
Programming Throwdown
Programming Throwdown educates Computer Scientists and Software Engineers on a cavalcade of programming and tech topics. Every show will cover a new programming language, so listeners will be able to speak intelligently about any programming language.
Latest episodes

Dec 24, 2023 • 1h 39min
170: 2023 Holiday Special Live
Predictions:Jason VR for WorkLowering AI training cost/ improved efficiencyRISC-V takeoffPatrickAi claim of AGIAi peer reviewerAi Video GeneratorMore space vehicles reaching orbitEarly career, finding role at FAANG, liaising vs shipping code. Startup?3 part. 1. How and when current hype for AI will end? 2. Shape of the show 3. Upcoming in techWhat are essential programmer knowledge items?CS Student, how to organize life and goals? What purpose life should serve?What kind of programmer were you in college?Happy Holidays!
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Nov 27, 2023 • 1h 30min
169: HyperLogLog
Intro topic: Testing your car batteryNews/Links:Tech Layoffs still going onhttps://www.sfchronicle.com/tech/article/google-layoffs-california-companies-18465600.php Real-time dreamy Cloudscapes with Volumetric Raymarchinghttps://blog.maximeheckel.com/posts/real-time-cloudscapes-with-volumetric-raymarching/Robot Rascalshttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Robot_Rascals Meta Quest 3 https://www.theverge.com/23906313/meta-quest-3-review-vr-mixed-reality-headsetBook of the ShowPatrick:HyperLogLog Paperhttps://static.googleusercontent.com/media/research.google.com/en//pubs/archive/40671.pdf Jason: Eureka! NVIDIA Research Breakthrough Puts New Spin on Robot Learning https://blogs.nvidia.com/blog/2023/10/20/eureka-robotics-research/ Patreon Plug https://www.patreon.com/programmingthrowdown?ty=hTool of the ShowPatrick: Techtonica: https://store.steampowered.com/app/1457320/Techtonica/ Jason:ESP32 development board: https://amzn.to/3Qpmb20 WEMOSTopic: HyperLogLogMotivationCardinality CountingLinearCountingHash + expectation of collision based on how fullBloom FilterLogLogUse first N bits as bucketUse max sequential 0s in each bucketAverageHyperLogLogHandle empty bucketsUse correction factor like linear counting for low counts (number of empty buckets) and high countsDistributingTransfer bucket counts
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Nov 20, 2023 • 1h 29min
168: Godot
Intro topic: What are expectations on developers that have nothing to do with programmingNews/Links:Pushing for a lower dev estimate is like negotiating weather with a Meteorologisthttps://smartguess.is/blog/your-estimate-is-less-than-that/Announcing python in excelhttps://techcommunity.microsoft.com/t5/excel-blog/announcing-python-in-excel-combining-the-power-of-python-and-the/ba-p/38934397 Habits of Highly Effective Software Engineershttps://makingsmallercircles.com/articles/7-habits-of-highly-effective-software-engineers/Raspberry pi 5 begins shippinghttps://www.phoronix.com/news/Raspberry-Pi-5-ShippingBook of the ShowPatrick:Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone Illustrated Editionhttps://amzn.to/3St3L35Jason: The Pete and Sebastian Showhttps://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/the-pete-and-sebastian-show/id570256898Patreon Plug https://www.patreon.com/programmingthrowdown?ty=hTool of the ShowPatrick: Obsidianobsidian.mdJason:Ink by Inklehttps://github.com/inkle/inkTopic: GodotWhat is a game engine?Graphics, animation, particle effectsTilemapsEntity component systemsPhysicsSoundI/OInput handling (touchscreen, joystick)GDScriptWhy use a game engine?PortabilityAllow for testing individual components of the gameLibraries for ads, in-app-purchasesGodotOpen sourceFocused on 2-D but now many 3-D featuresGreat development environmentAI HeroStarted in phaser (development rut)Moved to Godot, rapid prototyping
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Oct 23, 2023 • 1h 26min
167: Desktop User Interfaces
Topics covered include running metrics, reverse red herring incidents, 'boopification' of platforms, controversy surrounding Unity and Godot, evolution of desktop user interfaces, development of Electron framework, and expressing gratitude to supporters.

Oct 16, 2023 • 1h 12min
166: Speedy Database Queries with Lukas Fittl
- pganalyze: https://pganalyze.com/- Weekly series "5mins of Postgres": https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCDV_1Dz2Ixgl1nT_3DUZVFw- How Postgres chooses which index to use: https://pganalyze.com/blog/how-postgres-chooses-index- CMU databases courses: https://db.cs.cmu.edu/courses/- Postgres community: https://www.postgresql.org/community/As well as social links:- Mastodon: https://hachyderm.io/@lukas- Twitter/X: @pganalyze, @LukasFittl- GitHub: @pganalyze, @lfittl- LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/lfittl/ , https://www.linkedin.com/company/pganalyze/
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Sep 25, 2023 • 1h 17min
165: Differential Equations
The podcast discusses the importance of differential equations, the use of spreadsheets for problem-solving, the debate surrounding lk ninety nine as a potential superconductor, the concept of achievements in games, using FF Improviser and the pandas library for data evaluation, and the applications of solving differential equations in various scenarios.

Sep 11, 2023 • 1h 31min
164: Choosing a Database For Your Project With Kris Zyp
Kris Zyp, database expert and co-founder of HarperDB, discusses choosing a database for your project. They talk about factors to consider, like speed, consistency, scalability, and security. They delve into the differences between relational and non-relational databases and the importance of low latency in user interfaces. They also explore the unique features of HarperDB and discuss real-life scenarios where speed and latency play a crucial role.

Aug 14, 2023 • 1h 29min
163: Recursion
Episode 163 - RecursionIntro topic: Electric CarsNews/Links:Snake Game in 101 Bytes in a QR Codehttps://www.reddit.com/r/programming/comments/15ab4ct/my_qr_code_snake_game_is_now_only_101_bytes/Superconductor Rumors aboundhttps://arstechnica.com/science/2023/08/whats-going-on-with-the-reports-of-a-room-temperature-superconductor/OpenWormhttps://github.com/openworm/OpenWormCreator of vim passes awayhttps://news.itsfoss.com/vim-creator-passed-away/Book of the ShowPatrick:Little Book of Common Sense Investing by Jack Bogle https://amzn.to/43YqANRJason: Mistborn Saga: https://amzn.to/3DJkUN8Patreon Plug https://www.patreon.com/programmingthrowdown?ty=hTool of the ShowJason:reMarkable https://remarkable.com/Patrick: Stellarium (iOS and Android)Topic: RecursionWhat is itDivide-And-ConquerFibonacci numbersHow to (not) teach recursionPractical ApplicationsGraph operationsTree retrieval, balancingGraph SearchSpatial partitioningPitfallsStack sizeHow to solve problems with recursion(1) Consider the base cases(2) Build the recursive step(3) Look for ways the recursion will not terminate and fix(4) (rest are optional) Remove global contexts(5) Add memoization(6) Build solutions incrementally
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10 snips
Jul 24, 2023 • 1h 8min
162: Interactive Fiction
In the latest episode of Programming Throwdown, we delve into the captivating world of interactive fiction. We explore: Wordnet, Inform, and how games in the past have been the forerunners of today’s NLP challenges. 00:00:22 Introductions00:00:39 To hard mode or not to hard mode00:08:58 No moats in Google00:16:37 Stable Diffusion blows Jason’s mind00:21:31 Putting beats together00:23:38 GPT4All00:27:44 White Sand00:35:28 Fortuna00:38:55 Patrick’s ‘dirty’ secret00:47:20 Wordnet00:53:56 Procedural generation00:57:29 On tabletop RPGs01:00:48 Inform01:07:27 FarewellsResources mentioned in this episode:Join the Programming Throwdown Patreon community today: https://www.patreon.com/programmingthrowdown?ty=h Subscribe to the podcast on Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/@programmingthrowdown4793 News/Links:Google: We have no moat and neither does OpenAIhttps://www.semianalysis.com/p/google-we-have-no-moat-and-neitherStable Diffusion QR Codeshttps://stable-diffusion-art.com/qr-code/ Beginning to Make Musichttps://learningmusic.ableton.com/GPT4Allhttps://gpt4all.io/index.htmlWordnet:https://wordnet.princeton.edu/Inform:https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/InformBook of the ShowPatrick:White Sand https://amzn.to/43CPMKAJason: The Fortuna https://www.generativefiction.com/Tool of the ShowJason:Gatsby.js https://www.gatsbyjs.com/Patrick: Peglin https://store.steampowered.com/app/1296610/Peglin/ If you’ve enjoyed this episode, you can listen to more on Programming Throwdown’s website: https://www.programmingthrowdown.com/ Reach out to us via email: programmingthrowdown@gmail.com You can also follow Programming Throwdown on Facebook | Apple Podcasts | Spotify | Player.FM | Youtube Join the discussion on our DiscordHelp support Programming Throwdown through our Patreon
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Jul 10, 2023 • 1h 33min
161: Leveraging Generative AI Models with Hagay Lupesko
MosaicML’s VP Of Engineering, Hagay Lupesko, joins us today to discuss generative AI! We talk about how to use existing models as well as ways to finetune these models to a particular task or domain. 00:01:28 Introductions00:02:09 Hagay’s circuitous career journey00:08:25 Building software for large factories00:17:30 The reality of new technologies00:28:10 AWS00:29:33 Pytorch’s leapfrog advantage00:37:24 MosaicML’s mission00:39:29 Generative AI00:44:39 Giant data models00:57:00 Data access tips01:10:31 MPT-7B01:27:01 Careers in Mosaic01:31:46 FarewellsResources mentioned in this episode:Join the Programming Throwdown Patreon community today: https://www.patreon.com/programmingthrowdown?ty=h Subscribe to the podcast on Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/@programmingthrowdown4793 Links:Hagay Lupesko:Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/hagaylupesko/Twitter: https://twitter.com/hagay_lupeskoGithub: https://github.com/lupeskoMosaicML:Website: https://www.mosaicml.com/Careers: https://www.mosaicml.com/careersTwitter: https://twitter.com/MosaicMLLinkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/company/mosaicml/Others:Amp It Up (Amazon): https://www.amazon.com/Amp-Unlocking-Hypergrowth-Expectations-Intensity/dp/1119836115Hugging Face Hub: https://huggingface.co/ If you’ve enjoyed this episode, you can listen to more on Programming Throwdown’s website: https://www.programmingthrowdown.com/ Reach out to us via email: programmingthrowdown@gmail.com You can also follow Programming Throwdown on Facebook | Apple Podcasts | Spotify | Player.FM | Youtube Join the discussion on our DiscordHelp support Programming Throwdown through our Patreon
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