My Favorite Ruby Rogues Episodes - Personal Growth
The previous post was about book club episodes. This post is about episodes that discuss methods and perspectives that can help you grow as an individual developer.
Becoming a Better Developer
009 RR What Makes Beautiful Code
A discussion of what the panelists consider to be beautiful code. Very subjective yet interesting opinions.
A discussion about what technical debt is, and what factors should be considered when making a decision to take that debt.
016 RR Becoming a Better Developer
What does it mean to be a good developer? How does one become a better developer? Each panelist discusses his point of view.
030 RR Software Craftsmanship with Noel Rappin
Software craftmanship refers to the style of painstakingly building a masterpiece software, as opposed to building something that is just good enough to work without breaking down. What are pros and cons of this approach?
034 RR Benchmarking and Profiling
Why are benchmarking and profiling necessary, and when should they be used for which purpose?
Why does estimation always fail horribly? How can we remedy it as developers?
039 RR Programming Language Fundamentals
Each language gives you unique and fundamental knowledge and perspective. You should never settle on just one language. Explore.
047 RR Coding Disciplines with Dan Kubb
Try different coding styles by setting constraints to yourself, and see how those constraints affect you. It’s an application of scientific method of trial and error in finding better coding practices. All code is experimental.
077 RR Complexity with Glenn Vanderburg
Complexity is so hard to deal with for us that by default human brain responds to it by simplifying the problem - often overly so. But what are the costs of such oversimplification? This concerns not just programming but also interpersonal complexities.
086 RR Learning From The Past with Arlen Walker
It’s important to learn from past mistakes. You will still make bad code despite following good principles, but it’s still better than making bad code by following bad principles.
129 RR Sharpening Tools with Ben Orenstein
Try to improve your toolset - both technological and mental - every day to improve your efficiency.
Some methodologies about how to approach learning in a more effective way.
Being passionate or emotional about programming is dumb. Be professional and enthusiastic about it instead.
150 RR The Debugging Mindset with Danielle Sucher
Approach debugging as an investigative process. Read error messages and reason about their causes, instead of acting on your gut feelings about what might be wrong.
160 RR Conceptualizing Code with Sam Livingston-Gray and Glenn Vanderburg
Holding abstract model about how your code works is a critical skill for a programmer. Give more thoughts to it and how you would cultivate it.
164 RR Staying Sharp with Dave Thomas
If you’re new, get proficient with one language or framework or what. Beyond that, keep exposing yourself to new ideas to stay sharp.
What kind of different ways of thinking do different languages, such as Go, Closure, Rust, JavaScript, or Erlang, offer?
The panelists discuss how they evaluate themselves and what would be good ways to do that.
177 RR Creativity and Technology Technology
Engaging creative activities outside coding often helps with coding. Trying to apply patterns from activities different from coding yields interesting results.
For all their confidence in engineering rigor, programmers are not so scientific at all. The panelists discuss interesting findings from studies on software development, and how they are dissonant with beliefs commonly held by programmers.
186 RR The 4 Rules of Simple Design with Corey Haines
Four solid design principles that are worth discussing about. One, it should work and pass tests. Two, code clearly shows its intent. Three, no duplication. Four, be concise.
204 RR Limerence with Dave Thomas
What are pros and cons of getting infatuated with certain languages or tools?
217 RR Architecture Without an End State with Michael Nygard
Don’t build for a grand end state five years down the road. The market changes, your company organization changes. Instead build something that works for right now. Yes, in other words, be agile in its original sense.
226 RR The Leprechauns of Software Engineering with Laurent Bossavit
A discussion about widely held myths in software engineering that are not scientifically confirmed or studied at all. For example, 10x programmer or remote work affecting productivity.
A broad discussion about the value, tools, methodologies, and strategies for refactoring.
241 RR What Makes a Great Developer with Phil Spitler
Participants discuss how good, great, and successful developers mean different things, and what skill sets does one need to be a great developer.
263 RR Programmer Education and Skill Development with Tom Stuart
A discussion about how understanding the fundamentals of computer science can help you learn better, and the importance of noticing changes in software development environment, such as end of Moore’s law and rise of multi-core computing.