Two's Complement

Ben and Matt dive into their switch to ARM-based Apple Silicon laptops, discussing the ups and downs of this transition. Ben's venture into rewriting Bash in Java reveals faster test runs, while Matt's JSON gig highlights the quirks of teaching VSCode. The conversation also touches on the evolution of business laptops and emphasizes the crucial balance between streamlined software testing and strong team cohesion. With insights into Apple's innovative chip architecture, they highlight the impressive efficiency gains and significant differences in user experience.

Learn how to build automation interfaces with Make, test shell scripts effectively, and navigate the challenges of software development environments. Discover innovative testing approaches for bash scripts and humorous anecdotes of transitioning to a new operating system.

The podcast discusses the concept of technical debt and its original definition. It dives into different categories of technical debt such as risk, capability, and complexity. The hosts compare two solutions to the same problem and highlight the importance of simplicity in complex systems. They also discuss managing flexibility, eliminating unnecessary code, and redefining technical debt and code-related issues.

The hosts dive into the world of code duplication, weighing its time-saving benefits against the potential for bugs. They reminisce about the evolution of word processors and the joys of WYSIWYG technology, sharing humorous stories along the way. Ethical considerations of copy-pasting in coding are explored, alongside the confusion of managing transitive dependencies. With creative insights into code lineage and the role of compilers, they advocate for best practices in coding while keeping the conversation light and entertaining.

Ben and Matt explore the differences between iterative and incremental development in software. They discuss the importance of understanding these concepts and the benefits of learning through the iterative process. They also suggest alternative terms for these processes and humorously highlight the challenge of naming things in computer science.

Dive deep into the fascinating world of compression algorithms, where squishing bits isn't just a concept—it's essential technology! Discover the balance between CPU usage and storage efficiency, and unravel the complexity behind compression ratios. Explore lossless techniques and learn about run-length encoding. Delve into the artistry of Huffman encoding and the Burroughs-Wheeler transform. Finally, unpack popular compression libraries like Zopfli, highlighting their strengths and the latest trends in image formats.

Ben and Matt explore the purpose and characteristics of good comments in code, discuss the management of to-do comments in codebases, and emphasize the role of comments in thread safety and code understanding. They also outline the risks of leaving commented out code and suggest alternatives like source control and refactoring.

Ben ventures into the forest and finds a tree traversal problem. He gets fascinated by a hash map and Matt suggests zombies. They come up with a solution and discuss how to test it.

Matt and Ben talk about what they would do if they founded a game studio. And ASICs. And testing because why not. Join our hosts as they speculate on whether anyone has made a successful open source video game instead of just taking 5 minutes to Google it.

The hosts tackle ongoing SSL certificate struggles with a mix of humor and technical insight. They discuss the branch-based environment approach and the cost benefits of serverless services. The intricacies of DNS management and the challenges of AWS IAM permissions are thoroughly explored. Personal anecdotes highlight troubleshooting in production environments, while innovative CI configuration strategies also take center stage. A live troubleshooting session brings real-time problem-solving to life, showcasing the importance of meticulous planning in cloud infrastructure.