:52) - Chapter 9: Back to aerospace
(56:12) - Chapter 10: Solving Interesting Problems with Go
(01:06:05) - Appendix UNPOP: Unpopular Opinions
(01:10:29) - Epilogue

Apr 14, 2025 • 1h 26min
The Podcast Pipeline
The hosts delve into their first quarter of podcasting, sharing insights on feedback and storytelling evolution. They discuss the challenges of adapting content to engage listeners while navigating community dynamics. The conversation shifts to the significance of vulnerability and constructive criticism in shaping their narratives. Unpopular tech opinions on AI and Apple make waves, and they reflect on podcast growth through audience interactions. With humor and introspection, they reveal the complexities of crafting compelling episodes and integrating video.