Coder Radio

We double down on your follow up. Working remotely, scratching your itch while at your current job, why we missed Heartbleed, and the video that will make you never again complain about how hard something is.

Chris and Mike face the limitations of remote workers, and the challenges they’ve experienced. We take your live calls, and discuss the awesome projects you're working on. Why you should write code every day, the hard numbers about mobile games, and more!

The Heartbleed bug has ignited a new round of open source doubters, but are the renewed concerns about the open source development model unfounded? And what can be done to avoid catastrophes like this in the future? We discuss. Plus an honest discussion about that moment of no return, your feedback, and more! Note: Apologies for the transitional audio setup while we move between studios. Improvements next week!

Microsoft shocks the developer community by open sourcing some of their crown .Net jewels. Mike and Chris discuss the ramifications for Java, and the overall strategy Microsoft could be shifting too. Plus why the return of the Start Menu is a massive middle finger to devs, and other interesting bits from Build 2014. Plus your follow up on Oculus VR, the Blame Game, and more!

Are your projects cursed with knowledge of the present? Mike and Chris discuss the tendency to blame the last guy, and in some cases even scapegoat the absent. And why its only human to see all the mistakes of those who came before you. Plus our thoughts on Facebook buying Oculus VR, your feedback, and more!

Android growth is exploding, and showing no signs of slowing down… So why are big players still avoiding the platform? We’ll challenge some common misconceptions on why developers avoid Android. Plus big Silicon Valley tech companies get busted colluding to keep wages low, the contractor fudge factor, your feedback.. And more!

The Rails community was blasted by a distinguished, and disgruntled member. But does his criticism hold up? And is there a larger problem at play here? Plus our thoughts on Amazon’s rumored new console, and a great batch of your feedback!

We embrace Daylight saving time with a special call-in edition of Coder Radio. Topics include a chat with one of the developers behind the online JavaScript assembly emulator, the encroachment of DRM in everyday life, and why Mozilla’s Persona has been put out to pasture and the difficult problem that creates for developers. Plus your feedback, and much more!

Oren Eini from Hibernating Rhinos joins us to discuss their “second generation” document database written in .NET. We have an insightful conversation about RavenDB, a flexible data model designed to address requirements coming from real-world systems. Plus our surprising answer to the big certification question, your emails, and more.

Florian Motlik from Codeship joins us to discuss automated unit testing, a practical approach to rethinking how to get started with your own testing, and how Codeship’s hosted continuous integration and continuous deployment platform is bringing much needed relief to some of developments most tedious tasks. Plus getting started with simple approach, when to take the money, your emails, and more!

Responding to criticism for an open source project, or a closed commercial project can be a very tricky things. Mike and Chris share their thoughts on how you can properly set expectations and respond to negative feedback. Plus what roles users play in their interaction with developers, your feedback, and more!

Mike and Chris use the recent drama around Paper and Flappy Bird to have a wider discussion about the forces against Indie developers. And our reactions to the CEO change at Microsoft. Plus some great feedback, and more!

Mike and Chris address a number of topics this week, from open source project’s properly communicating with the media, Google selling Motorola to Lenovo, and a debate about Microsoft’s rumored CEO choice. Plus your feedback, and more!

Is the concept of a one sized fits all methodology getting tired? We revisit Agile in the dynamic client/developer relationship. Then how opening up your development plans to the community, even for commercial software, can be full of benefits and drawbacks. Plus a great batch of your feedback, and much more.

Back-end services are really helping developers focus on their core competency, but how quickly will you need to go outside the box? What about vendor lock-in? Plus: A ton of great feedback, resisting the urge to hate change, and much more.

The classic battle flairs up this week, and the guys discuss how an over controlling sysadmin can slow down an important project, and why that problem seems to be so much worse in business. Plus the market is still hot for Java, but down discount Python or C#, making a big career change, and the standard for replacing your own inhouse tools.

We’ll bust some java myths with Mark Heckler, a software engineer at Oracle. Plus the status of Duke, java on embedded systems, and what the future holds. Plus your feedback and some of Mike’s 2014 bets.

With a little reflection on the years big moments, the guys look ahead to 2014. We’ll debate what’s going to be the big stories of 2014 for developers, and the tech industry at large. Plus we’ll answer a few of your questions, and toss in a couple surprises in our last episode of 2013!

The guys take some calls and discuss a wide range of great topics. From workspace setups, developer hardware, C vs C++, and the real problems facing contract programmers. Plus a batch of your feedback, the best editor ever (for Windows), and more!

Early builds of SteamOS have landed, and we wonder what the larger implications are. Plus our thoughts on Microsoft's clear challenges, the problem with Qt Creator, and betting on the future. Plus your feedback, our thoughts on cloud build services, and much more!

After discussing our caffeine regimes, we take a crack at getting Q&A right. We’ll share some personal experiences with Q&A gone wrong, and our tips for fixing it. Plus a look back at one of the giant’s shoulders developers stand on today, and your emails.

It’s a mailbag special with a hidden message. Mike and Chris discuss burnout a bit more, the pitfalls of bad Q&A, automated UI testing, and the open source projects we’re thankful for this year.

Is the Xbox One the next big App platform? We’ll share theories. Plus where to books fit in for self education? Are they too slow, or is there a place for the printed medium in a rapidly developing industry? Plus a batch of your emails, our follow up, and more!

Burnout kills your productivity, creativity, and ability to get things done. The worst part? It can sneak up in different ways. Mike and Chris share how to recognize burnout, a quick fix to get you through, and their personal long term fixes. Plus a great batch of emails, setting your weekend rate, and much more.

A recent snafu has left Mike in a bit of a bind with a client, and technical glitches nearly threatened to toss Chris out on the side of the road. After digging through a batch of really great emails, the guys air some dirty laundry. This week we crack open a cold one, and chug some haterade.

After discussing recent hardware gadget purchases, and why, the guys jump into the case of Java. Mike’s ready to justify his love, for Java. Plus a little dev world hoopla, your feedback, and more!

From backups to deployment, we go back to the backend! The new solutions giving us the opportunity to reconsider the infrastructure around our projects. Plus gearing up for 64bit development, and much more.

With big Google and Apple events on the horizon we look at how Google’s early investment in relative UI layouts will be paying dividends in Android 4.4 KitKat. Plus: Your emails, our php follow up, a few near-term predictions, and even an RMS rap.

When targeting Linux, developers have to face some tough choices. Mike’s spent a year planning his move and discusses the opportunity and the risk of supporting Linux, how much effort should be put into targeting Ubuntu, and keeping the big picture in mind. Plus our follow up and your feedback!

Mike’s making some big changes to his workflow, and sharing the tools in his box. We’ll look at the transition to Ubuntu Linux for Mike and his dev team, and the productivity advantages they see. Plus planning for scale, a fresh look at Vala, your emails, and more!

Mike and Chris chew on the major problems patent trolls are creating for small and large development shops. Then it’s a race to the bottom for software prices, and the guys have a few theories on what, if anything, developers can do to carve out a living.

Mike discusses the culture clash between the ASP.Net framework diehards, and the recent converts. ASP.Net and Azure services have been at the core of project Mike and his team have had underway for a couple months and they’ve gotten a good feeling of it’s strengths and weakness. Plus our live reaction to SteamOS, ending the platform/tool wars that even your benevolent hosts find themselves falling into, your feedback, and much more!

iOS 7 is landing and Mike and Chris discuss what’s in store for developers, and the real reason to put a 64bit CPU in a cell phone. Plus the core of what’s wrong with Microsoft, practicing security from the start, your emails and more!

We’re joined by two gentlemen from dotCloud, the folks behind Docker. We chat about what Docker is best at, how far out the 1.0 release is, the projects use of Go, the future of Docker, and much more. Plus is the commoditization of software development a bad thing? Your emails, and more.

It’s a Monday holiday episode of the Coder Radio show, so we opened up the Skype lines and officially declare this episode a grab bag of topics! From the death of JavaScript to Android vs iOS we touch on a list of favorite topics.

Steve Ballmer’s legacy at Microsoft is controversial. We look over the long list of big and quiet successes and failures under his watch as CEO. Plus what we think the big problem facing Microsoft is going to be long term, and if they can really transform into a “devices and services” company. Plus we’ll discuss the big problem with SourceForge, self taught programing vs structured schooling, your emails, and more!

We chat with Dan at the Mozilla about his work on the Persona project, and how Mozilla offers developers a neutral platform for effective authentication. Plus our thoughts on what’s troubling the Ubuntu Edge project, a batch of your questions, and much more!

Hiring can be a real pain in the butt. The guys share the horror stories from interviews they’ve conducted that went horribly wrong. Plus a few tips for getting a gig. Then the guys chew on the dev hoopla of the week, and read some great emails.

Mike and Chris bare it all on their classic work/life balance struggles. Dealing with the unique circumstances of working at home, why it’s not the dream 9-to-5 types picture. Plus your feedback, a few follow ups and much more!

Celebrating 60 episodes we take live calls from our audience and chat about the topics are their minds. Then we follow up on the indie developer Xbox One situation, read your feedback, and more!

A compromise at Apple turns Mike’s week upside down. Reeling from the setback we dig into Mike’s concerns with Canonical’s crowd sourced Ubuntu Edge phone. Why we're a bit dismayed at Firefox OS’ attempts to kill the app store... And we answer your hard questions.

Data protection in the cloud can mean a lot of different things. But what about in the context of software development? The guys tackle that question, and cover a great batch of your feedback.

The guys bust some myths around outsourcing, and insourcing development work. Striking a balance when trying to codify better practices in the workplace, sticking with good old tech for bad reasons… Plus a big batch of your feedback!

Stinging from a Build conference hangover, the guys focus on their current disappoints with Microsoft. Then Mike gets a new OYUA box and has a few surprises, plus your emails, and more!

Even when you know better, you sometimes find yourself contributing to the problem, just to get the job done. This week the guys bare it all and discuss how they’ve ended up making things worse when they were hired to make it all better. Plus keeping up on new trends without wasting time, how open environments provide better predictability, and a batch of your feedback!