Fallthrough Media

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Channel • 3 Shows

Technology

Technology

Updated Weekly
Technology

Technology

Updated Weekly
Technology

Technology

Updated 3d ago

JAN 16

When Reality Drifts

Nick Gerace, Engineering Manager at System Initiative, joins Kris and Matt to explore what infrastructure management looks like beyond Terraform. Nick walks us through how System Initiative differs from traditional IaC, why git isn't really your source of truth, and how the company pivoted to AI-first tooling. The conversation turns to Claude Code and MCP tools before landing on a nuanced discussion about distributed systems, and how the messy, eventual consistency of real life mirrors the systems we build. As always, we've got supporter content! This week that includes deep dives into System Initiative's architecture evolution from Postgres to a custom graph database, Nick's passionate defense of domain-driven design in Rust monorepos ("if I see a util directory, I go a little nuts"), why AI won't replace musicians (or you), and a spicy take on AI, capitalism, and power structures. Not a supporter yet? Fix that today by heading over to https://fallthrough.fm/subscribe where you'll get not only extra content but also higher quality audio. Sign up today! If you prefer to watch this episode, you can view it on YouTube. This week's episode of Break continues the conversation. Nick sticks around as the hosts compare audio engineering backgrounds, discuss the IC to manager journey, and take a hard turn into hardware—dual 3090 TIs with NVLink, the case for water cooling, Kris's absurd home lab, and everyone's temptation toward Framework Desktops and Mac Studios. Watch it on YouTube or listen with your favorite podcasting app! Learn more by going to https://break.show/24. Thanks for tuning in and happy listening! Table of Contents: Prologue (00:00:00)Chapter 1: Meet Nick Gerace (00:01:21)Chapter 2: The Power of Networking (00:05:38)Chapter 3: What is System Initiative? (00:14:54)Chapter 4: Terraform vs System Initiative (00:19:58)Chapter 5: Git Isn't Your Source of Truth (00:25:47)Chapter 6: SI Architecture: From Postgres to Graph [Extended] (00:34:47)Chapter 7: Rust Monorepos & Domain-Driven Design [Extended] (00:35:10)Chapter 10: AI Won't Replace Musicians (or You) [Extended] (00:35:34)Chapter 12: AI, Capitalism & Power Structures [Extended] (00:36:03)Chapter 8: The AI Pivot at System Initiative (00:37:14)Chapter 9: Claude Code & MCP Tools (00:47:30)Chapter 11: Distributed Systems Are Just Real Life (00:54:13)Chapter 13: Data Centers, Water & Nuance (01:00:20)Epilogue (01:08:11) Hosts Kris Brandow - Host Matthew Sanabria - Host Nick Gerace - Guest Socials:WebsiteBlueskyThreadsX/TwitterLinkedInInstagram (00:00) - Prologue (01:21) - Chapter 1: Meet Nick Gerace (05:38) - Chapter 2: The Power of Networking (14:54) - Chapter 3: What is System Initiative? (19:58) - Chapter 4: Terraform vs System Initiative (25:47) - Chapter 5: Git Isn't Your Source of Truth (34:47) - Chapter 6: SI Architecture: From Postgres to Graph [Extended] (35:10) - Chapter 7: Rust Monorepos & Domain-Driven Design [Extended] (35:34) - Chapter 10: AI Won't Replace Musicians (or You) [Extended] (36:03) - Chapter 12: AI, Capitalism & Power Structures [Extended] (37:14) - Chapter 8: The AI Pivot at System Initiative (47:30) - Chapter 9: Claude Code & MCP Tools (54:13) - Chapter 11: Distributed Systems Are Just Real Life (01:00:20) - Chapter 13: Data Centers, Water & Nuance (01:08:11) - Epilogue

Jan 16

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1h 10m
JAN 10

New Year, New Nuance

New Year, New Nuance! In this episode, Kris and Matt discuss what they're looking forward to in 2026—Matt shares the exciting news that he's becoming a dad, and the duo explore the value of growth, changing your opinions, and adding more nuance to how you see the world. They talk about what they're excited to build this year, from physical projects like woodworking and doors to the podcast platform they keep talking about. Kris shares how a conversation with Claude finally made electricity click, leading to a broader discussion about LLMs as "digital librarians" and what education should really be about: teaching you how to teach yourself. As always, we've got supporter content! This week that includes deep dives into local AI infrastructure, home networking with 10G and WireGuard, and a spicy rant about why centralized package management is fundamentally broken. Not a supporter yet? Fix that today by heading over to https://fallthrough.fm/subscribe where you'll get not only extra content but also higher quality audio. Sign up today! If you prefer to watch this episode, you can view it on YouTube. This week's episode of break continues the conversation. Where the two reflect on AI doomerism's mental health toll, why things aren't worse than before, the logistics behind society's real problems, and turning waste into opportunity with BASF's Verbund principle. Watch it on YouTube or listen with your favorite podcasting app! Learn more by going to https://break.show/23. Thanks for tuning in and happy listening! Table of Contents: Prologue (00:00:00)Chapter 1: Matt's Becoming a Dad (00:03:06)Chapter 2: Growth & Changing Your Opinions (00:06:39)Chapter 3: Adding More Nuance in 2026 (00:15:44)Chapter 4: What We're Excited to Build (00:24:57)Chapter 5: Learning How Things Work: Electricity (00:30:21)Chapter 6: LLMs as Digital Librarians (00:39:05)Chapter 7: The Real Purpose of Education (00:51:44)Chapter 8: Local AI Infrastructure & Home Networking [Extended] (00:58:38)Chapter 9: The Centralization Problem in Package Management [Extended] (00:59:30)Epilogue (00:59:39) Hosts Kris Brandow - Host Matthew Sanabria - Host Socials:WebsiteBlueskyThreadsX/TwitterLinkedInInstagram (00:00) - Prologue (03:06) - Chapter 1: Matt's Becoming a Dad (06:39) - Chapter 2: Growth & Changing Your Opinions (15:44) - Chapter 3: Adding More Nuance in 2026 (24:57) - Chapter 4: What We're Excited to Build (30:21) - Chapter 5: Learning How Things Work: Electricity (39:05) - Chapter 6: LLMs as Digital Librarians (51:44) - Chapter 7: The Real Purpose of Education (58:38) - Chapter 8: Local AI Infrastructure & Home Networking [Extended] (59:30) - Chapter 9: The Centralization Problem in Package Management [Extended] (59:39) - Epilogue

Jan 10

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1h 1m
12/31/2025

Stack Trace 2025

We decided to do our own wrap up for the year. We've called it Stack Trace, and we pulled a bunch of stats from the first year of Fallthrough. In this episode, Kris, Matt, and Dylan talk through these stats and how they feel about Fallthrough's first year. If you prefer to watch this episode, you can view it on YouTube. This week's episode of break continues the conversation. Watch it on YouTube or listen with your favorite podcasting app! Learn more by going to https://break.show/22. In this week's bonus content, we've got some extra stats! Not a supporter yet? Fix that today by heading over to https://fallthrough.fm/subscribe where you'll get not only extra content but also higher quality audio. Sign up today! Thanks for tuning in and happy listening! Table of Contents: Prologue (00:00:00)Chapter 1: A Year of Fallthrough In Stats (00:03:37)Chapter 2: Better and Smaller Platforms (00:36:28)Chapter 3: Who Had The Longest Monologues? (00:41:33)Chapter 4: It's Different In The Moment (00:49:13)Chapter 5: The Spicy Content That Wasn't (00:54:16)Chapter 6: More Stats! [Extended] (01:00:48)Chapter 7: Thinking About The Future (01:01:05)Epilogue (01:12:35) Hosts Kris Brandow - Host Dylan Bourque - Host Matthew Sanabria - Host Socials:WebsiteBlueskyThreadsX/TwitterLinkedInInstagram (00:00) - Prologue (03:37) - Chapter 1: A Year of Fallthrough In Stats (36:28) - Chapter 2: Better and Smaller Platforms (41:33) - Chapter 3: Who Had The Longest Monologues? (49:13) - Chapter 4: It's Different In The Moment (54:16) - Chapter 5: The Spicy Content That Wasn't (01:00:48) - Chapter 6: More Stats! [Extended] (01:01:05) - Chapter 7: Thinking About The Future (01:12:35) - Epilogue

12/31/2025

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1h 16m
02/17/2025

Patching Problems with Persnickety Proxies Purveyed by Paternalistic Princes

A recent Ars Technica article outlined a backdoor in the Go Module Mirror. Even though it's framed as a backdoor, and potentially a vulnerability, it's actually an exploit of a design choice designers of the module mirror made. Kris is joined by Matthew, Dylan, and guest host Jamie Tanna, to discuss this vulnerability-but-actually-feature, the implications for the Go community, and the wider reasons why something like this happened. We go on a journey through the history of modules, the Go community, and a whole lot more. We know this is a long one but we're sure you'll love it! Have thoughts? Reach out to us on social media and let us hear them! Thanks for tuning in and happy listening! Notes & Links: Go Module Mirror served backdoor to devs for 3+ yearsGo Supply Chain Attack: Malicious Package Exploits Go Module Proxy Caching for PersistenceAbusing Go's infrastructure (from 8:38)#66653: x/pkgsite: links can point at source code that may not match what is served by the module proxyopenapi.tanna.dev/go/validator (from 22:15)#44550: proposal: cmd/go: make major versions optional in import paths (from 1:15:56)Comment from aboveSourceHut will (not) blacklist the Go module mirror (from 9:19)Chapters: (00:05) - Intro (01:38) - Introducing Jamie Tanna (02:21) - The vulnerability that's actually a feature (04:53) - The Go Module Mirror (14:02) - Paternalism (21:14) - What are vanity URLs? (23:02) - Not just the official Go Module Mirror (27:58) - Unforgiving Module Proxies (29:23) - #BringBackGOPATH (29:36) - Tags are mutable (33:44) - What does a version mean? (35:10) - Jamie's Hot Take (38:20) - The Trails and Tribulations of Modules (42:03) - It's humans! (44:40) - How might we fix this? (49:12) - Is it too easy to fetch dependencies? (52:25) - Decentralized versus Centralized (57:24) - A Proxy is not an Origin (01:03:14) - Can we revalidate? (01:05:14) - I can't believe it's not SemVer! (01:06:34) - Analogy Time, featuring The Web! (01:09:25) - Is this a problem elsewhere? (01:12:20) - The tooling should be better (01:16:47) - The Community that was (01:23:06) - Matthew's Is Go Dead? Perspective (01:23:59) - Jamie's Is Go Dead? Perspective (01:25:19) - What does Dead mean? (01:28:23) - Go should be able to do more (01:31:22) - Go as an identity (01:32:33) - Some added nuance (01:39:18) - A difference in leadership (01:43:03) - A lack of inclusion (01:57:34) - Blame the system, not the person (02:03:00) - Outro Hosts Kris Brandow - Host Dylan Bourque - Host Matthew Sanabria - Host Jamie Tanna - Host Socials:WebsiteBlueskyThreadsX/TwitterLinkedInInstagram

02/17/2025

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2h 7m
01/13/2025

The Gems & Warts of Go

Gems are the things we love, and warts are the things we don't. On today's episode, Kris is joined by the hosting panel of Ian, Matt, and Dylan and they are talking about the gems and warts of Go. From defer, to net/http, to vanity URLs, to modules, we cover around 30 topics! To prevent our listeners/viewers from returning an E_TOO_MANY_UNPOPS error, we didn't include the Unpopular Opinions segment (there are plenty throughout the episode). We hope you enjoy this tangent filled episode. Have a gem or wart you agree/disagree with or think we missed a few? Let us know on social media or in the comments! Thank you so much for listening. Happy listening! Notes & Links: Chandler Carruth's CPPcon talk (from 40:44)Go x/tools/guru (from 43:36)Since deprecated, however this functionality is included in gopls.go/analysis (from 47:19)go/x/tools/cmd/eg (from 1:47:25)go/x/tools/refactor/egeg documentationChapters: (00:00) - Intro (00:31) - Introductions (05:07) - Gem#1: net/http (07:37) - Gem#2: defer (gem) (09:36) - PEBKAC (tangent) (11:36) - Gem#3: if err != nil (gem) (16:09) - Gem#4: testing included (gem) (19:13) - Gem#5: struct field tags (gem) (21:57) - Gem#6: reflect & unsafe (gem) (24:35) - Gem#7: sync/atomic (gem) (24:54) - Gem#8: io as composeable interfaces (gem) (25:32) - Gem#9: No inheritance (gem) (31:20) - Gem#10: Vanity URLs (gem) (34:33) - Gem#11: single for loop (gem) (37:08) - Gem#12: pprof (gem) (38:25) - Gem#13: security by default (gem) (40:01) - Gem#14: fast compiler times (gem) (41:16) - Gem#15: go/ast & go/* packages (gem) (42:05) - Gem#16: implicit interfaces (gem) (42:38) - Wart#1: implicit interfaces (wart) (48:37) - Wart#2: slice tricks (wart) (54:10) - Wart#3: lack of method overloads (wart) (56:57) - Wart#4: covariance for array parameters (wart) (59:38) - Wart#5: encoding/json marshalling unexported fields (wart) (01:01:27) - Wart#6: encoding/json marshalling errors (wart) (01:02:31) - Wart#7: single letter variable names (wart) (01:08:45) - Wart#8: iota (wart) (01:16:09) - Wart#9: map operations (wart) (01:18:23) - Gem#17: structs as map keys (gem) (01:20:04) - Wart#10: main function signature (wart) (01:23:35) - Gem/Wart#1: channels (gem & wart) (01:30:38) - Wart#11: range loop variables (wart) (01:34:31) - Wart#12: no standard build system (wart) (01:38:09) - Wart#13: modules (wart) (01:53:18) - Outro Hosts Kris Brandow - Host Ian Wester-Lopshire - Host Dylan Bourque - Host Matthew Sanabria - Host Socials:WebsiteBlueskyThreadsX/TwitterLinkedInInstagram

01/13/2025

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1h 57m
12/25/2025

Worse Is Better

There's a famous joke essay called Worse Is Better, which compares the New Jersey and the MIT ideologies. In this episode, Kris and Matt discuss these two different ideologies and how they show up in technology, from Go, to dependency management, to electric vehicles. If you prefer to watch this episode, you can view it on YouTube. This week's episode of break continues the conversation. Watch it on YouTube or listen with your favorite podcasting app! Learn more by going to https://break.show/21. In this week's bonus content, the duo discusses how idealistic thinking has slowed down the adoption of electric vehicles and what a better path forward might have looked like. Not a supporter yet? Fix that today by heading over to https://fallthrough.fm/subscribe where you'll get not only extra content but also higher quality audio. Sign up today! Thanks for tuning in and happy listening! Show Notes: Worse Is BetterSimple Made EasyLess Is Exponentially MoreGo += Package VersioninggovulncheckThe Bizarre Logic of the F-150 Lightning Table of Contents: Prologue (00:00:00)Chapter 1: Worse Is Better? (00:02:58)Chapter 2: Go Got Stranded In The Middle (00:10:39)Chapter 3: SemVer Is Fundamentally Broken (00:33:32)Chapter 4: We Don't Live In The Ideal World (00:47:19)Chapter 5: BEVs vs EREVs [Extended] (00:56:26)Chapter 6: Holistic vs Deep (00:56:58)Epilogue (01:01:39) Hosts Kris Brandow - Host Matthew Sanabria - Host Socials:WebsiteBlueskyThreadsX/TwitterLinkedInInstagram (00:00) - Prologue (02:58) - Chapter 1: Worse Is Better? (10:39) - Chapter 2: Go Got Stranded In The Middle (33:32) - Chapter 3: SemVer Is Fundamentally Broken (47:19) - Chapter 4: We Don't Live In The Ideal World (56:26) - Chapter 5: BEVs vs EREVs [Extended] (56:58) - Chapter 6: Holistic vs Deep (01:01:39) - Epilogue

12/25/2025

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1h 3m
12/05/2025

Ghostting Is Better Than Shelling

We've had Mitchell Hashimoto on a couple episodes, and each time we've discussed his vision for libghostty. In this episode, Kris and Matt talk about what the vision for libghostty actually means for the industry as a whole and the power of platforms. The duo also covers the new models that have dropped and how they see using the various models that have become available. If you prefer to watch this episode, you can view it on YouTube: https://youtu.be/XbjmqlSWlKI. This week's episode of break continues the conversation, where they continue this conversation and talk about how we're all becoming writers. Watch it on YouTube or listen with your favorite podcasting app! Learn more by going to https://break.show/18. We've got a new format for the bonus content snippets in this episode. All of them are together in the middle of the episode, with a small intro and outro around them. In this week's bonus content the duo discusses how AI might help save Stack Overflow, how it's making us write more specifications for software, and how it might lead to a much more viable funding model for the web. Not a supporter yet? Fix that today by heading over to https://fallthrough.fm/subscribe where you'll get not only extra content but also higher quality audio. Sign up today! Thanks for tuning in and happy listening! Table of Contents: Prologue (00:00:00)Chapter 1: New Models & How We Use Them (00:02:28)Chapter 2: AI Will Help StackOverflow [Extended] (00:35:27)Chapter 3: Software Engineering Is About Writing Specifications [Extended] (00:35:59)Chapter 4: A Better Funding Model For The Web [Extended] (00:36:38)Chapter 5: SSH Out, libghostty In (00:37:37)Chapter 6: New Segment Type? (01:01:04)Epilogue (01:04:56) Hosts Kris Brandow - Host Matthew Sanabria - Host Socials:WebsiteBlueskyThreadsX/TwitterLinkedInInstagram (00:00) - Prologue (02:28) - Chapter 1: New Models & How We Use Them (35:27) - Chapter 2: AI Will Help StackOverflow [Extended] (35:59) - Chapter 3: Software Engineering Is About Writing Specifications [Extended] (36:38) - Chapter 4: A Better Funding Model For The Web [Extended] (37:37) - Chapter 5: SSH Out, libghostty In (01:01:04) - Chapter 6: New Segment Type? (01:04:56) - Epilogue

12/05/2025

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1h 10m
03/31/2025

What Even Is A Senior Software Engineer?

What does it mean to be a senior (or staff) software engineer? How are we preparing the next generation of software engineers to maintain the software we've created? In this episode, Matt and Kris are joined by Bill Kennedy to discuss tech communities, training software engineers, the landscape of learning, how artificial intelligence is affecting it all, and so much more. Supporters get access to an extended conversation with Bill, where we get into more depth on artificial intelligence, the Go team, and more! You can get access by signing up at https://fallthrough.fm/subscribe. Thanks for tuning in and happy listening! Notes: The Market for LemonsTable of Contents: Prologue (01:10)Intros & The Rain (01:10)Mr. Gopher Man (02:35)Introducing Bill Kennedy (03:08)Chapter 1: Tech Communities & Software Engineer Training (04:57)From Ultimate Go to Ultimate Software Design Live (04:57)Software Engineers & Criticism (10:01)Saying The Wrong Things (15:12)The Times Have Changed (16:08)You Learn More From Your Mistakes (24:44)Chapter 2: The Learning Landscape (28:25)The trouble with senior engineering (30:10)The difference between programming and coding (35:04)What is legacy? (39:19)It's All About Packages (44:06)Expanding Into Rust (51:23)Chapter 3: Giving Back (59:43)Sustaining open source projects (59:43)Chapter 4: Passing The Baton (01:13:28)The need for written documentation (01:27:50)What AI can do for you (01:33:50)When do you do something? (01:40:57)Epilogue (01:50:05)Helicopter taxi (01:50:34) Hosts Kris Brandow - Host Matthew Sanabria - Host Bill Kennedy - Guest Socials:WebsiteBlueskyThreadsX/TwitterLinkedInInstagram (01:10) - Prologue (04:57) - Chapter 1: Tech Communities & Software Engineer Training (28:25) - Chapter 2: The Learning Landscape (59:43) - Chapter 3: Giving Back (01:13:28) - Chapter 4: Passing The Baton (01:50:05) - Epilogue

03/31/2025

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1h 53m
01/20/2025

Do We Think You Should Learn To Code?

For years we've been told that everyone needs to learn to code. As career software people, what are our thoughts on this? Should you learn to code? Is coding the right career for you? In this first episode of a two part series, the panel discusses how they learned to code, whether they think everyone should learn to code, and of course they offer up some unpopular opinions. And if you're thinking, "I already know how to code", don't worry, this episode contains valuable advice for you as well. As always thanks for tuning in and happy listening! Notes & Links: Ben Eater's YouTube Channel (from 53:00)John Carmack's Fast Inverse Square Root (from 1:01:47)This is actually from Quake, not Doom.Change Interviews #581 It's Not Always DNS (from 1:04:15)Chapters: (00:00) - Intro (01:33) - How're we doing? (04:41) - Why did we learn to code? (06:10) - Why Kris learned to code (07:44) - Why Ian learned to code (08:54) - Why Dylan learned to code (10:36) - Why Matthew learned to code (14:22) - Computer Assembly Not Required (16:51) - Tangent: Why Are USB-C Cables? (17:36) - Should you focus on a specific language? (22:45) - Do you want to solve problems? (24:53) - Coding & Woodworking (27:09) - Curiosity & Itches that need scratching (31:07) - What do we mean when we say "code"? (32:34) - You should learn Excel (39:35) - Coding Is Configuring Computers (43:32) - Discrete Math, Not Binary (47:03) - Learn the low level stuff... eventually (53:42) - The desire to learn (57:41) - Sidequest: Networking (01:05:52) - Learning Design & Being Load Bearing (01:12:10) - Continual Learning (01:14:33) - What of AI and Automation? (01:21:49) - Share What You Learn (01:24:24) - Should You Learn To Code? (01:24:57) - Teaser: Episode 5 - Is Coding The Career For You? (01:26:02) - Unpopular Opinions (01:26:08) - Matthew's Unpop (01:28:51) - Ian's Unpop (01:29:29) - Dylan's Unpop (01:33:52) - Kris' Unpop (01:36:50) - Tangent: Chopper? (01:37:27) - Outro Hosts Kris Brandow - Host Ian Wester-Lopshire - Host Dylan Bourque - Host Matthew Sanabria - Host Socials:WebsiteBlueskyThreadsX/TwitterLinkedInInstagram

01/20/2025

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1h 39m
02/10/2025

What's New In Go 1.24?

Go's steady cycle of releasing new versions every six months continues. On this episode, our "What's new in Go?" correspondent (a carry over from Go Time) joins special guest host Johnny Boursiquot to talk about the new features and changes coming in Go 1.24. As always, we've got some great unpopular opinions at the end. Thanks for tuning in and happy listening! Notes & Links: Carlana's WebsiteTime Is Not A Synchronization Primitive (from 19:04)sqlc (from 1:05:01)Chapters: (00:00) - Intro (02:20) - Introducing Carlana (03:29) - What's New In Go 1.24? (04:02) - package weak (10:17) - package runtime (16:55) - testing (27:37) - package os (32:28) - go tool (37:58) - generic type aliases (41:35) - minor changes (52:25) - Unpopular Opinions (52:35) - Carlana's Unpop (56:36) - Johnny's Unpop (01:05:43) - Outro Hosts Kris Brandow - Producer Johnny Boursiquot - Host Carlana Johnson - Guest Socials:WebsiteBlueskyThreadsX/TwitterLinkedInInstagram

02/10/2025

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1h 6m

A deep and nuanced conversational podcast focused on technology, software, and computing.

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Break is a Fallthrough aftershow, where Kris and Matt discuss the shows we record and other random topics.

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Top Shows

When Reality Drifts

New Year, New Nuance

Stack Trace 2025

Patching Problems with Persnickety Proxies Purveyed by Paternalistic Princes

The Gems & Warts of Go

Worse Is Better

Ghostting Is Better Than Shelling

What Even Is A Senior Software Engineer?

Do We Think You Should Learn To Code?

What's New In Go 1.24?

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[Break] You're Now Less Wrong About REST

The AI Marketing Problem

Magic Numbers Take Down The Internet

Worse Is Better

New Year, New Nuance

APIs: Design Imperfectly, Improve Relentlessly

Ghostting Is Better Than Shelling

Mitchell Hashimoto's opinions of GitHub and AI

The Intersection of Software & Law

Loading Rocket Fuel Into Highly Explosive Rockets (with Go)

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