After a month ‘off the airwaves’, Mick and Edd are back to delve into several topics that have been keeping them interested. We start off by going down the Cryptocurrency rabbit-hole, highlighting the internal technologies that make up Bitcoin and its practical use-cases. Edd’s ramblings touch upon Satoshi, Cypherpunks, Merkle trees, Consensus algorithms, Hard forks, Segregated witness, Mining, Peta-hashes and much more… Once Edd (finally) lets Mick talk, we move on to chat about a book Mick is ...
Aug 25, 2017•43 min
In this weeks episode we catch up with Joe Watkins discussing all things PHP. We start off the discussion with how his role as release-manager is going for PHP 7.1, highlighting how Security bugs are defined and handled within internals. Following this we chat about several RFC’s that are under-discussion (Retry Keyword, UUID) and accepted (Libsodium, Object Typehint) for the next release. Finally, we mention a recent small extension Joe has been working on to provide user verified types within ...
Jul 16, 2017•44 min
In this weeks episode we discuss the Varnish ‘HTTP accelerator’ with Mattias Geniar. We start off the show with the problem Varnish is trying to solve, how it decides to cache content and the power within its’ request/response life-cycle. We then move on to highlight testing strategies, tools to gain insight into your Varnish instance and cache invalidation options (Purging vs. Banning). Finally, we touch upon Edge Side Includes, Mattias’s own podcast and his new DNS Spy product.
Jul 02, 2017•1 hr 5 min
In this weeks episode we start off by discussing Edd’s recent Server build, touching upon the hardware specifications, OS/ZFS-pool choices and monitoring configuration. We then move on to highlight the value in splitting up computational intensive tasks into queued jobs, defensive programming in JavaScript and handling querying ever increasing data-sets. Finally, we talk about keeping on-top of Software/Dependency upgrades, moving over to platforms such as AWS and Ethereum.
Jun 15, 2017•48 min
On this weeks show we are joined by Colin Hardy to discuss all things Cyber Security. We start off by explaining what got him interested in this branch of computing, highlight what Cyber Security is, and define some of the common terminology. From here, we move on to discuss how he analyses Malware samples (using Automated, Behavioural and Static means) and the diagnostic tooling present. Finally, we mention some high-profile attacks (Stuxnet, WannaCry), motives behind creating such Malware and ...
Jun 06, 2017•54 min
In this weeks episode we are lucky to have Liam McLennan on the show. We start off discussion with his Math background, how he got into programming and how it can be seen as Applied Mathematics. From here we move on to highlight his experiences whilst consulting, what it entailed, and the importance of ‘tact’. This leads us on to look into what drew him to Functional programming, F# and creating Pluralsight courses. Finally, we delve into the different areas of the Nokia Ringtone Composer Emulat...
May 19, 2017•48 min
In this weeks episode we are joined by fellow co-host Fraser Hart. We start off by discussing what he has been upto since his last podcast appearance - ranging from completing an Ironman, to promotions at work. From here we highlight how he balances development with his new project managerial role, how his company has started to adopt React/Redux and moving over to Webpack 2. Finally, we delve into the different server stacks we are using, and how the KISS design-principle plays a key-role.
May 17, 2017•48 min
In this weeks episode we are again lucky to be joined by Brian Moses, to continue our discussion on building your own home server. We start off by highlighting what ECC memory is and its’ value in a home server setup. Following this, we chat about looking into the second-hand market for hardware components - as an option to find a good deal. This leads us on to discuss overclocking hardware, threads vs. cores within a CPU and what Hyper-threading actually is. Finally, we mention some different N...
Apr 20, 2017•54 min
In this weeks episode we start off the podcast with discussion around Timezones, Daylight saving time and how the Year 2038 will be an interesting one. We then move on to highlight the results of our recent PHPStorm Twitter poll, End-to-end encryption and Hot Picks is back! (at least for one show). Finally, we highlight the differences between Software/Hardware video-decoding and some interesting PHP function aliases.
Apr 06, 2017•36 min
In this weeks episode we are joined by Brian Moses to discuss all things server development. We start off the show by highlighting how he got into computers and what drew him to blogging about DIY NAS builds. From here we touch upon the key areas of consideration when deciding on hardware (Motherboard, CPU, RAM, Storage) for a server. Finally, we discuss the concept of RAID, the FreeNAS operating system and how he performs burn-in testing on recently built systems. Note: apologies for some of th...
Mar 31, 2017•43 min
In this weeks show we follow on from our previous episode’s discussion with Scott Wlaschin. We delve into separating out the client from the behaviour and state, initially highlighting the Batch Command approach. From here, we move on to discuss the Actor Modal, Event Sourcing and Functional Reactive Programming solutions. Finally we touch upon handling the behavioural dependencies, followed by creating an Interpreter and Capability-based implementations.
Mar 28, 2017•36 min
In this weeks episode we are lucky to be joined by Scott Wlaschin again, to discuss his recent ‘Thirteen ways of looking at a turtle’ talk. We start off discussion highlighting the value of solving a known problem in many different ways and the inspiration behind the talk. This leads us on to chat about the Object-oriented and Abstract Mutable/Immutable Data Model solutions, mentioning each ones merits as a way to solve the problem. We then move on to highlight the State, Either and Async Monad ...
Mar 23, 2017•1 hr
In this weeks episode we start off discussion with experiences handling online payments, CRM export integration and highlight how PHPStorm can be a great SQL editor. We then move on to mention a service that allows you to easily manage browser polyfills, and Edd chats about his experience currently making a Nokia ringtone composer web application. Finally, we touch upon handling transactional email, depending on third-party services and using Continuation-passing style within JavaScript.
Mar 16, 2017•44 min
In this weeks episode we are joined by the creator of Zencastr, Josh Nielsen. We start off discussion with how he got into programming and being hired as a ‘webmaster’ at the University he attended. From here, we move on to highlight the problem Zencastr is trying to solve, delving into some of the technical aspects and corners that were cut to focus on the primary solution. Finally, we mention the testing strategy in place, how it is changing as the product stabilises and what features are next...
Feb 24, 2017•49 min
In this weeks episode we chat to good friend of the show Joe Watkins. We start off discussion with his recent work on creating a compute-node, dual WAN setup and accepted PHP Serbia talk on contributing to PHP without being a ‘C wizard’. From here we move on to mention some of the areas (bug tracking system and QA) that could be improved with the help of new contributors within the PHP internals ecosystem. Finally, we highlight several recently proposed RFCs, his opinions on them and some work h...
Feb 15, 2017•49 min
In this weeks episode we are lucky to have Steven Proctor back on the show. We start off discussion by congratulating him on 82 episodes of Functional Geekery, and the commitment it takes to do a podcast and not just ‘podfade’. From here we move on to highlight any commonalities he notices with people getting into FP, how he stays on-top of the latest advancements and how he finds the guests he wishes to speak to. This leads us on to compare learning functional concepts within a language you alr...
Feb 09, 2017•1 hr 5 min
In this weeks show we are joined by Phil Sturgeon to discuss all things API development. We start off by mentioning Phil’s new job at WeWork, Startup life/culture and switching between different development philosophies. We move on to highlight how he got into API development, the reasons behind writing the book “Build APIs You Won’t Hate” and a future video-series he has in the pipeline. This leads on to discuss common misconceptions of REST and RPC, API tooling available and the different data...
Feb 01, 2017•1 hr 14 min
Following on from our previous look at the Query planner - we are joined again by Bruce Momjian to extend this exploration into looking how Postgres manages concurrency. We start off by discussing some of the challenges and workarounds used in the past to handle concurrent access, particularly in the eyes of a database administrator. We then highlight the concept of MVCC, how it works from a high-level, how Postgres implements it and the clean-up considerations that are present. Finally, we ment...
Jan 24, 2017•1 hr 22 min
In this weeks episode we are joined by Jimmy Burrell and Scott Wlaschin to discuss all things functional. We start off the show highlighting how Scott got into programming, the reasons why he is a big fan of Smalltalk, what he means by ‘Enterprise OO’ and being a Humanistic programmer. From here we discuss how he got into FP, how the paradigm came to being, what FP is to Scott and why you should consider it. Finally, we mention the differences between types in FP over langauges such as C, the ra...
Jan 18, 2017•1 hr 18 min
In this weeks episode we have a long overdue catch-up with Lew. We start off by discussing what he has been upto, and a certain four-legged addition to his family. From here we move on to chat about working on a product vs. working in an agency setting, picking your battles when refactoring and not being scared to make mistakes. Finally, we highlight how Edd has recently used personal Homebrew taps, using Android simulators for testing and Lew’s experience with Vue.js.
Jan 10, 2017•52 min
In this weeks episode we are joined by good friend of the show Joe Watkins. We start off discussion with the successful release of PHP 7.1 and what is in store for Joe now as release manager for that version. Following this, we chat about the libui and Yubico PHP wrappers he as been working on and development of a better Raspberry Pi OS. Finally, we highlight progress made towards incorporating a JiT compiler within PHP and some interesting things you can do with Zero-width joiner’s and Emoji’s ...
Dec 23, 2016•32 min
In this weeks episode we start off by congratulating Mick on handing in his masters dissertation. We then move on to discuss decision trees, ordinal regression and genetic algorithms. Edd then mentions managing large tables in Postgres, MVCC, Fill factors and Vacuuming a table. From here we highlight an interesting JavaScript Unicode/New-Line length issue that occurred recently. Finally, we touch upon testing time-dependent processes in isolation, dreaded CRM integration and sign-up processes. C...
Dec 16, 2016•52 min
In this weeks second in-person episode, we start off by congratulating Fraser on his recent engagement. We then move on to chat about setting up Kong, rate-limiting APIs and monitoring the health of an application system. From here we discuss the final stages of Mick’s masters dissertation, highlighting the PageRank paper and the Matthew (not Mafia) effect. Finally, we mention Edd’s trip to Silicon Milkroundabout and blog posts that he has recently had the chance to publish.
Dec 06, 2016•44 min
In this weeks episode Mick and Edd start off discussion with an update on Mick’s masters dissertation. We then move on to highlight the value of getting an MVP released, and the old adage that hindsight is 20/20. Edd then brings up how he has had the chance to revisit MyBuilder’s logging and monitoring infrastructure recently, re-accessing Severity levels along the way (embarrassingly missing out Critical in the podcast). He also mentions how background processes used within the application have...
Nov 30, 2016•49 min
In this weeks episode we are joined by Jonathan Klein to discuss his recently released Composer Pluralsight course. We start off by discussing the problem Composer is trying to solve, followed by past attempts at trying to solve it in the PHP landscape. Following this, we move on to discuss how the composer.json and composer.lock files work, the importance of versioning, the Semantic Versioning standard and how autoloading works. Finally, we delve into a couple of lesser-known Composer features,...
Nov 24, 2016•37 min
In this weeks episode we have a long overdue catch-up with Joe Watkins. We start off discussion with progress on PHP 7.1 and work Joe has been doing to provide an interface to libui within PHP. We then move on to chat about a couple of interesting RFC’s that are currently under-discussion, followed by managing long-running PHP processes with Supervisor and Unix signaling. Finally, we highlight how Garbage collection works and how PHP implements the concept to help manage memory.
Oct 30, 2016•33 min
In this weeks episode we start off discussion on the latest Apple event, what we think the next big product will be (the Apple Hat?!) and phone battery life woes. We then move on to chat about immutable design considerations, controlling mutation to aid performance and being bit by values vs. references. From here we highlight how profilers such as Blackfire are a great way of benchmarking/profiling your application - providing statistics over only your own intuitive claims. Finally, we mention ...
Sep 10, 2016•48 min
In this weeks episode we start off the show by catching up on the ‘programming filled’ holidays both Edd and Mick have just come back from. We then move on to discuss Mick’s photo-shoot?!, Edd’s half-marathon training and highlight our deployment/testing processes. Finally we ‘Shave the Yak’ and discuss event-oriented system design - highlighting how it has been used in a recent project and the pros n’ cons of such an approach.
Sep 01, 2016•52 min
On this weeks episode we are lucky to be joined by Jason Marden, to discuss the world of Amazon Web Services. We start off the show talking about Jason’s recent visit to the AWS Summit in London, and what the talking points were from the conference. From here we delve into the Serverless Architecture, how AWS Lambda is paving the way of FAAS, containers and view-based aggregation services. The Immutable Server is next brought up, highlighting the change in deployment philosophy that can be achie...
Aug 11, 2016•54 min
On this weeks show we start off discussion around what we have been up to away from the keyboard, and an update on Mick’s big freelance project. We then move on to the pros n’ cons of being tied into an ecosystem such as AWS, React performance, Micro-services and the expected FUD outcry when a web application makes a significant change. Finally, we chat about how important logging and monitoring are within an application, and how it can become tricker to track down issues when a system is suffic...
Jul 28, 2016•52 min
