Chats with James Podcast

The “On the Road” episode has two parts, covering different Rust conferences in May 2024. The first section is from RustNL in Delft, the Netherlands, where James interviews Laura and Jonathan, some of the organizers of the event, on their history with Rust and the struggles and successes of putting on these conferences. The second section of this episode comes from the Oxidize Conference 2024, held in Berlin Germany - here James interviews Jonathan Pallant about the nostalgia of classic computers, the theory of embedded systems and the up and down aspects of building computers for fun.

James talks with Scott Mabin about how he joined the Espressif team and got involved in embedded Rust, the working culture in chip manufacturing companies and preferences about designing and building mechanical keyboards.

Manish Goregaokar, a Rust programmer and member of the ICU4X team, shares his journey in internationalization and Unicode. He discusses zero-copy deserialization in Rust and memory management strategies, diving into challenges in optimizing software for embedded devices. The conversation veers into the exciting realm of speedrunning, revealing exploits and glitches that maximize gameplay. Manish also reflects on the VaccinateCA project's collaborative spirit during the pandemic, emphasizing the importance of adaptability in success.

This episode is coming from the archives, originally recorded in May 2022 - James talks with Steve Klabnik from Oxide Computer about knowledge transfer within the Rust community, how learning-by-doing and reading datasheets help you develop, and how limits and regulations are put in place across many different fields.

In this episode, James chats with Ryan Summers about the process of developing protocols, the guidelines of working in safety critical systems and embedded engineering.

In this episode, James chats with Sophia about the intricacies of writing programming languages, what makes designing programs fun, strategies for defining goals, and more.

James chats with Eliza about systems, systems of systems, operating systems, java, java cards, what posix did wrong, and a ton of other rust adjacent things.

Dion Dokter, a software engineer known for his work on the device driver crate for embedded Rust, shares insights on the evolution of driver development. He recounts his transition from C/C++ to Rust, highlighting challenges and personal growth. The talk dives into creating procedural macros for hardware drivers, reliable bootloader crafting for microcontrollers, and navigating the embedded Rust landscape. Dion also emphasizes the importance of community resources and collaboration, revealing how safety in Rust enhances coding practices.

In this engaging discussion, Sylvan Morris, a South African embedded systems engineer at Plentify, shares his journey in tech, focusing on introducing Rust into a startup environment. He highlights the hurdles of integrating new programming languages and the importance of team collaboration. Sylvan delves into the advantages of over-the-air updates through bootloaders, enhancing software deployment efficiency. He also explores the evolution of embedded systems, underscoring the need for better debugging education and communication in engineering to tackle project challenges.

Yoshua Wuyts, a tech visionary in control theory and open source hardware, shares in-depth insights into the world of RISC-V architecture. He discusses the application of PID control loops in software engineering, revealing how these concepts can enhance system efficiency. The conversation also explores the evolution of chip technology, comparing ARM with RISC-V, particularly in the context of smaller manufacturers. Plus, Yoshua dives into innovative projects like the Open Book Project, showcasing the fusion of hardware and software for sustainable tech.