How do you measure the quality of a large language model? Carl and Richard talk to Dr. Jodie Burchell about her work measuring large language models for accuracy, reliability, and consistency. Jodie talks about the variety of benchmarks that exist for LLMs and the problems they have. A broader conversation about quality digs into the idea that LLMs should be targeted to the particular topic area they are being used for - often, smaller is better! Building a good test suite for your LLM is challenging but can increase your confidence that the tool will work as expected.

What are JavaScript promises, and why do you want to make them? Carl and Richard talk to Martine Dowden about all the various async options available in Javascript today, including Callbacks, Promises, Async/Await, and even ReactiveJS! Martine digs into some of the more remarkable features available, including grouping sync calls together so code is only called when they all complete, or the race option where only one needs to complete, and everything else is thrown away. Lots of power is available in Javascript today. Have you taken advantage of it?

Rob Richardson, a Microsoft MVP and software craftsman, shares his insights on building cloud applications with .NET Aspire. He highlights the powerful features of Aspire, including OpenTelemetry and containerization, and discusses the challenges of adapting .NET for cloud environments. Rob delves into resilient strategies and the latest updates in Aspire 9.1, emphasizing security and performance. He also compares infrastructure as code tools like Pulumi and Terraform, showcasing their unique advantages in modern software development.

Seventeen years of Automapper! Carl and Richard talk to Jimmy Bogard about his latest version of Automapper - and the challenge of maintaining a long-lived and much-loved open-source library! Jimmy talks about the origins of Automapper as a tool he needed for working with clients and automating the mapping of objects. Initially, he moved to GitHub on Codeplex in 2009, and as open source became more popular in the .NET community, Automapper has hundreds of millions of downloads. And now, the next challenge - how to sustain this open-source project!

Aurora Scharff, a software developer and Microsoft MVP from Norway, dives deep into React version 19's release. She discusses the transformative shift towards server components and why it's perfect for greenfield projects. Existing apps can leverage React Router V7 to bridge versions 18 and 19. Aurora also compares React's simple building blocks to Angular's rapid changes, highlighting new tooling like Vite that enhances the developer experience. Discover how these innovations are setting the stage for the future of web development!

Jeremy Miller, a seasoned software architect and open-source innovator, shares insights on vertical architecture. He emphasizes the importance of quickly delivering functional applications by taking an end-to-end approach. The discussion touches on the balance between thoughtful design and rapid execution, addressing concerns like team collaboration and duplicated efforts. Jeremy also explores the evolution of backend technologies and the challenges of transitioning to NoSQL databases, highlighting how resilience and effective communication are key to project success.

Ready to speed up your cross-platform development? Carl and Richard chat with Francois Tanguay and Sasha Krsmanovic about Uno Hot Design. First shown at .NET Conf in 2024, Hot Design brings the Hot Reload experience to UX onto your various client devices. Francois talks about the evolution of the Uno Platform into a place where you can use a variety of client libraries to build your app and deploy your client of choice. But when it comes to iterating the implementation, Hot Design speeds your dev cycle so you can get more done in less time!

How do customers take control of their data from merchants? Carl and Richard chat with Richard Reukema about his book The Empowered Customer. Richard discusses building a data cooperative between customers and merchants using ethical data handling techniques and technology to create mutual benefit. The conversation dives into how to get merchants to migrate from their loyalty programs into this more constructive and broader model.

Steve Sanderson, a developer on Microsoft's .NET team, dives into how AI can revolutionize app development. He highlights the Microsoft.Extensions.AI toolset that simplifies incorporating AI into applications. Topics include utilizing AI for smarter UI interactions, offering cut-and-paste suggestions, and enhancing user experiences through dynamic changes. The discussion also touches on AI's potential for improving functionality across various applications, alongside ethical considerations and the evolution of large language models.

Ready for a migration story? Carl and Richard talk to Nathan Westfall about his experiences moving an application for school buses from Xamarin Forms to Blazor. Nathan describes the interplay between a tablet on the bus for the driver, cloud services in AWS, and parent smartphones. The discussion dives into the advantages of Blazor on the client from a server resources perspective when dealing with hundreds of thousands of parents, plus being compliant with all of the rules and expectations of a public service sector product. Great insights on how to make apps people use every day!