The Stack Overflow Podcast

Subatomic speed, math misadventures, and the biggest fraud trial in history

California is trying to transform how math is taught. How’s that going? Pierre Agostini, Ferenc Krausz and Anne L’Huillier won the 2023 Nobel Prize in Physics for work that allows scientists to see how electrons move by mapping their positions in an atom. Learn more here and here . As Ben says, speaking of things that are difficult to observe and don’t make a lot of sense, FTX founder Sam Bankman-Fried is on trial for a historically huge amount of fraud. Follow the live trial blog from Wired or ...

How an algo raver stays in key(boards)

If you want to hear more of her work, check out Alexandra’s Instagram . She uses Tidal Cycles and Supercollider to make algorithms that get people to dance. Interested in algoraves? You may be able to find one near you or run your own. Check out Alexandra in her ad for Logitech , then check out her favorite keyboard ....

USB-C for all, PHP 4EVA, and what do LLMs actually know (if anything)?

Ben is watching AI Explained , a YouTube channel that covers the latest AI developments and their implications. Read Ryan’s article ​​ Do large language models know what they are talking about? . Is language really unique to humans? New research suggests maybe not. Not for the first time, Ryan recommends the work of Noam Chomsky: Why Only Us: Language and Evolution , an evolutionary account of language acquisition in humans written with Robert C. Berwick. OverflowAI search is now available for a...

How to write high-performance SQL for your Postgres database

pgnanalyze helps users deliver consistent PostgreSQL performance and availability at any scale. Get started with a free trial or explore their docs . You can also find them on YouTube, where Lukas posts a weekly show called 5mins of Postgres . Lukas was a founding engineer of Citus Data . Citus is an open-source extension to PostgreSQL that was eventually acquired by Microsoft. Find them on GitHub . If you’re new to the topic, SQL (Structured Query Language) is a language for querying databases,...

Being creative with math: The immersive artist who traded a sketchpad for a keyboard

Check out Luyang’s work at his website or in this Youtube playlist . To make these animations, Luyang uses Processing , a 20-year-old language that started out as a visual way to teach programming but evolved into a professional development tool. Logitech selected Luyang as one of the ambassadors to show off what you can do with their MX Keys S Combo . Shout out to George Profenza for dropping a top answer on Position of a vector in coordinate system (Processing/p5.js) ....

Like Python++ for AI developers

If you missed the first part of our conversation with Chris, listen to it here . Modular ’s new programming language, Mojo , is built for AI developers. Check out their docs or find them on GitHub . Connect with Chris on LinkedIn . Shoutout to user DanielGibbs , who earned a Lifeboat badge by answering what is the difference between getType() and getClass() in java? ....

Mojo: The usability of Python with the performance of C

Modular built a new programming language, Mojo , for AI developers. Explore their docs or find them on GitHub . Chris is on LinkedIn . Congratulations to user Shengyuan Lu , whose answer to Priority queue ordering of elements merited a Lifeboat badge ....

Forget AGI. Let’s built ADI: Augmented Developer Intelligence

If you missed the first part of this conversation, listen to it here . Replit is a browser-based IDE (integrated development environment). Check out their blog or start coding . ICYMI: Stack Overflow recently implemented semantic search , allowing users to search using natural language. Explore Stack Overflow Labs to learn more about OverflowAI and other projects. Amjad Masad is on LinkedIn , Twitter , and GitHub . Congratulations to Stack Overflow user macxpat , whose answer to How to install L...

Multiplayer programming on mobile: a chat with Replit CEO Amjad Masad

Replit is a browser-based IDE (integrated development environment). See what they’re up to on their blog or just start coding . RIP Google Wave , one of the greats. Find Amjad on LinkedIn , Twitter , GitHub , or via his website ....

Founder vs Investor: What VCs are really looking for

After founding two companies, including StrongDM , a dynamic management access platform (explore their docs here ), Elizabeth took a “break” by co-authoring a book. Founder vs Investor: The Honest Truth About Venture Capital from Startup to IPO is about what she learned as a founder and executive about the founder-investor relationship. Order it on Bookshop or Amazon . Elizabeth’s co-author is investor and advisor Jerry Neumann , managing director of Neu Venture Capital. One option for your next...

Computers are learning to read our minds

Gašper ’s work combines machine learning, statistical modeling, neuroimaging, and behavioral experiments “to better understand how neural networks learn internal representations in speech and how humans learn to speak.” One thing that surprised him about generative adversarial networks (GANs) ? How innovative they are, capable of generating English words they’ve never heard before based on words they have. Read about how AI is restoring a stroke survivor’s ability to speak . Universal grammar pr...

You can’t spell Zapier without API

Zapier is a no-code automation platform that allows users to create custom workflows for their critical work apps. Learn how it works , peruse the blog , or sign up to try beta AI features. Check out Reid’s article about how to write more effective AI prompts . Zapier built a natural language actions (NLA) API to enable AI models to independently use natural language to complete Zapier actions. You know the doge , but do you know the dog ? RIP Balltze. Find Reid on LinkedIn and the social networ...

Job description: professional workplace bestie

Stack Overflow’s Employee Resource Groups (ERGs) focus on aspects of employees’ personhood, “who you are outside of your role, who you bring to every single room that you enter,” Joey explains. Among our ERGs are Black and Brown, LGBTQ+, MIND (mental illness and neurodiversity), and a group for caregivers and parents. Interested in learning more about our commitment to diversity, equity, and inclusion, plus more about what it’s like to work at Stack Overflow? Start here . Members of Stack’s MIND...

Fighting comment spam at Facebook scale

Rockset is a real-time search and analytics database. Explore their docs and developer tools here . We here at Stack Overflow recently implemented our own vector search. Here’s a technical deep dive into how we did it. Louis is on LinkedIn . Three cheers for Lifeboat badge winner user7610 , who rescued C++ application terminates with 143 exit code. What does it mean? with a solid answer....

Medical research made understandable with AI

Sorcero uses a mix of natural language processing, generative AI, and even more old school symbolic AI, where they craft their own ontologies, to try and ingest that river of new medical data and make it easier to search and comprehend. Less than 0.2% of the global population can read a medical paper! AI can help make these dense works up to 700x more readable. Medical Affairs Teams are the groups inside big pharmaceutical companies that helps surface the right information to health providers. I...

Semantic search without the napalm grandma exploit

Last month, we announced the launch of OverflowAI from the stage of WeAreDevelopers. To learn more about AI-driven products and features in the works, check out Stack Overflow Labs . Among the projects Alex works on is a semantic search API and the new search experience on Stack Overflow for Teams . LLMs can be vulnerable to jailbreak attacks like the napalm grandma exploit . Kyle is on GitHub , Linked , and text-based social media . Michael is on LinkedIn . Alex is on LinkedIn . Shoutout to Lif...

Making event-driven development predictable with Discover

SPONSORED BY DISCOVER FINANCIAL SERVICES Go deeper into Technology at Discover . If your interested in working on an event-driven architecture that uses domain-driven design within a financial organization, check out jobs.discover.com . Connect with Paul on LinkedIn . .

Want better answers from your data? Ask better questions

The mission of Night Shift Development is to democratize data analytics to help organizations and users of all skill levels understand their data. Their flagship product, ClearQuery , is a data intelligence and analytics platform designed for nontechnical users. ClearQuery has a free version that lets you try out the full array of features. Learn how it works and register here to get started, gratis. Learn how Stack Overflow implemented semantic search to allow users to search using natural lang...

Why everyone should be an AppSec specialist

Understanding SRE

Vlad is Head of Research and Development at Siemens Healthineers , the healthcare arm of tech conglomerate Siemens . He wrote about SRE on our blog here . His book, Establishing SRE Foundations: A Step-by-Step Guide to Introducing Site Reliability Engineering in Software Delivery Organizations , is available now. Site reliability engineering (SRE) applies a software engineering approach to IT operations and infrastructure, with the goal of building scalable, reliable systems capable of handling ...

The fine line between product and engineering

Twilio is a customer engagement platform whose communication APIs for voice, text, chat, email, and video are used by millions of developers. See what’s happening on their blog , dig into their docs , or check out their Stack Overflow Collective . This summer, Twilio announced CustomerAI, which applies the power of LLMs to the rich troves of customer data that flows through Twilio’s platform. Learn more here . ICYMI: From the stage of WeAreDevelopers , Stack Overflow announced a roadmap for inte...

How engineering teams at a large org can move at startup speed

Find out why others have joined Shell . If you want to experience being a developer at one of the world’s largest energy companies, they’re hiring . Amber Webb is on LinkedIn . Naresh Kumar is on LinkedIn . Congrats to Tomasz Kula , today’s Lifeboat badge winner, for dropping some knowledge on Multiple components binding with the same reactive form control update issue and saving it from ruin....

From startup to Google and back again

Sean hosts Partially Redacted , a podcast about data privacy, security, and compliance. He also hosts the podcast Software Engineering Daily , which features technical interviews on everything from the ethics of GPTs to cloud-native search and WebAssembly. Start with the recent episode Surviving ChatGPT with Christian Hubicki (of Survivor fame). You can also read about how he crowdsourced a behavioral model for Survivor . Sean spent four years working in developer relations (DevRel) at Google. H...

Behind the scenes with the folks building OverflowAI

You can learn more about OverflowAI and sign up to be an alpha tester here . You can check out Ellen and Jody on Linkedin. Congrats to Ben Lindsay , who was awarded a Lifeboat badge for his answer to: How can I divide each element in a tuple by a single integer?...

How the Python team is adapting the language for an AI future

Pablo is a Python core developer, Steering Council member, and release manager of Python 3.10 and 3.11. He’s currently a senior software engineer at Bloomberg. Looking for a comprehensive guide to contributing to Python? The Python Developer’s Guide is the place to start. The Zen of Python is a list of the language’s guiding principles, including, “There should be one—and preferably only one—obvious way to do it.” Find Pablo on LinkedIn , Twitter , and GitHub . Find Kyle, a senior software engin...

What it's like to be on the Python Steering Council

Pablo is a Python core developer, Steering Council member, and release manager of Python 3.10 and 3.11. He splits this work 50/50 with his day job as a senior software engineer at Bloomberg. An astrophysicist by training, he did his PhD on rotating black holes . Whether you’re a new contributor or a seasoned veteran, the Python Developer’s Guide is a comprehensive guide to contributing to Python. Pablo is on LinkedIn , Twitter , and GitHub . Kyle is also on Linked , Twitter , and GitHub . Shouto...

How AI can help your business, without the hallucinations

DoIT ’s sales pitch is simple: they provide technology and expertise to clients who want to use the cloud, free of charge, with the big cloud providers paying the bills. You can check out Sascha’s writing on machine learning on his Medium blog . Connect with him on LinkedIn or subscribe to his YouTube channel ....

How ICs can get recognition for their work on big projects

Cat’s research centers on the socio-cognitive factors and processes that help people learn and succeed. In her role as director of Pluralsight Flow’s Developer Success Lab , she studies what makes software teams thrive and shares that research with the community so teams can learn from her findings. In a recent report , the Dev Success Lab explored how visibility can encourage higher-performing teams and better business outcomes. Pluralsight is an education platform for software developers. Plur...

How terrifying is giving a conference talk?

ICYMI, listen to our episode with Agile pioneer Jim Highsmith: The meeting that changed how we build software (Ep. 579) . Explore Connell’s website or his talks . Connell will be speaking at DDD East Midlands again this year: October 7, 2023 (with apologies to our British listeners for the date format). He’s also on GitHub , Twitter , and Stack Overflow (naturally). Thanks to Connell for answering his own question: Why does this SelectMany perform several SQL queries instead of a single join? ....

Jamstack is evolving toward a composable web

Netlify ’s all-in-one development platform gives devs access to build, deploy, and backend services for websites and web apps. Get started with their docs . Jamstack is a web development architecture based on JavaScript, APIs, and Markup (the JAM in Jamstack). Learn what Jamstack is and what benefits it offers. Composable architecture has been called “ the next big thing ” in web development. Netlify defines it as “a development approach [that] provides the ability to more rapidly build technolo...