Podcast
Programming Throwdown
Hosted by Patrick Wheeler and Jason Gauci · EN
Programming Throwdown educates Computer Scientists and Software Engineers on a cavalcade of programming and tech topics. Every show will cover a new programming language, so listeners will be able to speak intelligently about any programming language.
16episodes
Episodes
Newest firstAll episodes
187: Agentic Coding
May 201:38:00Tap to summarize187: Agentic CodingIntro topic: Bad equity vesting schedulesNews/Links:Artemis IIhttps://www.nasa.gov/news-release/nasa-welcomes-record-setting-artemis-ii-moonfarers-back-to-earth/Gemma 4https://blog.google/innovation-and-ai/technology/developers-tools/gemma-4/Hatetrishttps://qntm.org/files/hatetris/hatetris.htmlDripwarts: School of Driphttps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MnHjz8jvWFk Book of the ShowPatrickProject Hail Maryhttps://amzn.to/4cQdxVaPatreon Plug https://www.patreon.com/programmingthrowdown?ty=hTool of the ShowJasonFF6 T-Editionhttps://www.romhacking.net/hacks/6339/Topic: Agentic CodingProgressionBetter Code CompletionIntellisenseCopilotCowriting CursorRoo Code Longer HorizonClaude CodeCodexGemini CLISwarmGuidelinesGitPlanningTask decompositionAGENTS.mdAdjusting vs RestartingSkepticismFuture of software engineering?
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186: Becoming a Manager
Feb 301:27:30Tap to summarize186: Becoming a ManagerIntro topic: plastic welding kitsNews/Links:Parse.bot, turn any website into an APIhttps://www.parse.bot/Gemini 3https://blog.google/products/gemini/gemini-3/Depth Anything 3https://github.com/ByteDance-Seed/Depth-Anything-3Wan 2.2 (run on runpod)https://www.runpod.io/Book of the ShowPatrickThe Thinking Game (DeepMind documentary)https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d95J8yzvjbQJasonPlato: The Republichttps://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/1497Patreon Plug https://www.patreon.com/programmingthrowdown?ty=hTool of the ShowPatrickCore KeeperPc/Switch/Xbox/Playstation JasonWorkers & Resources: Soviet RepublicPCTopic: Becoming a ManagerWhat is a ManagerOpportunityResults + RetentionSizingHiringPhilosophyInterviewsDownsizingHow to ManageCompany Goals / OKRsBreaking down & claiming company goals.Balancing inspirational & practical goalsCoachingOne-on-onesCareer planningPerformance MotivationPerformance Management ReviewCompensationChoosing to become a managerBalancing personal and company incentivesWhy ManageMentorshipBuild relationshipsWhy to not manageLess time for your original joy (coding)Less technical influenceMore uncertainty and less closureHow to transition back to EngineerTake the time/energy to get ramped upAct as an advisor to your manager ★ Support this podcast on Patreon ★
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185: Workflow Orchestrators
Nov 401:32:02Tap to summarizeIntro topic: Asymmetric ReturnsNews/Links:NanoChat by Andrej Karpathyhttps://github.com/karpathy/nanochatPydantic AIhttps://www.marktechpost.com/2025/03/25/pydanticai-advancing-generative-ai-agent-development-through-intelligent-framework-design/1000th Starlink this yearhttps://spaceflightnow.com/2025/05/16/live-coverage-spacex-plans-morning-launch-of-starlink-satellites-from-california/ChatGPT Apps SDKhttps://openai.com/index/introducing-apps-in-chatgpt/Book of the ShowPatrickThe Will of the Many by James Islingtonhttps://amzn.to/43IfU8QJasonInterview with DHH (Founder of Ruby on Rails)https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vagyIcmIGOQPatreon Plug https://www.patreon.com/programmingthrowdown?ty=hTool of the ShowPatrickFactoriohttps://www.factorio.com/ Jasonnip.io Topic: Workflow OrchestratorsWhyBatch jobs (embarrassingly parallel)Long-running tasks (e.g. transcoding video)Checkpointing/resumingHowMessage QueuesContainerizationWorker Pools & AutoscalingHistory & BackfillSteps to run workflows:Containerize the workflow definition and send to the cloudContainerize all the individual tasksSubmit job(s)ExamplesAirflowLegacy but dominantDagsterGreat UX for python developersTemporal: https://temporal.io/The new hotnessRayLow-level but very powerfulKubeflowDesigned for ML workflows, integrated dashboard ★ Support this podcast on Patreon ★
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184: Asynchronous Programming
Sep 2301:30:32Tap to summarize184: Asynchronous ProgrammingIntro topic: AI ScamsNews/Links:Coding Adventure: Ray-Tracing Glass and Caustics (Sebastian Lague)https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wA1KVZ1eOuABoson AI announces Higgs Audio V2https://www.boson.ai/technologies/voice The Misconception that Almost Stopped AI [How Models Learn Part 1] (Welch Labs)https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NrO20Jb-hy0A mind-bending conversation with Peter Thielhttps://www.nytimes.com/2025/07/11/podcasts/interesting-times-a-mind-bending-conversation-with-peter-thiel.htmlBook of the ShowPatrickThe Hobbit (JRR Tolkien)https://amzn.to/4mevuzEJasonNYT Word GamesPatreon Plug https://www.patreon.com/programmingthrowdown?ty=hTool of the ShowPatrickEscape Academyhttps://escapeacademygame.com/enJasonMulti-modal LLMs to make calendar meetingswww.chatgpt.comTopic: Asynchronous ComputingWhat/WhyMulti-threading in between the linesMany of the benefits of multiprocessing without the overhead/complexityHowCoroutinesThread-Local MemoryBlocking vs Non-Blocking operationsBlocking: arithmeticNon-Blocking: Reading from the network card into thread-local memoryInterpreter lockingTypescript: Single threadedPython: GILImplementationsPolling (not-Asynchronous)Callbacks (interrupts)Multithreading (with queues/message passing)Promise/FuturesAsync/Await ★ Support this podcast on Patreon ★
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183: Landing a Software Job in 2025
Jul 3101:46:53Tap to summarize00:00:00 Intro00:01:58 Introducing Mark Cunningham00:07:01 How Do You Find A Job?00:15:43 How to Get the Best Interview00:33:06 Tips on How To Pass An Interview00:38:38 How to Have a Good Interview00:48:12 What is the Reverse Interview?00:54:24 What Is The Hiring Manager's Role?00:57:12 Reverse Interviews: Red Flags01:14:45 How to Negotiate a Tech Offer01:23:02 When to Negotiate Your Compensation01:35:21 Interview Horror Stories01:39:29 How Do You Deal With Fake AI Applicants?01:45:32 The Bidding Network ★ Support this podcast on Patreon ★
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182: AI Assisted Coding
Jun 3001:37:36Tap to summarizeIntro topic: Getting an entry-level jobNews/Links:Mario Kart 64 Fully Decompiledhttps://gbatemp.net/threads/mario-kart-64-decompilation-project-reaches-100-completion.671104/Q-Learning is not yet scalablehttps://seohong.me/blog/q-learning-is-not-yet-scalable/Grover’s Algorithmhttps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RQWpF2Gb-gU&vl=enOrangePi has a RISC-V SBChttps://linuxgizmos.com/orangepi-rv2-a-cost-effective-risc-v-board-with-m-2-2280-slot-and-dual-gigabit-ethernet/Book of the ShowPatrickThe Will of the Many (James Islington)https://amzn.to/44DznszJasonThe Intelligence Traphttps://amzn.to/3TqoKCBPatreon Plug https://www.patreon.com/programmingthrowdown?ty=hTool of the ShowPatrick Pokemon Odysseyhttps://www.reddit.com/r/PokemonROMhacks/comments/1l9zdta/pok%C3%A9mon_odyssey_final_release/JasonNetflix Gameshttps://play.google.com/store/apps/dev?id=6891422865930303475&hl=en_USTopic: WhySpeed up developmentCatch errors faster than type checking/compilingWriting tedious boilerplate codeAsk questions and learn local informationLook good for hiring managersHowExtensions for VSCode & other IDEs for inline suggestionsChat with a selection/fileCommand-line Tools run at the root directoryLocal vs CloudExamplesCopilot (VSCode extension)Use the experimental modeCursor (Custom IDE)Jumps to suggest changes in other placesSimilar to copilot experimental modeRooCode (VSCode extension) ★ Support this podcast on Patreon ★
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181: Memory Management
May 12, 202501:46:21Tap to summarizeIntro topic: Video Game PricesNews/Links:Step one: Jump in the Lava - Abyssofthttps://youtu.be/WdadpHLAfdA?si=oXYnhB0EdkR_RaPEScalable world models for continuous controlhttps://www.tdmpc2.com/Clever code is probably the worst code you could write - Engineer’s Codexhttps://read.engineerscodex.com/p/clever-code-is-probably-the-worstA new, open source text-to-speech model called Dia has arrived to challenge ElevenLabs, OpenAI and morehttps://venturebeat.com/ai/a-new-open-source-text-to-speech-model-called-dia-has-arrived-to-challenge-elevenlabs-openai-and-more/Book of the ShowPatrickThe Muscle Ladder - Jeff Nippardhttps://amzn.to/44DznszJasonMetaphysics of Warhttps://amzn.to/4jMjvZ5Patreon Plug https://www.patreon.com/programmingthrowdown?ty=hTool of the ShowPatrickPokemon Trading Card Game PocketJasonPhi-4https://huggingface.co/spaces/microsoft/phi-4-multimodalTopic: Memory ManagementMotivationAvoid thrashing / crashesAllocate resources efficientlyKeep high uptimeWhereOS LevelHeap managementVirtual MemoryLanguage/Compiler LevelCppGarbage collectionOwnershipToolsInstrumentationExport to Datadog / GrafanaPython: psutil & tracemallocValgrindWhat to do when your program uses too much memory?Reduce data sizesCompressionReferencesLazy initializerGenerators & Back PressureRing buffersArena allocatorsDisk based caching ★ Support this podcast on Patreon ★
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180: Reinforcement Learning
Mar 17, 202501:52:22Tap to summarizeIntro topic: GrillsNews/Links:You can’t call yourself a senior until you’ve worked on a legacy projecthttps://www.infobip.com/developers/blog/seniors-working-on-a-legacy-projectRecraft might be the most powerful AI image platform I’ve ever used — here’s whyhttps://www.tomsguide.com/ai/ai-image-video/recraft-might-be-the-most-powerful-ai-image-platform-ive-ever-used-heres-whyNASA has a list of 10 rules for software developmenthttps://www.cs.otago.ac.nz/cosc345/resources/nasa-10-rules.htmAMD Radeon RX 9070 XT performance estimates leaked: 42% to 66% faster than Radeon RX 7900 GREhttps://www.tomshardware.com/tech-industry/amd-estimates-of-radeon-rx-9070-xt-performance-leaked-42-percent-66-percent-faster-than-radeon-rx-7900-gre Book of the ShowPatrick: The Player of Games (Ian M Banks)https://a.co/d/1ZpUhGl (non-affiliate)Jason: Basic Roleplaying Universal Game Enginehttps://amzn.to/3ES4p5iPatreon Plug https://www.patreon.com/programmingthrowdown?ty=hTool of the ShowPatrick: Pokemon Sword and ShieldJason: Features and Labels ( https://fal.ai )Topic: Reinforcement LearningThree types of AISupervised LearningUnsupervised LearningReinforcement LearningOnline vs Offline RLOptimization algorithmsValue optimizationSARSAQ-LearningPolicy optimizationPolicy GradientsActor-CriticProximal Policy OptimizationValue vs Policy OptimizationValue optimization is more intuitive (Value loss)Policy optimization is less intuitive at first (policy gradients)Converting values to policies in deep learning is difficultImitation LearningSupervised policy learningOften used to bootstrap reinforcement learningPolicy EvaluationPropensity scoring versus model-basedChallenges to training RL modelTwo optimization loopsCollecting feedback vs updating the modelDifficult optimization targetPolicy evaluationRLHF & GRPO ★ Support this podcast on Patreon ★
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179: Project Planning
Feb 3, 202501:43:00Tap to summarizeIntro topic: Lego event space & retail store: https://www.instagram.com/bambeecave News/Links:StackOverflow Question Count Going Down https://gist.github.com/hopeseekr/f522e380e35745bd5bdc3269a9f0b132DeepSeek claims its ‘reasoning’ model beats OpenAI’s o1 on certain benchmarkshttps://techcrunch.com/2025/01/20/deepseek-claims-its-reasoning-model-beats-openais-o1-on-certain-benchmarks/ Computer Science Papers Every Developer Should Readhttps://newsletter.techworld-with-milan.com/p/computer-science-papers-every-developerNvidia Cosmos - an AI platform to change the future of robots and cars - wins Best of CES 2025https://www.zdnet.com/article/nvidia-signs-largest-car-maker-toyota-to-use-its-self-driving-tech/ Book of the ShowPatrick: Alice’s Adventures in a differentiable wonderlandhttps://www.sscardapane.it/alice-book/Jason: A Beautiful Day in the Neighborhood (Hulu/Netflix/etc)Patreon Plug https://www.patreon.com/programmingthrowdown?ty=hTool of the ShowPatrick: Digseumhttps://store.steampowered.com/app/3361470/Digseum/Jason: Sqlitedict - Python dictionaries saved to diskTopic: Project Planning and ManagementWhy?Gathering feedbackIdentifying risksDeciding future headcountDocumenting / discovering dependenciesCritical pathScheduleReduce the bullwhip effectHow it worksSMART goalsspecific, measurable, achievable, relevant, and time-boundMT is most importantGantt ChartsScrumAgileKanbanToolsWhiteboard (the generic IRL one)Post it notesJIRAAsanaOpenProjectDealing with uncertaintyBufferingIssues with recursive paddingProject planning Post-Mortems ★ Support this podcast on Patreon ★
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178: Working from Home
Dec 3, 202401:45:15Tap to summarizeIntro topic: Smart homesNews/Links:SpaceX Starship Flight Test Five / Sixhttps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pIKI7y3DTXkShareDBhttps://github.com/share/sharedbOrion AR Glasseshttps://about.fb.com/news/2024/09/introducing-orion-our-first-true-augmented-reality-glasses/Blade and Sorcery 1.0 is outhttps://www.meta.com/experiences/blade-sorcery-nomad/2031826350263349/Book of the ShowPatrick: The Book that Wouldn’t Burn by Mark Lawrencehttps://amzn.to/4fry2XWJason: Masters of Doomhttps://amzn.to/3YxuD3cPatreon Plug https://www.patreon.com/programmingthrowdown?ty=hTool of the ShowPatrick: Balatrohttps://www.playbalatro.com/Jason: Cursor IDEhttps://www.cursor.com/Topic: Working from HomeIntroBackground & WFH experiencesIs it Panacea?Realizing it works better for some than othersInternally MotivatedSchedulingCommunicationsHome SetupDedicated spaceHandling Non-work DistractionsKeyboards, Monitors, Music, … Desk related thingsThe specter of RTO ★ Support this podcast on Patreon ★
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