Pragmatic Podcasts

CoffeeScript burst onto the scene at the end of 2009, and is beginning to show up everywhere. Ruby on Rails now ships with it as the default way to write JavaScript, and even Brendan Eich (the creator of JavaScript) has mentioned CoffeeScript as an influence on the future of JavaScript. What’s all the fuss about? Is CoffeeScript just hype, or is there really something to it? Trevor Burnham literally wrote the book on CoffeeScript. In this PragCast interview we talk to him about the “human-friendly dialect of JavaScript,” what it is, where it’s going, and how CoffeeScript can actually make you a better JavaScript programmer.

Miles Forrest interviews Avdi Grimm on his new book "Exceptional Ruby". Dealing with unexpected failures in code is tough, and oftentimes error processing is dealt with in a haphazard way. Hear the 5 questions you need to ask before writing code to handle unexpected failures, as well as his story about a cascading failure that went from bad to worse.

In 1995 Ward Cunningham created the first wiki for the Portland Pattern Society. Now, 16 years later, hear what this tech luminary has to say about Wikipedia and even the controversial Wikileaks. For host Miles Forrest, this has been one of his favorite interviews, and he talks to Ward about his hobby of building Aruduino robots, the rise and fall of Smalltalk, and poses the question if Ward could commission IBM's next Grand Challenge after beating human opponents at Jeopardy, what would he build?

HTML5 and CSS3 are the future of web development, and in this episode of the pragmatic podcast, Brian Hogan talks about his new book "HTML5 and CSS3: Develop with Tomorrow's Standards Today". HTML5 is quickly becoming a marketing term, a new buzzword with a fancy logo that may put some people off. Is this a good or bad thing? Are there features in HTML5/CSS3 that make adopting these technologies now worth the effort? Brian even tackles the HTML5 vs Flash debate, and answers the question "Is Flash dead?". Hosted by Miles Forrest.

Miles Forrest talks about multitasking and getting things done with Johanna Rothman and Ian Dees. Everyone manages time, whether you keep it all in your head, write it down on paper, or enter it in some form of electronic organizer. But what do you do when you have a really big project? What do you do when you say "I want to do it all!" but end up going nowhere fast? Author Johanna Rothman shares techniques that work. Johanna began managing projects back in 1984 when there was no Internet, no voice mail, and tools like spreadsheets had just been invented. As she grew in her abilities to manage large, complicated projects with hundreds of developers, she branched out, working as a consultant for the last 16 years. Her most recent book, "Managing You Project Portfolio", helps you organize multiple projects and evaluate them without getting buried under a mountain of statistics.

Jonathan Rasmusson discusses his new book "The Agile Samurai: How Agile Masters Deliver Great Software". As a former evangelist for ThoughtWorks, Jonathan brings a real world, hands-covered-in-muck approach to the subject of Agile development. What is Agile, really? And not from a theoretical point of view, but from the trenches? What works? What doesn't? How do you get started? Although "exciting" might not be a word most people think of when discussing software development, Jonathan's energy and infectious enthusiasm is apparent on this interview with host Miles Forrest.

In this episode, your host Miles Forrest interviews Robert Martin, know by many as "Uncle Bob." Bob has been slinging code for 40 years, and still loves coding. As Bob puts it, "I want to code till I die and I don't want to die soon." Bob reveals his thoughts on the craft of programming and hopes for the next computer language, including the solution to the Moore's Law dilemma that dates back to 1957. He'll describe the right way to write a framework (hint: don't _write_ it) and discuss current problems and opportunities with agile development methods. Discover the *Most Horrible Invention* in the last twenty years (and possibly the most popular!) and what Bob thinks about experience, mentorship and science fiction.

MIchael Swaine describes coming on board with the Pragmatic Programmers, his years of experience with InfoWorld and Dr. Dobbs Journal, the joy of programming, and the Fire in the Valley. He talks about the need for agility, the search for new ideas, and the future of magazines in general.

Hear what iPhone SDK authors Chris Adamson and Bill Dudney have to say on this week's podcast. They'll discuss Apple's design patterns and their feat of getting the 3.0 beta book out on the same day Apple publicly released the SDK. You'll also hear about the advantages of the new programmable GPU, the new availability of Core Data and AV classes for audio apps, in-app purchasing, plus what didn't come in the new 3.0. Chris and Bill will talk about how the iPhone programing model is significantly different from desktop programming, and offer some thoughts on what's coming next.

Andy Lester, author of "Land the Tech Job You Love," tells Susannah Pfalzer all about job hunting in today’s tech world. He explains why job boards do not work for 90% of job seekers, and what makes a great resume--and how most people blow it. Andy tells you how to make yourself hirable and promotable, and how to use your resume as a tracking tool. Even with this economy, and fewer jobs available, the way you look for a job doesn’t change, just the priorities. Join Andy Lester and see how to land the tech job you’ll love.

Susannah Pfalzer interviews Chad Fowler on his new book, "The Passionate Programmer." Chad talks about the reality of the two job markets, and how you have to focus on winning, not just on "not losing." He'll discuss steps to take in avoiding a career-by-coincidence, and how improving your career is really improving your life. Unlike other projects you've worked on, this time *you* are the product. See how to make the most of it.

Author Maik Schmidt tells Susannah Pfalzer all about the problems faced by software developers in the enterprise, and dealing with effectively with a potentially hostile environment, including adopting an agile approach in a non-agile world. Maik explains how to use Ruby and Rails to manage security issues, encryption, using Java and Ruby together, screen scraping and more. See how the ease of the new Ruby and Rails makes it ready for business.

Stuart Halloway, author of "Programming Clojure", tells Susannah Pfalzer all about this new and cool programming language. Stuart explains how Clojure helps you move beyond noun-based programming toward verb-based programming, and why pure functions are important for concurrency. It's a lot of Lisp, but with Less parentheses--even fewer than Java itself. See how to be more expressive on the Java VM, and how Clojure is different from Scala and Groovy.

Marcus Zarra talk about Apple's Core Data API: just as Interface Builder made GUI's much easier, Core Data makes managing an application's data much easier. Marcus explains how, and discusses Core Data's advantages as well as hints and tips to getting the most out of it.

Pragmatic editor Susannah Pfalzer interviews authors Jeff Cohen and Brian Eng, asking "what do .NET developers find so compelling about Rails?" Jeff and Brian go on to explain the key differences between the .NET environment and the open source environment of traditional Ruby and Rails, the importance (and adoption) of MVC, unit tests, and differences in development styles. They'll also explain how to use the right tool for the job and take a quick look at IronRuby, and Ruby's interoperability with .NET.

Meet Keir Thomas, author of "Ubuntu Kung Fu: Tips, Tricks, Hints, and Hacks." Keir tells us why Ubuntu is so popular, explains the wealth of drivers, ease of installation and use, the strength of the Ubuntu community, and where Ubuntu came from. You'll hear how to wring more power out of older hardware, and see that modern Linux is no longer just a hobby, it's here to help you get more done.

In this interview by Pragmatic editor Jackie Carter, author Frederic Daoud explains what Stripes is, and why it's a better Java web framework, featuring easy integration with other technologies including Hibernate, and why it's vital if you're creating applications that have to be multilingual.

Daniel Steinberg interviews Chad Fowler on a wide range of topics including programming, music, math, the C64, Ruby, Rails, electronics, hooking up the real world to the computer, the Principle of Agreement, the dangers of stagnation, invigorating your career and globalization.

Jackie Carter interviews Ian Dees, author of "Scripted GUI Testing with Ruby" Ian talks about using automation in support of GUI testing, and describes how automation allows you to do things you couldn't do before. Frustrated with proprietary, difficult scripting languages, or fragile, coordinate-based systems, Ian describes how GUI testing with Ruby is such a pleasure. Ian's new book gives you the actual techniques to take control of this window or that drop-down list--without hard-coded data. Ian describes his use of rSpec, randomized and matrix testing, writing stories for testing, and more.

Pragmatic editor Susannah Pfalzer interviews Travis Swicegood, author of "Pragmatic Version Control using Git." Travis tells us about distributed version control in general, when to use it -- and when not to. He also describes how Git works, and walks through the daily Git workflow. Travis reminds us that code is never perfect, and describes how to track changes in a distributed environment. He'll show how to selectively push repositories to different people on your team, and how to use gitosis.