The Bike Shed

thoughtbot
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The Bike Shed Podcast

On The Bike Shed, hosts Joël Quenneville and Stephanie Minn discuss development experiences and challenges at thoughtbot with Ruby, Rails, JavaScript, and whatever else is drawing their attention, admiration, or ire this week.

  1. 4 DAYS AGO

    439: Async Ruby & Rails with Trevor Turk

    How can asynchronous programming transform your Ruby on Rails applications? Today, Stephanie sits down with Hello Weather co-creator Trevor Turk to unpack asynchronous programming in Ruby on Rails. Trevor Turk is a seasoned software developer known for his work on Hello Weather, a minimalist weather app that delivers essential weather data quickly and precisely. He’s also the creator of Weather Machine, an advanced weather data platform designed to serve reliable and highly accurate forecasts via API. With a background that includes work at innovative tech companies, Trevor brings years of experience in developing intuitive, user-friendly digital tools. Trevor talks about the focus of his API work, the complexity of web-based apps, and what makes Hello Weather unique. He explains the fundamentals of asynchronous programming within the Ruby on Rails framework and why it is an approach all programmers should consider. Explore the nuances of programming for different data sources, how he leverages fibers and threads for the Hello Weather platform, and why asynchronous programming is not a silver bullet for application development. Discover how to start using asynchronous methods, the various asynchronous tools available in Ruby, and why experimenting with concurrent programming is essential. Join us to gain insights into why including asynchronous tools is vital for the Ruby on Rails ecosystem, improving platforms through open-source development, how to help improve the adoption of asynchronous tools in Ruby, and more. Tune in now! Key Points From This Episode: Introduction to Turk and his background in Ruby on Rails. Details about his companies Hello Weather and Weather Machine. The innovative features that the Hello Weather platform offers. Hear how Hello Weather transitioned from a web-based to an application. Why he needed to alter his programming approach to scale the company. How he came across the concept of asynchronous programming. Discover how using fibers is different from using threads in Ruby. Find out about the different use cases of asynchronous programming. Learn about the benefits of implementing concurrent programming. Trevor shares the challenges of working with different versions of Ruby. His role in enhancing asynchronous methods within the Ruby framework. Common misconceptions of working with Ruby on Rails. Final takeaways for those interested in asynchronous programming. Links Mentioned in Today’s Episode: Trevor Turk on LinkedIn Trevor Turk on X Trevor Turk on Threads Hello Weather Weather Machine GitHub | async gem GitHub | falcon gem 'Async Ruby on Rails' load_async Episode 437: Contributing to Open Source in the Midst of Daily Work with Steve Polito GitHub | Action Cable server adapter ActiveRecord connection checkout caching Ruby on Rails
The Bike Shed The Bike Shed Joël Quenneville on LinkedIn Support The Bike Shed Support The Bike Shed

    34 min

  2. 3 SEPT

    438: Writing abstractions in tests

    Writing abstractions in tests can be surprisingly similar to storytelling. The most masterful stories are those where the author has stripped away all of the extra information, and given you just enough knowledge to be immersed and aware of what is going on. But striking that balance can be tricky, both in storytelling and abstractions in tests. Too much information and you risk overwhelming the reader. Too little and they won’t understand why things are operating the way they are. Today, Stephanie and Joël get into some of the more controversial practices around testing, why people use them, and how to strike the right balance with your information. They discuss the most common motivations for introducing abstractions, from improved readability to simplifying the test’s purpose and the types of tests where they are most likely to introduce abstractions. Our hosts also reflect on how they feel about different abstractions in tests – like custom matchers and shared examples – outlining when they reach for them, and the tradeoffs and benefits that come with each. To learn more about how to find the perfect level of abstraction, be sure to tune in! Key Points From This Episode: What’s new in Joël’s world; mocking out screens for processes or a new bit of UI. The new tool Stephanie’s using for reading on the web: Reader by Readwise. Today’s topic: controversial practices around testing. How Stephanie and Joël feel about looping through arrays and having IT blocks for each. The most common motivations for introducing abstractions or helper methods into your tests. Pros and cons of factories as abstractions in testing. Types of tests where Joël and Stephanie are more likely to introduce abstractions. Using page objects in system tests to improve user experience. Finding the balance between too little and too much information with abstraction in testing. Why Stephanie has been enjoying fancier matchers like RSpecs. Top uses of custom matchers, especially for specialized error messaging. Why Stephanie prefers custom matchers over shared examples. Using helper methods as a lighter version of abstraction. Differences and similarities between abstractions in tests versus application code. A reminder to keep your goals in mind when using abstraction. Links Mentioned in Today’s Episode: Reader by Readwise Why factories Why not factories Capybara at a single level of abstraction Writing custom RSpec matchers Value objects shared examples 'DRY is about knowledge' Joël Quenneville on LinkedIn Support The Bike Shed

    49 min

  3. 27 AUG

    437: Contributing to Open Source in the Midst of Daily Work with Steve Polito

    Are you passionate about open source but struggling to find time amidst your daily work? Today on the podcast, Joël Quenneville sits down with Steve Polito to discuss practical strategies for making meaningful contributions to the open-source community, even when your schedule is packed. Steve is a developer with extensive experience in the open-source world seamlessly. He’s known for his ability to integrate open-source contributions into his daily workflow, all while maintaining high productivity in his professional role. In our conversation, we explore balancing professional responsibilities with open-source contributions. Steve walks us through his process, from the importance of keeping notes to leveraging Rails issue templates. Discover strategies for contributing to open-source work during work hours, the benefits of utilizing existing processes, and why extending the success of your work to the larger developer community is essential. Join us to hear recommendations for handling pull requests with Ruby on Rails, tips for using reproduction scripts, why you should release reports early and often, and much more. Tune in and learn how to seamlessly integrate open-source contributions into your daily workflow with Steve Polito! Key Points From This Episode: Joël and Steve catch up and share what they are currently working on. Transitioning synchronous processing in a web request to the background. An update on Steve’s “building in public” approach and its reception at thoughtbot. How Steve chooses to document and track his development process. Find out how he uses templates to enhance and increase productivity. Why open-source work does not need to be done during your free time. Ways you can contribute to open-source projects during normal work hours. The benefits of sharing troubleshooting solutions with the open-source community. Pull request lessons from his time working with Ruby on Rails. Reasons why issues have a lower barrier to entry with Ruby on Rails. His unique approach of using issues, pull requests, and suspenders. Identifying aspects of everyday work that are suitable for open-source projects. Links Mentioned in Today’s Episode: Steve Polito Steve Polito on X Episode 351: Learning in Public Rails issue templates Suspenders Mermaid Ruby on Rails WorkOS thoughtbot Joel Quenneville on LinkedIn Support The Bike Shed

    35 min

  4. 13 AUG

    436: Creating Conditions For Your Best Work with Steph Viccari

    How can we optimize our time and environment to do our best work as developers? In today’s episode, we are joined by Stephanie Viccari, former co-host of The Bike Shed and Senior Developer at thoughtbot, to unpack the steps for creating work conditions that enhance productivity. In this conversation, we delve into her unique communication style and approach to optimizing productivity within a team. She explains why she decided to hang up her consulting hat and join the product team at Cisco Meraki, her new role there, and how her consulting skills benefit her new position. Tuning in, you’ll discover the key to empathetic communication, how to unblock yourself, tips to help you navigate different communication styles, and why you should advocate for your needs. Stephanie also shares strategies for effective communication and recommendations for managing ‘deep work’ when your time is limited. Gain valuable insights into how to uncover what makes your skillset unique, why it takes a team to manage complex software, benchmarking performance, keeping motivated during stressful times, and more. To learn how to create the conditions for your best work and unlock your full potential as a developer, don’t miss this episode with Stephanie Viccari! Key Points From This Episode: Catch up with Stephanie: what she’s been up to since leaving thoughtbot. How she mastered optimizing workflows and enhancing productivity. Similarities and differences between working as a consultant versus on a product team. Ways Stephanie’s mindset shifted from individual thinking to team-oriented strategies. Nuances of advocating for changes as a consultant versus within a product team. What software developers need to achieve their best work. The role of trust between managers and developers in effective problem-solving. Tips and recommendations for identifying and delivering your best work. Practical advice for doing your best work, even when you feel demotivated. Why it's important not to steal from tomorrow's productivity. Links Mentioned in Today’s Episode: Stephanie Viccari Stephanie Viccari on LinkedIn Stephanie Viccari on X Stephanie Viccari on GitHub Cisco Meraki thoughtbot Stephanie Viccari’s The Bike Shed’s Episodes ‘Generative AI is not going to build your engineering team for you’ Joel Quenneville on LinkedIn Support The Bike Shed

    43 min

  5. 30 JULY

    435: Cohesive Code with Jared Norman

    How easy is it for a layperson to understand your systems? Jared Norman is a software consultant, speaker, and host of the Dead Code Podcast who specializes in building e-commerce applications in Ruby on Rails. This episode follows two recent talks at RailsConf and covers a theme that emerged from both of them: coupling and cohesion. Tuning in, you’ll gain insights on how to create more cohesive components to allow for change and improve your understanding of value objects, systems, and more. You’ll also hear about navigating the complexity of domain-driven design and learn how to gauge if your code is easy to understand through a simple rule of thumb. We discuss what it might look like to improve the cohesion of individual objects, identify your systems’ seams to create simplicity, and the liminal space between inheritance and composition and the role of decorators in moving through it. Join us today to hear all this and more! Key Points From This Episode: Introducing Jared Norman recent speaker at RailsConf and Ruby on Rails specialist. Jared’s interests outside of coding: cycling. Themes that emerged from Jared and Stephanie’s talks: coupling and cohesion. A rule of thumb for achieving high cohesion. How value objects tie into the idea of cohesion. Creating more cohesive components in order to have code and systems that are easier to change. The relationships between objects in increasing cohesion and how complex nestings of objects can hinder this. Rearranging systems in order to find seams and create cohesion. Simplifying code in order to facilitate it working independently to support functionality. Improving systems by identifying opportunities for decoupling and other relationships. Inheritance, composition, and decorators and the liminal space between. The complexity of domain-driven design. A rule that indicates when a system is easy to understand. Links Mentioned in Today’s Episode: Jared Norman Jared Norman on X The Most Useful Design Pattern Dead Code So Writing Tests Feel Painful. What Now? Dungeons & Dragons & Rails by Joël Quenneville Building Reusable Object-Oriented Systems: Composition Debugging at the Boundaries Working Effectively with Legacy Code Growing Object-Oriented Software Guided by Tests What’s in a Name Joel Quenneville on LinkedIn Support The Bike Shed

    29 min

  6. 23 JULY

    434: Git and GitHub Workflows

    It's Calls for Proposals (CFP) season, and in the process of helping our friends and colleagues flesh out their CFPs, we came up with a few questions to help them frame their proposals for success. After learning about the importance of finding your audience and angle of approach for your CFP, we dive into today's main topic – our Git and GitHub workflows. Joel and Stephanie walk us through their current workflows before exploring the differences between main branch and future branch commits. Then, we explore commits editing and why it's okay to make mistakes, commit messages versus GitHub pull requests (PR), what you need to know if you're new to Git, and what you need to understand about PR sizes and Git merge strategies. To end, Joel shares the commit messages that satisfy him the most, and we discover how to make one's life easier when reviewing PRs. Key Points From This Episode: Our CFP framework of questions to help you build a winning proposal. Why it's important to understand who your audience is and who you're speaking to. Ascertaining your angle of approach - how will you tell your story? The ins and outs of Stephanie's current work life. How discipline and particularly, self-discipline relate to our Git and GitHub workflows. Understanding Joel and Stephanie's workflows - how they're similar and how they differ. The differences between main branch and future branch commits. Editing commits and editing commits history, and why it's okay to make mistakes. Commit messages versus GitHub pull requests (PR). Some advice and strategies for those who are new to Git. Discussing Git merge strategies, PR sizes, and online changes. Joel details the types of commit messages that he finds most satisfying. How to make your life easier when reviewing PRs. Links Mentioned in Today’s Episode: RubyConf Rubric 'Working Iteratively’ Good Commit Messages Shotgun Surgery 'Episode 401: Making the Right Thing Easy’ Joel Quenneville on X Joel Quenneville on LinkedIn Support The Bike Shed Support The Bike Shed

    48 min

  7. 16 JULY

    433: Riffing with Kasper Timm Hansen

    Have you ever wondered how improvisation can revolutionize coding? In today’s episode, Stephanie sits down with Kasper Timm Hansen to discuss his innovative “riffing” approach to code development. Kasper is a long-time Ruby developer and former member of the Rails core team. He focuses on Ruby and domain modeling, developing various Ruby gems, and providing consulting services in the developer space. He has become renowned for his approach of “riffing” to software development, particularly in the Ruby on Rails framework. In our conversation, we delve into his unique approach to coding, how it differs from traditional methods, and the benefits of improvisation to code development. Discover the “feeling” part of riffing, the steps to uncovering relationships between models, and why it is okay not to know how to do something. Explore how riffing enhances collaboration, improves communication with and between teams, identifies alternative code, why “clever code” does not make for good solutions, and much more! Tune in to learn how to take your coding skills to the next level and uncover the magic of riffing with Kasper Timm Hansen! Key Points From This Episode: Introduction to Kasper, his background in Ruby, and experience as a consultant. An overview of his RailsConf 2024 presentation on domain modeling. His motivation behind his presentation and the overall reception of the concept. Unpack the concept of “riffing” with code as a developer. Insights into his methodology and how it differs from traditional approaches. Examples of “riffing" and how it benefits the development process. How he determines the best code to implement during his process. Kasper shares how he frames problems and builds solutions. Ways riffing highlights gaps in skillsets early in the development process. Hear about the various ways riffing fosters and improves collaboration. Unpack how riffing can help developers communicate more effectively. Balancing the demands of code review with the riffing approach. Final takeaways for listeners and how to contact Kasper to begin riffing! Links Mentioned in Today’s Episode: Kasper on Github, Mastodon, LinkedIn, and X Riffing on Rails RailsConf talk and slides Riffing on Spotify’s generated mixes with Jeremy Smith Modeling a Kanban board with riffing Some of Kasper's open source work: ActiveRecord Associated Object ActiveJob Performs Oaken Support The Bike Shed

    37 min

  8. 9 JULY

    432: The Semantics and Meaning of Nil

    The term ‘nil’ refers to the absence of value, but we often imbue it with much more meaning than just that. Today, hosts Joël and Stephanie discuss the various ways we tend to project extra semantics onto nil and the implications of this before unpacking potential alternatives and trade-offs. Joël and Stephanie highlight some of the key ways programmers project additional meaning onto nil (and why), like when it’s used to create a guest session, and how this can lead to bugs, confusion, and poor user experiences. They discuss solutions to this problem, like introducing objects for improved readability, before taking a closer look at the implications of excessive guard clauses in code. Our hosts also explore the three-state Boolean problem, illustrating the pitfalls of using nullable Booleans, and why you should use default values in your database. Joël then shares insights from the Elm community and how it encourages rigorous checks and structured data modeling to manage nil values effectively.

They advocate for using nil only to represent truly optional data, cautioning against overloading nil with additional meanings that can compromise code clarity and reliability. Joël also shares a fun example of modeling a card deck, explaining why you might be tempted to add extra semantics onto nil, and why the joker always inevitably ends up causing chaos!
 Key Points From This Episode The project Joël is working on and why he’s concerned about bugs and readability. Potential solutions for a confusing constant definition in a nested module. A client work update from Stephanie: cleaning up code and removing dead dependencies. How she used Figjam to discover dependencies and navigate her work. Today’s topic: how programmers project extra semantics onto nil. What makes nil really tricky to use, like forcing you to go down a default path. How nil sweeps the cases you don’t want to think too hard about under the rug. Extra semantics that accompany nil (that you might not know about) like a guest session. Examples of how these semantics mean different things in different contexts. How these can lead to bugs, hard-to-find knowledge, confusion, and poor user experiences. Introducing objects to replace extra nil semantics, improve readability, and other solutions. Some of the reasons why programmers tend to project extra semantics onto nil. How to notice that nil has additional meanings, and when to model it differently. The implications of excessive guard clauses in code. An overview of the three-state Boolean problem with nullable Booleans. Connecting with the Elm community: how it can help you conduct more rigorous checks. Some of the good reasons to have nil as a value in your database. The benefits of using nil only to represent truly optional data. Links Mentioned in Today’s Episode Figjam Miro 'Working Iteratively' blog post Mermaid.js Draw.io Check your return values (web) Check your return values (API) Primitive obsession 'Avoid the Three-state Boolean Problem' Elm Community 'The Shape of Data': Modeling a deck of cards The Bike Shed Joël Quenneville on LinkedIn Support The Bike Shed

    38 min
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Ratings & Reviews

4.5
out of 5
4 Ratings

About

On The Bike Shed, hosts Joël Quenneville and Stephanie Minn discuss development experiences and challenges at thoughtbot with Ruby, Rails, JavaScript, and whatever else is drawing their attention, admiration, or ire this week.

Information

  • Creator
    thoughtbot
  • Years Active
    2014 - 2024
  • Episodes
    439
  • Rating
    Clean
  • Copyright
    © 2024 The Bike Shed
  • Show Website
    The Bike Shed

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