When it comes to building distributed systems, RPC and REST style interfaces aren't the only options. Events provide an alternative way to build a distributed system that can result in more robust systems that are easier to extend and deploy, while reducing the chances of a single bottlenecked service taking down the entire system. In this episode,…

From deploying WebAssembly all over the world, to using SQLite to keep track of distributed data, to blowing glass, this episode is quite the adventure! Your co-hosting power duo of Matt and Angelica are joined by Danielle Lancashire, a Principal Engineer at Fermyon, to navigate this discussion filled with insights and advice. This episode's extend…

From implementing minesweeper on a TI calculator to becoming a prolific open source maintainer, Evan Phoenix has had quite the journey. In this week's episode, Matt & Angelica sit down with Evan to discuss his journey, from his early days writing basic on his TI calculator, to writing an alternative implementation of Ruby, being GitHub user #7, bec…

Little languages are powerful. From text processing with AWK to calculations with APL, domain specific languages help us do things more concisely and with more precision than with other languages. Anthony Starks knows this well, as he's designed several little languages, including decksh, the focus of this episode, which allows users to create powe…

Maintaining software is challenging, but monetizing it while properly valuing your time complicate matters even more. Doing all of this for open source projects is a challenge that few have figured out. In this week's episode Matt and Angelica are joined by Carlos Becker to discuss maintaining and monetizing open source projects, what it's like to …

Most of us write code for servers and systems with terabytes of storage and gigabytes of RAM. This week, we're talking about Go in the small. Patricio Whittingslow joins Dylan and Angelica to discuss how he got started with Tiny Go; how he's used Go in software ranging from trajectory simulations to rocket fueling systems to rocket engine fuel inje…

Fallthrough is a podcast about having conversations in public, and over the last 3 months we've shipped 15 of them! In this episode, Kris, Ian, and Matt sit down to discuss the podcast so far: what we've enjoyed, the feedback we've gotten, how we produce episodes, and so much more. We're excited to take a look at the first 15 episodes we've produce…

APIs are built, not born, so how do we go about actually building them? Well, it starts with design. In this episode, Kris and Ian are joined by Jamie Tanna to talk about API design. From creating a theory of your API, through building its foundation, to actively prototyping as you design, the panel discusses what they've learned over the years to …

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 …

Software is hard to build. From knowing which regulations apply to us to understanding what's in our software, there's a lot to learn. On top of that, regulation is coming for all of us. In this episode, Luis Villa joins Kris, Ian, and Angelica, to discuss the laws and regulations that will change the way that you build and deploy software. We disc…

Communities play a vital role in our technical and non-technical lives, but how much thought have we put into what makes these spaces valuable? In this episode, Kris is joined by the panel and Kelsey Hightower to discuss communities and their intersection with the digital and non-digital world. Supporters get access to an extended conversation with…

There are Web APIs everywhere, from the classic REST/HTTP, to GraphQL, to gRPC, we rely on them to get things done each and every day. But how much do we think about the design of these APIs? How do you document an API once you've created it? What even is versioning? Do we really understand HTTP? In this episode, Kris and the panel are joined by Ja…

We all have tools that make our lives better. Software tools, hardware tools, and everything in between. In this episode, Matt is joined by Kris, Ian, and Dylan to discuss some of their favorite tools, what they use them for, and why they chose them. Want to hear about the tools we don't like? Become a supporter and enjoy bonus content and higher q…

What's a terminal? Why is it being emulated? On this week's episode, Matt and Kris are joined by Mitchell Hashimoto to discuss his newest project Ghostty, the Zig programming language, thoughts and feelings about Go, and more. As always, catch some Unpopular Opinions at the end of the episode. Want to hear even more from Mitchell? This episode feat…

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 impl…

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 ha…

How much do you know about a career in coding? Perhaps you're already a well versed professional software person. Or maybe you're someone who's just starting out. Either way, you're going to need some help along your entire technology career. In this episode, which is part 2 of a 2 part series, the panel is chatting with Chris Allaire to talk about…

Modern software development feels so complex. In this episode, Ian Wester-Lopshire is joined by Kris Brandow, Matthew Sanabria, and Angelica Hill to discuss complexity. They propose hypotheses for the root cause of complexity, explore the ways complexity affects our technology and organizations, and ponder if artificial intelligence can aid us in r…

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 u…

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 erro…

Our experiences are what make us the software people we are today. In this episode, Kris is joined by the hosting panel of Ian, Matt, and Dylan and they're talking war stories. You'll hear tales of coworker frustrations, our own hubris, and plenty of weird software bugs. To close the episode out, Dylan, Ian, and Kris provide some unpopular opinions…

Welcome to Fallthrough! In our first episode, properly numbered 0, we're discussing what this podcast is and many of the things we hope to discuss on future episodes of the podcast. If you loved Go Time, we hope that you'll love Fallthrough. Happy listening! (00:00) - Welcome to Fallthrough! (00:29) - What's in a name? (01:55) - A New Perspective (…

We're hard at work preparing the first episode of Fallthrough, but in the meantime we put together a short trailer to tease some of that episode's content. Make sure to subscribe so you'll be notified when the first episode ships. Happy listening! (00:00) - Introduction (01:09) - Clip 1: The Unsafe & Reflect Packages (04:03) - Clip 2: Documentation…