You asked, we listened! A request from one of our Slack channels was to go over the various types of databases and why you might choose one over another. Join us in another information filled episode where Joe won’t be attending the event he’s been promoting and Allen tries to keep his voice together for […]

This episode we are talking about keeping the internet interesting and making cool things by looking at PagedOut and Itch.io. Also, Allen won’t ever mark you down, Outlaw won’t ever give you up, and Joe took a note to say something about Barbie here but he can’t remember what it was. The full show notes […]

It’s that time of year…the time we (reluctantly) look back at what we said we were going to do this past year and see if we actually did it. Then, we repeat history and set some goals we’ll likely look back and wish we’d accomplished this time next year. In addition, we continue with the […]

This episode we are talking about the future of tech with the Gartner Top Strategic Technology Trends 2024. Also, Allen is looking into the crystal ball, Joe is getting lo, and Outlaw is getting into curling. The full show notes for this episode are available at https://www.codingblocks.net/episode224. News Gartner Top Strategic Technology Trends 2024 No surprise, […]

It’s that time of year again when the three of us reflect on the things we’ve bought and loved, or the things we want to get…and want to love…So, come join us in this episode for our usual amount of fun while seeing if there’s anything that might make your shopping list! A small note […]

Ever looked at a Gartner report? We talk about the Technology Adoption Roadmap for Midsize Enterprises 2022, and the cloud services you’re married to in this episode. Also, Joe’s drumming up business ideas, Allen’s laying down the law and Outlaw never forgets. See the full show notes a https://www.codingblocks.net/episode222 News Technology Adoption Roadmap for Midsize […]

Reviews Huge thanks to Metrics and Instrumentation in Open Telemetry How Metrics Work in Open Telemetry Automatic Instrumentation Manual Instrumentation Resources Tip of the Week

We’ve got a smorgasbord of delights for you this week, ranging from mechanical switches to the cloud and beyond. Also, Michael’s cosplaying as Megaman, Joe learns the difference between Clicks and Clacks, and Allen takes no prisoners. See the full show notes a https://www.codingblocks.net/episode220 News The Show Resources We Like Tip of the Week

We’ve mentioned in the past that the code we write isn’t maintaining heartbeats or being used in life-critical settings, but what if your code is? NASA happens to be a company who has code that is life and mission critical and it’s very possible it won’t even be accessible once it leaves earth. In this […]

In this episode, we are talking all about GitHub Actions. What are they, and why should you consider learning more about them? Also, Allen terminates the terminators, Outlaw remembers the good ol’ days, and Joe tries his hand at sales. See the full show notes at https://www.codingblocks.net/episode218 News What are GitHub Actions? Workflows Jobs Steps Actions […]

Get a behind the scenes intro to some of the interesting conversations we have before we even get into the content. We’ll be jumping into the meat of this episode and looking at the specifics of tracing using OpenTelemetry. Before we do that though, we should probably find out what special 2-liter containers Outlaw uses […]

In this episode, we’re talking all about OpenTelemetry. Also, Allen lays down some knowledge, Joe plays director and Outlaw stumps the chumps. See the full show notes at https://www.codingblocks.net/episode216 News What is OpenTelemetry? It’s all about Observability Reliability and Metrics Distributed Tracing To truly understand what distributed tracing is, there’s a few parts we have to […]

In this episode, Allen, Michael and Joe discuss the latest update with the Reddit saga, software for designing audio and reproducing analog sounds, an open-ended interview question and tips on how to be a great leader. Reviews Huge thank you for that! News Episode If you were going to create a web service / api […]

In this episode, we’re talking about the history of “man” pages, console apps, team leadership, and Artificial Intelligence liability. Also, Allen’s downloading the internet, Outlaw has fallen in love with the sound of a morrvair, and Joe says TUI like two hundred times as if it were a real word. See all the show notes […]

Last episode, it might have been said that you can become a senior engineer in just one short year. Our amazing slack community spoke up and had some thoughts on that as well…we revisit that, and what does senior even mean?! Join us for that and much more as Allen plays more with ChatGPT, Michael […]

In this episode, we’re talking about lessons learned and the lessons we still need to learn. Also, Michael shares some anti-monetization strategies, Allen wins by default, and Joe keeps it real 59/60 days a year! The full show notes for this episode are available at https://www.codingblocks.net/episode212. News Exceptions vs Errors in Java Question from Twitter: (thanks […]

We’re back after a brief break for a busy month of May, and we’re here to talk about some pretty cool stuff happening in the developer world. Outlaw took vacation and can remember nothing, Joe introduces us to Sherlocking, and Allen discovered what all the fuss was about with Chat GPT as a software developer. […]

In this sequence of sound, we compute Joe’s unexpected pleasure in commercial-viewing algorithms, Michael’s intricate process of slicing up the pizza, and Allen’s persistent request for more cheese data augmentation. Will you engage in this data streaming session? The full show notes for this episode are available at https://www.codingblocks.net/episode210. Resources we like Tip of the week

In this episode we talk about several things that have been on our mind. We find that Joe has been taken over by AI’s, Michael now understands our love of Kotlin, and Allen wants to know how to escape supporting code you wrote forever. News Visited with Jamie Taylor from the .NET Core Podcast, Tabs […]

We’re doing a water cooler talk today. Also, Allen can tell you how not to leak secrets, Michael knows how to work a spreadsheet, and Joe has been replaced by an AGI. The full show notes for this episode are available at https://www.codingblocks.net/episode208. Topics Resources we like

We’ve got a new / old opening…Allen goes off / on script? Michael denies Joe the “swing” vote, and Joe is all in on AI assistance Testing for concurrency issues is hard because it’s non-deterministic – basically you get unlucky due to the timing of things Serializability Common Implementations Actual Serial Execution Encapsulating transactions in […]

What are lost updates, and what can we do about them? Maybe we don’t do anything and accept the write skew? Also, Allen has sharp ears, Outlaw’s gort blah spotterfiles, and Joe is just thinking about breakfast. The full show notes for this episode are available at https://www.codingblocks.net/episode206. News Preventing Lost Updates Detecting Lost Updates […]

There’s this thing called ChatGPT you may have heard of. Is it the end for all software developers? Have we reached the epitome of mankind? Also, should you write your own or find a FOSS solution? That and much more as Allen gets redemption, Joe has a beautiful monologue, and Outlaw debates a monitor that […]

Ever wonder how database backups work if new data is coming in while the backup is running? Hang with us while we talk about that, while Allen doesn’t stand a chance, Outlaw is in love, and Joe forgets his radio voice. The full show notes for this episode are available at https://www.codingblocks.net/episode204. News Thanks for […]

It's time we learn about multi-object transactions as we continue our journey into Designing Data-Intensive Applications, while Allen didn't specifically have that thought, Joe took a marketing class, and Michael promised he wouldn't cry.

We decided to knock the dust off our copies of Designing Data-Intensive Applications to learn about transactions while Michael is full of solutions, Allen isn't deterred by Cheater McCheaterton, and Joe realizes wurds iz hard.

Michael spends the holidays changing his passwords, Joe forgot to cancel his subscriptions, and Allen's busy playing Call of Duty: Modern Healthcare as we discuss the our 2023 resolutions.

We step back and look at how things have changed since we first started the show while Outlaw is dancing on tables, Allen really knows his movie monsters, and Joe’s math is on point. The full show notes for this episode are available at https://www.codingblocks.net/episode200. News Thanks for the review nickname222Apple<3! Want to help us […]

We talk about career management and interview tips, pushing data contracts “left”, and our favorite dev books while Outlaw is [redacted], Joe’s trying to figure out how to hire junior devs, and Allen’s trying to screw some nails in. The full show notes for this episode are available at https://www.codingblocks.net/episode199. News Thanks for the reviews […]

We take a peak into some of the challenges Twitter has faced while solving data problems at large scale, while Michael challenges the audience, Joe speaks from experience, and Allen blindsides them both.

It's that time of year where we've got money burning a hole in our pockets. That's right, it's time for the annual shopping spree. Meanwhile, Fiona Allen is being gross, Joe throws shade at Burger King, and Michael has a new character encoding method.

We gather around the watercooler to discuss the latest gossip and shenanigans have been called while Coach Allen is not wrong, Michael gets called out, and Joe gets it right the first time.

We wrap up Git from the Bottom Up by John Wiegley while Joe has a convenient excuse, Allen gets thrown under the bus, and Michael somehow made it worse.

This episode, we learn more about Git's Index and compare it to other version control systems while Joe is throwing shade, Michael learns a new command, and Allen makes it gross.

It's time to understand the full power of Git's rebase capabilities while Allen takes a call from Doc Brown, Michael is breaking stuff all day long, and Joe must be punished.

We are committed to continuing our deep dive into Git from the Bottom Up by John Wiegley, while Allen puts too much thought into onions, Michael still doesn't understand proper nouns, and Joe is out hat shopping.

It's surprising how little we know about Git as we continue to dive into Git from the Bottom Up, while Michael confuses himself, Joe has low standards, and Allen tells a joke.

After working with Git for over a decade, we decide to take a deep dive into how it works, while Michael, Allen, and Joe apparently still don't understand Git.

Once again, Stack Overflow takes the pulse of the developer community where we have all collectively decided to switch to Clojure, while Michael is changing things up, Joe is a future predicting trailblazer, and Allen is "up in the books"

We're going back in time, or is it forward?, as we continue learning about Google's automation evolution, while Allen doesn't like certain beers, Joe is a Zacker™, and Michael poorly assumes that UPSes work best when plugged in.

We explore the evolution of automation as we continue studying Google's Site Reliability Engineering, while Michael, ah, forget it, Joe almost said it correctly, and Allen fell for it.

We finished. A chapter, that is, of the Site Reliability Engineering book as Allen asks to make it weird, Joe has his own pronunciation, and Michael follows through on his promise.

We haven't finished the Site Reliability Engineering book yet as we learn how to monitor our system while the deals at Costco as so good, Allen thinks they're fake, Joe hasn't attended a math class in a while, and Michael never had AOL.

We say "toil" a lot this episode while Joe saw a movie, Michael says something controversial, and Allen's tip is to figure it out yourself, all while learning how to eliminate toil.

Welcome to the morning edition of Coding Blocks as we dive into what service level indicators, objectives, and agreements are while Michael clearly needs more sleep, Allen doesn't know how web pages work anymore, and Joe isn't allowed to beg.

We learn how to embrace risk as we continue our learning about Site Reliability Engineering while Johnny Underwood talked too much, Joe shares a (scary) journey through his mind, and Michael, Reader of Names, ends the show on a dark note.

It's finally time to learn what Site Reliability Engineering is all about, while Jer can't speak nor type, Merkle got one (!!!), and Mr. Wunderwood is wrong.

We're living through the tail end, maybe?, of the Great Resignation, so we dig into how that might impact software engineering careers while Allen is very somber, Joe's years are ... different, and Michael compares Apples to Apples.

We dive into what it takes to adhere to minimum viable continuous delivery while Michael isn't going to quit his day job, Allen catches the earworm, and Joe is experiencing full-on Stockholm syndrome.

We have a retrospective about our recent Game Ja Ja Ja Jam, while Michael doesn't know his A from his CNAME, Allen could be a nun, and Joe still wants to be a game developer.

We wrap up our discussion of PagerDuty's Security Training, while Joe declares this year is already a loss, Michael can't even, and Allen says doody, err, duty.

We're pretty sure we're almost done and we're definitely all present for the recording as we continue discussing PagerDuty's Security Training, while Allen won't fall for it, Joe takes the show to a dark place, and Michael knows obscure, um, stuff.

We continue our discussion of PagerDuty's Security Training presentation while Michael buys a vowel, Joe has some buffer, and Allen hits everything he doesn't aim for.

We're taking our time as we discuss PagerDuty's Security Training presentations and what it means to "roll the pepper" while Michael is embarrassed in front of the whole Internet, Franklin Allen Underwood is on a full name basis, and don't talk to Joe about corn.

With Game Ja-Ja-Ja-Jamuary coming up, we discuss what makes a game engine, while Michael's impersonation is spot-on, Allen may really just be Michael, and Joe already has the title of his next podcast show at the ready.

We wrap up the discussion on partitioning from our collective favorite book, Designing Data-Intensive Applications, while Allen is properly substituted, Michael can't stop thinking about Kafka, and Joe doesn't live in the real sunshine state.

We crack open our favorite book again, Designing Data-Intensive Applications by Martin Kleppmann, while Joe sounds different, Michael comes to a sad realization, and Allen also engages "no take backs".

The Mathemachicken strikes again for this year's shopping spree, while Allen just realized he was under a rock, Joe engages "no take backs", and Michael ups his decor game.

We discuss the pros and cons of speaking at conferences and similar events, while Joe makes a verbal typo, Michael has turned over a new leaf, and Allen didn't actually click the link.

Joe goes full shock jock, but only for a moment. Allen loses the “Most Tips In A Single Episode: 2021” award, and Michael didn’t get the invite notification in this week’s episode. The full show notes for this episode are available at https://www.codingblocks.net/episode168. Sponsors Datadog – Sign up today for a free 14 day trial […]

Some things just require discussion, such as Docker's new licensing, while Joe is full of it, Allen *WILL* fault them, and Michael goes on the record.

We step away from our microservices deployments to meet around the water cooler and discuss the things on our minds, while Joe is playing Frogger IRL, Allen "Eeyores" his way to victory, and Michael has some words about his keyvoard, er, kryboard, leybaord, ugh, k-e-y-b-o-a-r-d!

We decide to dig into the details of what makes a microservice and do we really understand them as Joe tells us why we really want microservices, Allen incorrectly answers the survey, and Michael breaks down in real time.

We dive into JetBrains' findings after they recently released their State of the Developer Ecosystem for 2021 while Michael has the open down pat, Joe wants the old open back, and Allen stopped using the command line.

It's time to take a break, stretch our legs, grab a drink, and maybe even join in some interesting conversations around the water cooler as Michael goes off script, Joe is very confused, and Allen insists that we stay on script.

We wrap up our replication discussion of Designing Data-Intensive Applications, this time discussing leaderless replication strategies and issues, while Allen missed his calling, Joe doesn't read the gray boxes, and Michael lives in a future where we use apps.

We continue our discussion of Designing Data-Intensive Applications, this time focusing on multi-leader replication, while Joe is seriously tired, and Allen is on to Michael's shenanigans.

We dive back into Designing Data-Intensive Applications to learn more about replication while Michael thinks cluster is a three syllable word, Allen doesn't understand how we roll, and Joe isn't even paying attention.

We couldn't decide if we wanted to gather around the water cooler or talk about some cool APIs, so we opted to do both, while Joe promises there's a W in his name, Allen doesn't want to say graph, and Michael isn't calling out applets.

We talk about the various ways we can get paid with code while Michael failed the Costco test, Allen doesn't understand multiple choice questions, and Joe has a familiar pen name.

We discuss all things APIs: what makes them great, what makes them bad, and what we might like to see in them while Michael plays a lawyer on channel 46, Allen doesn't know his favorite part of the show, and Joe definitely pays attention to the tips of the week.

We discuss the parts of the scrum process that we're supposed to pay attention to while Allen pronounces the m, Michael doesn't, and Joe skips the word altogether.

During today's standup, we focus on learning all about Scrum as Joe is back (!!!), Allen has to dial the operator and ask to be connected to the Internet, and Michael reminds us why Blockbuster failed.

We dig into recursion and learn that Michael is the weirdo, Joe gives a subtle jab, and Allen doesn't play well with others while we dig into recursion.

It's been a minute since we last gathered around the water cooler, as Allen starts an impression contest, Joe wins said contest, and Michael earned a participation award.

We dig into all things Python, which Allen thinks is pretty good, and it's rise in popularity, while Michael and Joe go toe-to-toe over a gripe, ahem, feature.

We step back to reflect on what we learned from our first game jam, while Joe's bathroom is too close and Allen taught Michael something (again).

We discuss all things open-source, leaving Michael and Joe to hold down the fort while Allen is away, while Joe's impersonations are spot on and Michael is on a first name basis, assuming he can pronounce it.

We start off the year discussing our favorite developer tools of 2020, as Joe starts his traditions early, Allen is sly about his résumé updates, and Michael lives to stream.

It's the end of 2020. We're all tired. So we phone it in for the last episode of the year as we discuss the State of the Octoverse, while Michael prepared for the wrong show (again), Allen forgot to pay his ISP bill and Joe's game finished downloading.

We discuss the things we're excited about for 2021 as Michael prepared for a different show, Joe can't stop looking at himself, and Allen gets paid by the tip of the week.

We learn all the necessary details to get into the world of developer game jams, while Michael triggers all parents, Allen's moment of silence is oddly loud, and Joe hones his inner Steve Jobs.

We wrap up our deep dive into The DevOps Handbook, while Allen ruined Halloween, Joe isn't listening, and Michael failed to... forget it, it doesn't even matter.

It's our favorite time of year where we discuss all of the new ways we can spend our money in time for the holidays, as Allen forgets a crucial part, Michael has "neons", and Joe has a pet bear.

We dive into the benefits of enabling daily learning into our processes, while it's egregiously late for Joe, Michael's impersonation is awful, and Allen's speech is degrading.

We wrap up the second way from The DevOps Handbook, while Joe has a mystery episode, Michael doesn't like ketchup, and Allen has a Costco problem.

We gather around the water cooler to discuss some random topics, while Joe sends too many calendar invites, Allen interferes with science, and Michael was totally duped.

We learn the secrets of a safe deployment practice while continuing to study The DevOps Handbook as Joe is a cartwheeling acrobat, Michael is not, and Allen is hurting, so much.

We're using telemetry to fill in the gaps and anticipate problems while discussing The DevOps Handbook, while Michael is still weird about LinkedIn, Joe knows who's your favorite JZ, and Allen might have gone on vacation.

It's all about telemetry and feedback as we continue learning from The DevOps Handbook, while Joe knows his versions, Michael might have gone crazy if he didn't find it, and Allen has more than enough muscles.

Our journey into the world of DevOps continues with The DevOps Handbook as Michael doesn't take enough tangents, Joe regrets automating the build, err, wait never regrets (sorry), and ducks really like Allen.

We begin our journey into the repeatable world of DevOps by taking cues from The DevOps Handbook, while Allen loves all things propane, Joe debuts his "singing" career with his new music video, and Michael did a very bad, awful thing.

We review the Stack Overflow Developer Survey in the same year it was created for the first time ever, while Joe has surprising news about the Hanson Brothers, Allen doesn't have a thought process, and Michael's callback is ruined.

As we learn from Google about how to navigate a code review, Michael learns to not give out compliments, Joe promises to sing if we get enough new reviews, and Allen introduces a new section to the show.

We learn what to look for in a code review while reviewing Google's engineering practices documentation as Michael relates patterns to choo-choos, Joe has a "weird voice", and Allen has a new favorite portion of the show.

We dig into Google's engineering practices documentation as we learn how to code review while Michael, er, Fives is done with proper nouns, Allen can't get his pull request approved, and Joe prefers to take the average of his code reviews.

We gather around the water cooler at 6 foot distances as Michael and Joe aren't sure what they streamed, we finally learn who has the best fries, at least in the US, and Allen doesn't understand evenly distributing your condiments.

We dig into the details of how databases use B-trees as we continue our discussion of Designing Data-Intensive Applications while Michael's description of median is awful, live streaming isn't for Allen, and Joe really wants to bring us back from the break.

Since we can't leave the house, we discuss what it takes to effectively work remote while Allen's frail body requires an ergonomic keyboard, Joe finally takes a passionate stance, and Michael tells them why they're wrong.

It's time to learn about SSTables and LSM-Trees as Joe feels pretty zacked, Michael clarifies what he was looking forward to, and Allen has opinions about Dr Who.

In this episode, Allen is back, Joe knows his maff, and Michael brings the jokes, all that and more as we discuss the internals of how databases store and retrieve the data we save as we continue our deep dive into Designing Data-Intensive Applications.

Jamie from https://dotnetcore.show/ and Allen, ya know, from Coding Blocks, sat down together at NDC London to talk about the hot topics from the conference as well as how to get the most out of any conference you attend. If you’re reading this episodes show notes via your podcast player, you can find this episode’s […]

We dive into declarative vs imperative query languages as we continue to dive into Designing Data-Intensive Applications while Allen is gallivanting around London, Michael had a bullish opinion, and Joe might not know about The Witcher.

While we continue to dig into Designing Data-Intensive Applications, we take a step back to discuss data models and relationships as Michael covers all of his bases, Allen has a survey answer just for him, and Joe really didn't get his tip from Reddit.

We're comparing data models as we continue our deep dive into Designing Data-Intensive Applications as Coach Joe is ready to teach some basketball, Michael can't pronounce 6NF, and Allen measured some geodesic distances just this morning.

We dig into what it takes to make a maintainable application as we continue to learn from Designing Data-Intensive Applications, as Allen is a big fan of baby Yoda, Michael's index isn't corrupt, and Joe has some latency issues.

We continue to study the teachings of Designing Data-Intensive Applications, while Michael's favorite book series might be the Twilight series, Joe blames his squeak toy chewing habit on his dogs, and Allen might be a Belieber.

We start our deep dive into Joe's favorite new book, Designing Data-Intensive Applications as Joe can't be stopped while running downhill, Michael might have a new spin on #fartgate, and Allen doesn't quite have a dozen tips this episode.

We discuss this year's shopping spree only to learn that Michael spent too much, Allen spent too much, and Joe spent too much.

We debate whether DevOps is a job title or a job responsibility as Michael finally understands dev.to's name, Allen is an infosec expert, and Joe wears his sunglasses at night.

We take an introspective look into what's wrong with Michael's life, Allen keeps taking us down random tangents, and Joe misses the chance for the perfect joke as we wrap up our deep dive into Hasura's 3factor app architecture pattern.

We discuss the second factor of Hasura's 3factor app, Reliable Eventing, as Allen says he still _surfs_ the Internet (but really, does he?), it's never too late for pizza according to Joe, and Michael wants to un-hear things.

We begin to twitch as we review the first factor of Hasura's 3factor app, Realtime GraphQL, while Allen gets distrac ... SQUIRREL!, Michael might own some bell bottoms, and Joe is stuck with cobalt.

We learn how to apply the concepts of The Pragmatic Programmer to teams while Michael uses his advertisement voice, Joe has a list, and Allen doesn't want anyone up in his Wheaties.

After 112 episodes, Michael can't introduce the show, Allen pronounces it "ma-meee", and don't make Joe run your janky tests as The Pragmatic Programmer teaches us how we should use exceptions and program deliberately.

We continue our dive into The Pragmatic Programmer and debate when is it text manipulation vs code generation as Joe can't read his bill, Michael makes a painful recommendation, and Allen's gaming lives up to Southern expectations.

It's about time we finally learn how to debug by taking take a page from The Pragmatic Programmer playbook, while Michael replaces a developer's cheat sheet, Joe judges the H-O-R-S-E competition for VI, and Allen stabs you in the front.

We dig into the details of the basic tools while continuing our journey into The Pragmatic Programmer while Joe programs by coincidence, Michael can't pronounce numbers, and Allen makes a point.

Joe is distracted by all of the announcements from E3, Allen is on the run from the Feebs, and Michael counts debugging as coding. All this and more as we continue discussing The Pragmatic Programmer.

The Pragmatic Programmer teaches us how to use tracer bullets versus prototyping while Joe doesn't know who won the Game of Thrones, Allen thought he knew about road numbers, and Michael thinks 475 is four letters.

The dad jokes are back as we learn about orthogonal code while JZ (the 8-mile guy) has spaghetti on him, Michael's Harry Potter references fail, and Allen voice goes up a couple octaves.

We take a deep dive into the various forms of duplication and jump aboard the complain train as Allen complains about Confluent's documentation, Michael complains about Docker's documentation, and Joe complains about curl.

We begin our journey into the wisdom of The Pragmatic Programmer, which as Joe puts it, it’s less about type-y type-y and more about think-y think-y, while Allen is not quite as pessimistic as Joe, and Michael can’t wait to say his smart words. If you’re reading these show notes via your podcast player, you […]

We dig into the nitty gritty details of what a Progressive Web App (PWA) is and why you should care, while Allen isn't sure if he is recording, Michael was the only one prepared to talk about Flo and the Progressive Price Gun, and Joe has to get his headphones.

The Date deep dive continues as we focus in on C# and JavaScript, while Michael reminisces about the fluorescent crayons, Joe needs a new tip of the week, and Allen confuses time zones.

We take a deep dive into understanding why all Date-s are not created equal while learning that Joe is not a fan of months, King Kong has nothing on Allen, and Michael still uses GETDATE(). Oops.

After being asked to quiet down, our friend, John Stone, joins us again as we move the conversation to the nearest cubicle while Michael reminds us of Bing, Joe regrets getting a cellphone, and Allen's accent might surprise you.

We gather around the water cooler to celebrate our 100th episode with our friend John Stone for some random developer discussions as Michael goes off script, Joe needs his techno while coding, and Allen sings some sweet sounds.

We learn all about JAMstack in real-time as Michael lowers the bar with new jokes, Allen submits a pull request, and Joe still owes us a tattoo.

We dig into heaps and tries as Allen gives us an up to date movie review while Joe and Michael compare how the bands measure up.

We ring in 2019 with a discussion of various trees as Allen questions when should you abstract while Michael and Joe introduce us to the Groot Tree.

Just in time to help you spread some cheer this holiday season, the dad jokes are back as we dig into the details of hash tables and dictionaries.

We continue our deep dive into data structures, this time focusing in on arrays and array-like types as Allen gives Shania Twain some singing competition, Joe is going to owe us another tattoo, and wait ... when does Michael think C++ was invented?

We begin our journey into data structures by taking a deep dive into primitives while Allen makes Michael blush and Joe crashes his browser.

With the holiday season soon approaching, we address the most important requirements list of all ... our wish lists as Joe has to disclose a cheese powder incident, Michael hopes his Bitcoin gains some value, and Allen researches his purchases to the extreme.

This is a special episode recorded at Microsoft Ignite 2018 where John Callaway from The 6 Figure Developer Podcast joins Allen Underwood to talk about Azure Functions and CosmosDB. Find out what they are and why you might want to try them out for yourself.

We continue our dive into how to learn things while Michael's voice sounds an awful lot like Joe's, Joe says it's a square, and Allen says it's a triangle ... oh, and Google Feud is back!

We have some fun with our names, get ahead of ourselves during Survey Says, and vet Michael's tip on-air as we take a deep dive into comparing some popular Git workflows and when should we use which.

We wrap up our conversation on complexity and play some more over/under as Allen thinks learning is backwards, Michael doesn't write clean code, and Joe brings his dog to the discussion.

We continue our dive into Rob Conery's The Imposter's Handbook as Allen is Allen, Joe is Michael, Michael is Joe.

Joe's voice sounds funny, Allen has a theme, and Michael pours one out for Media Play as Michael's and Allen's impersonation of Joe is on point (#NailedIt).

We meet up around the water cooler for a quick round of lightning talks as Allen and Michael sing FizzBuzz while Joe passes the caching buck.

We continue digging into Rob Conery's The Imposter's Handbook as Joe explains Florida time, Allen likes greedy algorithms, and Michael shares his geography knowledge.

It's time we discuss algorithms we all need to know as we continue diving into Rob Conery's The Imposter's Handbook while Michael will read anything, Allen questions Greenland's name, and Joe talks wormholes.

We're talking databases, indexes, search engines, and why they're basically microwaves in this episode while Joe wears a polo, Allen's quick brown fox jumps over whatever, and Michael gives out fake URLs.

Inspired by Rob Conery's The Imposter's Handbook, we take an introspective look at ourselves to find two weaknesses and one strength while Allen shows off his vocal prowess in song, Joe needs a list, and Michael is a dash.

This episode we talk complexity theory while digging into Rob Conery's The Imposter's Handbook as Allen channels his inner Austin Powers, Michael finds linearly to complex to pronounce, and Joe ruins Batman for the rest of us.

This episode we’re talking about server naming conventions, confusing command line arguments, and how high we can get our voices. Huge thanks to the NSA and the freedom of information act for making this episode possible. Sponsors Airbrake.io/CodingBlocks – Try Airbrake *free* for 30 days _and_ get 50% off the next 3 months! Survey Says […]

It's time for more design Ant-EYE or Ant-EEE patterns as we venture into cesspool that awaits. Come find out what these patterns are, why you should, and how to avoid them. Bonus: Michael drops the term Heinz Doofenshmirtz - Joe and Allen didn't know this pattern, but maybe you will.

It's time for more cowbell as we have a special guest in the studio, Will Madison (@IAmWillMadison), join us as Allen finally gets tripped up trying to pronounce a name, Joe teaches us the value of practice, and Michael evacuates in a rainbow colored straight line.

We're back with our last deep dive into Robert C. Martin's latest book, Clean Architecture, while Allen suffers from sleep deprivation, Joe shows us his dance moves, and Michael's mind is blown on how to unit test.

It's time for another deep dive into Robert C. Martin's Clean Architecture as Joe puts us on the spot, Allen has a new mission, and Michael shares his Easter eggs.

Michael can't tell higher from lower, Allen puts his views where he wants them, and Joe snaps it to a Slim Jim as we discuss how to make our architectures scream while discussing Robert C. Martin's Clean Architecture.

It's time for another deep dive into Robert C. Martin's Clean Architecture as Allen warns us about driving in front of him, Joe tries to describe a diagram again, and Michael can't understand the survey results.

Joe drinks too much coffee, Allen spits his coffee out, and Michael feels vindicated as the discussions about Robert C. Martin's latest book, Clean Architecture, continues.

Joe baits Michael, Michael takes the bait, and Allen lets it happen, as Uncle Bob explains how we can quantify the coupling between our components from his latest book, Clean Architecture.

Joe is down with OCP, Michael argues DRY, and Allen deletes our show notes as we dig into Components and Component Cohesion from Robert C. Martin's (aka Uncle Bob) Clean Architecture.

We're back with another installment as we challenge ourselves to compare how we'd each spend $2,500 on developer gear as Allen waxes on about the loudest quiet keyboard, Joe teaches us how cheese is made, and Michael puts some neon on his computer.

Michael forgets what his favorite part of the show is, Joe makes us wait to learn what his favorite part is, and Allen pronounces it "pair-a-dig-'ems" as we continue our deep dive into Uncle Bob's latest book: Clean Architecture.

Joe learns of our harebrained idea, Michael learns of Eisenhower’s matrix, and Allen explains polyfills as we begin our dive into Uncle Bob’s latest book, Clean Architecture. Prefer to read these show notes on something other than your podcast player? You can find the full show notes for this episode at http://www.codingblocks.net/episode68. Sponsors Linode – Use code […]

Allen brings the dad jokes, Michael unplugs, and Joe gets a second wind as we discuss the anti-patterns found in object oriented programming.

It's time for another episode as Joe wants to choke a developer, Michael scraps his new social networking platform, and Allen finally learns of dad jokes while we continuing the anti-patterns conversation.

We've discussed design patterns too much. Now it's time for some discussion about anti-patterns as Joe has dark visions about robots, Allen has to take sensitivity training, and Michael picks Arial.

More Domain Driven Design talk this week: Supple Design, Declarative(ish?) Programming, and Ohio Envy. Sponsors FreshBooks.com/Coding – Use code “CODING BLOCKS” in the “How Did You Hear About Us?” section GetAirbrake.com/cb Linode – Use code “CODINGBLOCKS17” for $20 towards hosting (up to four months free!) Start Slack’ing Now. We’re so happy you’ve found us and […]

Know what Joe and Waldo have in common? We can't find either, as this week, it's just Allen and Michael to continue the dive into Domain Driven Design.

We're not saying that Michael is Carmen Sandiego. We're just saying that nobody has ever seen them in a room together. And this week, we don't know where in the world either are, as Allen and Joe continue the Domain Driven Design discussion without Michael. Nor Carmen.

Stitcher is back and so are we as Michael proves he doesn't have a career as a rapper, Allen can't type on his phone, and Joe tweets with famous authors as we continue our dive into Domain Driven Design talking about aggregate roots, factories, and repositories.

We continue our Domain Driven Design conversation this week as Allen is indecisive, Michael decides for him, and Joe can't handle the night life.

We’re back with another exciting episode as Michael questions Hollywood, Allen dreams of his Hackintosh, and Joe is surrounded by Star Wars as we talk about how to jumpstart your next app with Michael Crump (@mbcrump) and Clint Rutkas (@clintrutkas). If you’re reading these show notes via your podcast player, you can find this episode’s full […]

This week, Michael asks his customers about their anemic domain model, Allen talks in front of people, and Joe plays Rocket League as we begin our dive into understanding domain driven design. Are you reading this episode’s show notes via your podcast player? You can find this episode’s full show notes at http://www.codingblocks.net/episode58. Become a Part of the […]

This week we talk about all of the bad things we’ve done while making software. The good, the bad, … oh wait, it compiles, never mind. Want to be part of the conversation? Head over to http://www.codingblocks.net/slack to become a member of our Slack community! What are you waiting for? Join now! Oh, wait, are you […]

We’re back with another deep dive into the infamous book Clean Code by Uncle Bob as Joe alters columns, Michael misreads things, and Allen has a positive customer service experience. Care to join in on the conversation? Become a member of our Slack community by signing up at http://www.codingblocks.net/slack. Viewing these show notes through your podcast […]

This week Allen is troubled by circles, Michael talks like a game show host, and Joe announces it's twins as we continue our deep dive into the classic Clean Code book by Robert C. Martin.

When and why should you write unit tests, and just how important are they? Take a listen and see what YOU think. Podcast News iTunes: AUS Dan G, bryangrove, Criviere, Kasprs, sulhogar, Niil Ohlin (Neil Ilin) Stitcher Reviews: indiegamer21, makeACaseForCamelCase, athyng, brokenrelay, El_Zilcho MongoDb and ElasticSearch Ransomware Attacks http://www.pcworld.com/article/3157417/security/after-mongodb-ransomware-groups-hit-exposed-elasticsearch-clusters.html Alexa 7 Minute Workout https://www.amazon.com/Pargee-7-Minute-Workout/dp/B018WUNBE6 Question: […]

In this episode we talk about how to insulate your application at it’s boundaries?  What in the world does that even mean?!  We’re not talking about those boundaries where others aren’t allowed to touch your keyboard (although that’s a real thing).  No, we’re talking about making sure you make your code easier to maintain over […]

This week, we continue our Clean Code discussion as we dive into the joys and pains of error handing.

This week we’re drawing a line in the sand between objects and data structures. Who will win? Take a listen and decide for yourself! For the full show notes visit: http://www.codingblocks.net/episode51 Podcast News iTunes Reviews: DelBoyeire, nullthecode, Ser_j, Pneema, matthew.watkins, JC_JavaScripter, Connor Phee, Stratodavius, GS Leonric, dmitry.gokun, MobileMon, vasyl shcherbatjuk Stitcher Reviews: tommyrush, DoNotAsk, nullthecode, […]

Ever judged a book by its cover?  Of course you have.  Ever passed judgement on some code simply because it didn’t look pretty?  There’s more to writing code than having it functional and in this episode we dive into the reasons code formatting actually matters.  Who wins the newspaper format debate?!  Leave us a comment and […]

This week, Michael fails geography, Allen introduces us to Croom, and Joe has to potty as we head into our third installment of the Clean Code series. Want to be part of our Slack community? Sign up @ http://www.codingblocks.net/slack and say “hi”! Join our Slack! Link to Episode 49’s Full Show Notes http://www.codingblocks.net/episode49 Survey News […]

We continue talking our way through Clean Code, taking a deep look at the building blocks of programming in the quest to write the best functions. Oh, and everybody sings. The original version of the show notes can be found at: http://www.codingblocks.net/episode48. Podcast News iTunes Reviews: BrokenDev, Simontheu, Hruncito, TerrenceD, Rich11145, HardCoreRockstar, Bcmsco, FriendofEntropy, Fredstban, […]

In this episode, we take our first dive into the book Clean Code by Robert Martin and specifically we talk about writing meaningful names for all things code related.  You’ll be amazed at how following some decent rules that you can start naming things that will help you and fellow coders understand your code at […]

Storing smaller subsets of data in a faster, closer memory can make astronomical differences in performance. This episode we’re talking about the caching tools and techniques that application frameworks provide. The original version of the shownotes can be found at: http://www.codingblocks.net/episode46 New Poll! Podcast News Thanks for the reviews! Mr_Automation, Nateve, chubb5000, Travelerbell, LaCaren, ryanwebjackson, […]

In this episode we give a general overview of caching, where it’s used, why it’s used, and what the differences in hardware implementations mean in terms we can understand.  This will be foundational to understanding caching at a software level in an upcoming episode.  There’s also something about the number 37 that may be the […]

This week on Coding Blocks, Allen says www as best he can, Joe eats the microphone, and Michael does something crazy as we discuss Stack Overflow’s Salary Calculator and our experiences in landing the job – what to do and what not to do. Want to be part of our Slack community? Sign up @ […]

This time we’re talking about problems with nulls, stored procedures, and impostor syndrome. Link to Episode 43’s Full Show Notes: http://www.codingblocks.net/episode43 News Join us on slack: http://www.codingblocks.net/ Thanks for the awesome reviews: darkjedioverlord, Gustav, David W, XiaoHong, neoanomally, IAmAResource, alanw707, GDog, Demiera, kngtfallen, BMay1, jcook1017, XiaoHong89, Thallius, a.alhadhrami, BriCee34, iPawan85 Great Comments on last episode’s […]

In this episode we go back to the design pattern well that we’ve been away from for so long.  We cover the Command, Repository and Mediator design patterns.  It was hard for us to believe, but it’s been almost a year since our last design patterns episode!!!  Come on in for fun, learning, and of […]

This week on Coding Blocks, Joe changes a different kind of string, Allen drools over the Hellcat, and Michael shares his random thoughts. We span a collection of topics including GraphQL framework envy, bash on Windows, and whether it takes two to Django.

Are you an Advanced Programmer? We dig into the final section of Robert Read’s fantastic writing: How to be a programmer. Also, how to cheat at Jira, a lazy butcher and if learning web development is worth it. Link to Episode 40’s Full Show Notes http://www.codingblocks.net/episode40 This Episode’s Survey To squash, or not to squash, […]

In Episode 38, we dug into the first section of the essay by Robert Read on what it takes to be a programmer.  In that episode there was a lot of great information on what to expect and what should be expected of you as a developer.  In this episode, we go into the second […]

Talking about the short book “How to be a Programmer”, which covers a huge spectrum of important topics for developers of all levels. The Puddle Poll! Thanks for the share pwright08! News Thanks for the reviews! JKCooper2, CSharpest, Joopkins, NickStuer How’d you get into programming? Join codingblocks.slack.com! Survey – Star Wars wins! Check out Allen […]

We wrapped up 2015 with another favorites of episode and a chance to win a gray Coding Blocks T-Shirt just by leaving a comment on the show notes page! Tools are anything from hardware, to software or a service that we feel is integral in our daily needs as programmers. There’s a total of 20 picks […]

Welcome back to the dramatic conclusion of our discussion on the 12 factor app. This time we’re talking dev/prod parity, logs, and admin processes. Oh, and Call of Duty! News Thanks for the reviews! arathustra, lu S, Seb (from London), S Willowood, TheDarkKnight15, FreeAppsHunter Where do transforms go? UI or Middleware? Joe had surgery! Oopsy […]

It's time for more DevOps fun as we continue learning about the Twelve-Factor app. This week we dive into the next three chapters: port binding, concurrency, and disposability.

The holidays are coming sooner than we realized, so we gotta get our wish lists together. After all, no one wants to sit around the Festivus Pole without their favorite dev toys. This week we discuss some of the toys we love, as well as the ones we drool over, and even the ones we're not so crazy about.

We’re headed back to the Twelve-Factor app territory and this time we’re picking up with the next three chapters – backing services, building and releasing and processes.  Jump in to get the shownotes and listen to the next three pieces of building a manageable and scalable twelve-factor app. Survey News Mark Tinsley – PHP Composer […]

Dipping our toes into the DevOps waters with the Twelve-Factor App. How important is depedency management, and how fired would you be if you accidentally leaked your company’s source code? News We have a new logo! Allen was right… Soundcloud Thanks for the reviews! GunBlade77 What is the Twelve-Factor App? A methodology for writing applications […]

In this episode we dive into Javascript Promises.  If you’re used to the olden way of doing an async call with a callback, you’ll definitely want to give this episode a listen as you could improve your mental sanity 10 fold by learning how to use promises in your application! Survey – What is Your Favorite Language? […]

Part 4 of our design patterns series, this time up it's Adapters, Facades, and Mementos. Oh, an which tech luminary would make the best head of state!

It's that time again. This week we answer a question, Allen registers for school, Joe reads some numbers, Michael breaks out the survey results, and Joe cringes at the thought of bidets. It's time for episode 29! And we thought, what better to talk about than to continue our discussion on hierarchical data solutions.

So, how DO you persist hierarchical Data? We discuss two common solutions to this age-old problem: Adjacency Lists and Nested Set Models. Also, Build Atlanta, technical problems, multi-monitor vs ultra-wide, and utilizing gaming mice to up your game. See all the notes and take the poll by going to: http://www.codingblocks.net/episode28 News Big thanks for the […]

In this, Episode 27 of the Coding Blocks Podcast, we are answering several questions from our listeners regarding:  more frequent episodes, naming of classes / assemblies, Test Driven Development, the differences between MVC and MVVM and a number of other side conversations such as aliasing tables in SQL.  As always we’d love to hear back […]

On this episode we discuss algorithms, puzzles and how to approach them when asked to solve one in the interview process. We discuss many of the problems programmers face when being asked to solve these types of problems as well as steps to alleviate some of these common issues. We also provide a number of resources for sharpening your problem solving skills as well as a number of resources, and of course our favorite tips!

This week we give away Joe's stuff, we break up with IE8 like a big boy, Joe and Allen get excited about readme files, and we argue about which is worse: bad code or bad architecture. That and more in this week's episode where we explore the new bits in ASP.NET 5.

This week we tackle one of life's great quesitons, does Jack Bauer give high fives? Also, we go over everything you need to know about delegates, events, callbacks and closures in .NET. Big thanks to @kappelcodesalot for being the inspiration for this episode!

It's time to get back to basics. It's easy as a software developer to be working on the latest and greatest frameworks, using the best methodologies, trying out new things. Sometimes it's a good idea to get a refresher on the very basic fundamentals. In this episode we go over the access modifiers that are common in C# and Java as well as ways to emulate these types of behaviors in Javascript. And let's be honest - encapsulation is only effective if you're providing programmers that come after you with a roadmap of how things should work. For that reason we also discuss Command Query Separation and some other ideas and practices that are a part of good programming practices. Be sure to head over to www.CodingBlocks.net/review and leave us a review on your favorite podcasting platform!

Coding Blocks Episode 22 is live! Organizing your code, moving from school-work to work-work, the future of Silverlight, and lots of poo-pooing! News Great testing tool suggestions from Anders Bauman: TDDHelper, NCrunch We had to look up our new year’s resolutions – not a good sign! Awesome reviews from punforgettable, Jonno Choo, AdamTheHun, Elistaria, JeramyRR, […]

We gather around the Festivus pole this holiday season and before we get into the Airing of Grievances, we discuss our favorite tools. No, not people. Actual tools. Srsly.

I figured this title was appropriate considering it's been a month since our last episode.  We've all been incredibly busy so we hope you've been patient waiting and maybe, just maybe it was worth the wait!  We've crammed quite a bit into this episode which is all about testing.  Follow the more link to see the show notes for this particular episode and don't forget to click one of the share buttons there to let all your friends know about the podcast!

We’re back to the gang of four, continuing with another segment of design patterns. This time we’re talking about some of our favorite Behavioral Design Patterns: Observer, Chain of Responsibilities, Iterator patterns. Also, why the visitor pattern is weird and what it’s like to be raked over hot coals. News Atlanta Code Camp was amazing […]

We’re very excited about ASP.NET vNext, we’ve never been seen together, and a cute little ninja was MEAN to Allen. All that and more in this week’s episode where we attempt to answer some questions.

In this episode, we have a discussion about what type of technology stack you should choose when you go to create your own project whether it be for profit or an open source type of deal.  As programmers, we often struggle with balancing our ADHD tendencies to code in every language known to man, or […]

This week we’re following up on our episode about talking about Creational Design Patterns a few of our favorite behavioral patterns: Template. Strategy, and Null Object. Also, pumpkin spice lattes, Mario’s pants, and a billion dollar mistake. Points of Interest Pumpkin Spice Latte is back! Great feedback from NDepend, great things coming in V6! LG […]

This week we’re discussing NDpend, a static analysis tool for .NET. Triage your biggest problems, Prioritize your refactoring, and CYA with real metrics and trend lines. We also discuss hidden nuggets, Pintrest-envy, and we pour another one out for google reader. News Check out our YouTube channel! Angular 2.0 is coming! Beginning XML in SQL […]

Welcome back for part 2 of the podcast about databases.  In this half, we discuss several of the things we believe that developers should know about databases.  From joins to unions, group by’s and indexing, we try to touch on a lot of the items that most developers should at least be familiar with when […]

Part one of our two part database podcast starts with choosing the RDBMS (Relational Database Management System) and what to do when you run into deficiencies in that particular database system. First and foremost, what’s with the title?!  Are these guys grammatically challenged?  If that was your first thought, then you should check out this link: […]

“Water Cooler” episode talking about sweet sugary C# kisses, JavaScript as a first language, T-shaped developers, how to get addicted to drugs and…Where in the World is Carmen Sandiego? Points of Interest Keep the keys! Go follow @trentapple and check his site out at www.trentapple.com! A year’s worth of tech podcasts! from @patrikdahlen NativeScript – Cross […]

This week we’re tackling the first section of seminal Design Patterns book: Creational Patterns. We discuss factories of factories, “bullet hell” games, pathological liars, and Allen’s lack of voice. Big thanks to @rajsotweet for calling us out and getting us motivated to record! Points of Interest .NET Framework 4.5.2 is out! ASP vNext Awesome stats […]

This week we’re taking pot shots from the peanut gallery! We talk about new features in C# 6. What we like, what we love…and binary literals. We also struggle to define Roslyn and BONUS! poetry reading from Michael Outlaw! Points of Interest Build Keynote in 7 minutes – via @patrikdahlen Allen owes the world a […]

You down with AOP? This week we’re talking with Vlad Hrybok about his spectacular Aspect Oriented Framework: Aspectacular. Highlights include lots of Design Patterns, Acronyms, Buzzwords and…Duff Beer? ChangeLog Interesting debate about SOLID principles An attempt at a completely SOLID implementation of TicTacToe Great feedback on /r/csharp Interesting viewpoint from an anti-craftsman on dotnetrocks, great […]

Q: What do developers love more than developing? A: Expensive accessories!!! This week we’re talking about our Christmas in July lists. Dream keyboards, mouses, office furniture and tablets…oh my! Lots of links below. Click and drool. Keyboards Joe’s favorite is The CODE Keyboard Mike’s favorite is any old plain keyboard – previous was the Logitech […]

This week we tackle the SOLID principles in .NET and discuss the eternal struggle between perfect code and looming deadlines. Please leave us feedback in your Podcasting app of choice! Update: Great comments/debate on reddit! About Solid SOLID Principles for writing maintainable and extendable software Michael Feathers and “Uncle Bob” Robert Martin May be impossible […]

This week we’re talking about LINQ, what’s so special about .NET, the differences IQueryable and IEnumerable, and another round of “Never Have I Ever”. Oh, and jokes! Download the episode on iTunes or Stitcher and make sure to send us your feedback! What is LINQ? Language Integrated Query Common interface for working with data Famous […]

This week we’re trying to wrap our heads around open source software licensing. We discuss the main types of licenses (and a few of our favorites!), what it means to violate a license, and take a fun look at a few weird questions. Download the episode on iTunes or Stitcher and make sure to send […]

This week, we talk about OWASP and their list of top 10 application security risks. What they are, infamous examples, and what you can do about it. Download the episode on iTunes or Stitcher and make sure to send us your feedback. Thanks for listening! Show Notes Overview OWASP.org Top 10 culled from 100s organizations, […]

This episode is all about source control etiquette. It’s a bit different from the last two podcasts we released and we’d love to hear how you liked it! Subscribe on iTunes or Stitcher and make sure to send us your feedback! Show Notes Duration ~56 Discussion on Source Control Etiquette 00:00 – 25:09 A tale […]

This episode is all about boxing and unboxing. We discuss memory management, the pros (yes, there are a few!) and cons of boxing/unboxing, some of the weird side effects and how to you can avoid it with generics and ToString methods. Download the episode on iTunes or Stitcher and make sure to drop your feedback […]

The good, the bad, and the ugly side of interfaces. We list some minor gripes, their limitations, and some strange gotchas as well as some tips for how we like to (mis|ab)use them. Download the episode on iTunes or Stitcher. Show Notes Duration: ~44m What Are Interfaces? 0:00 – 5:21 Interfaces are a contract Interfaces […]