From the Network
retrocomputing.stackexchange.com

Where does the trouble older CD drives have reading newer burned discs come from?

Why doesn't this older thing work perfectly with a newer thing that didn't exist when the older thing was created?

academia.stackexchange.com

What does it mean for a manuscript to be "technically sound"?

Is it technically sound to say that technically sound means that something's technically correct?

hsm.stackexchange.com

Why does mathematical notation and terminology stop being standard after calculus?

"It takes time to converge on a 'standard' notation. Mathematics beyond calculus hasn't had enough time to enable that convergence."

philosophy.stackexchange.com

Is there a philosophy "simplifier"?

Clearly this user has never heard of the philosopher Cliff and his magnum opus piece, Notes.

Settle down, nerds. AI is a normal technology

Ryan welcomes Anil Dash, writer and former Stack Overflow board member, back to the show to discuss how AI is not a magical technology, but rather the normal next step in computing’s evolution. They explore the importance of democratizing access to technology, the unique challenges that LLMs’ non-determinism poses, and how developers can keep Stack Overflow’s ethos of community alive in a world of AI.

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Your 2025 Stacked: A year of knowledge, community, and impact

From tough questions to standout answers, your team built a lot in 2025. Your 2025 Stacked brings those contributions together in one shareable snapshot—celebrating the people, posts, and topics that defined your year in Stack Internal.

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Around the web
linusakesson.net

Kernighan's lever

Pre-debug dev: "Who are you?" Post-debug dev: "I'm you but stronger."

lucumr.pocoo.org

A year of vibes

Maybe the point of vibe coding was the AI friends we made along the way.

scottaaronson.blog

More on whether useful quantum computing is “imminent”

"Everybody wants to know what I would do if I couldn't scale. I guess we'll never know." -quantum computing

borretti.me

I wish people were more public

Was this written by a people-person or a content scraping bot?

gamehistory.org

The secrets of Sega Channel

Garfield: Caught in the Act has been saved!

github.com

PURRTRAN - a programming language for people who wish they had a cat to help them code

A cat coding assistant that won't walk across your keyboard and somehow delete three days of work.

typographyforlawyers.com

A brief history of Times New Roman

Might we recommended the Google font Stack Sans instead?

greptile.com

The state of AI coding 2025

No, this report doesn't include how many databases have been accidentally dropped through coding assistants.

dylanbeattie.net

So you want to speak at software conferences?

Heavy is the head that wears the mic set.

stephenramsay.net

If you’re going to vibe code, why not do it in C?

Most people who vibe code don't know what they're coding anyway, so might as well do it in C.

larr.net

Programmers and software developers lost the plot on naming their tools

"We're using BleepBloop for permissions, ARGHHH for configuration, and MeepMeep for our job queue."

andreasjhkarlsson.github.io

4 billion if statements

It only takes four billion if statements to tell an odd number from an even.

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Issue 308: Software development time wasters

We've got a jampacked week for you of stories, so let's skip the small talk and get right to it. Coming off Microsoft Ignite, we've got a look into how the enterprise is reframing their AI initiatives to be slower, steadier, and more focused on their market fit. If you didn't know, we debuted our rebrand and new MCP Server at Ignite, and if you're curious how that's all going, be sure to check out the interview we did with HP's Distinguished Technologist Evan Scheessele on how they're using our MCP Server in their SDLC experiments. We also had a convo with Salesforce's Chief Scientist and Head of AI Silvio Savarese on how they're simulating terrible phone calls to make customer service AI agents better. Okay, maybe we can have a little small talk. Tell us, what do you hate about your job? We can guess...is it documentation? If it is, you're not alone—that's exactly what the data showed us in our latest Stack Overflow Knows survey. But maybe you love documentation and hate code reviews. If so, we have a pod with Macroscope's Kayvon Beykpour on how AI can ease some of your code review troubles. Maybe all of our troubles would be erased if we could just get those pesky interfaces right; we have an episode with Wesley Yu from Metalab on all things interfaces (which are everything, btw). All right, we're done with small talk now. Let's have a deep discussion about the questions that matter the most. Are wooden cutting boards more sanitary than plastic ones? What would it take to be a world-famous keynote speaker in software? Why do programs and languages have such silly names? Is your imposter syndrome telling the truth? As always, we've got all of those answers for you in the links below.

Issue 307: New season, new agents

When fall turns to winter, it can often seem like everything around you is taking their own subtle shifts. And just like how the weather changes and the leaves start to fall, the world of technology is no different. On the blog, our CEO Prashanth Chandrasekar writes about one of those shifts in technology—how success is measured in a post Gen-AI world. XX And in a post Gen-AI world, the shift in technology seems to feel distinctly agentic. Guillaume De Saint Marc from Outshift by Cisco joined us on the pod to talk about the future of multi-agent frameworks and what kind of infrastructure needs to be built for it. Speaking of agent infrastructure, on Leaders of Code, our very own Ben Matthews sat down with Postman's Abhinav Asthana to talk APIs in the AI era. Plus, this week, we're introducing our own agent—AI Assist, a new way to access the 17 years of expert knowledge living on Stack Overflow. XX Even as the seasons change, some things remain true—traditional RSS feeds are boring, people love free movies, and code is only as good as the humans who are working on it. We have all three of those stories around the web for you this week, plus one on why finance bros should now fear AI taking their jobs like the rest of us. Oh, and another truth that remains true: robots are pretty cool. We were joined by Viam's VP of Engineering, Simone Kalmakis, to explore how abstraction is making those very cool robots attainable for the everyday person. XX As the leaves fall and a chill starts to bite your nose, you're probably asking yourself a lot of questions right now like...what model computer appeared in both Star Trek and Serenity? Or maybe the winter air is making you wonder if the word "goodly" is real. Maybe you're even thinking about quitting your job, even if its only been a month. Well, you won't believe the coincidence—we've got all of those answers for you for you this week. Check them out, and everything else, in the links below.

Issue 306: The crop circles have code

So, guess we're officially in the post-GenAI world, huh? If you're getting the feeling that the tech is just getting stronger, faster, and better, you're not alone—even the plants are starting to feel it. On the pod, Darryl Lyons from Rainstick joined us to talk about the advancements in AgTech and how they're using bioelectricity to literally make it rain...and enhance agricultural productivity. But it's not all daisies and rainbows in the tech world. We also had Mithril's Jared Quincy Davis on the show to discuss the GPU shortage (or lack thereof), and how the economics of GPUs are going to need to change in the age of AI. Besides getting your GPUs right, there are lots of things you're probably doing wrong with your AI strategy. Don't worry, we have a piece on the blog for you about what you need for enterprise success in the post-GenAI world. Hopefully that will calm some of the grief you feel when you read about how trillions are being spent on software projects that are still failing. Sometimes, the best way to get things done is just sitting down and doing it, as per another story from the web this week on how one dev team fixed 189 bugs in one week. And doesn't optimization, efficiency, and AI just make you hungry? If so, we have an EGGROLL for you—an Evolution Guided General Optimization via Low-rank Learning ML algorithm to be exact. If that ML algorithm doesn't satiate your hunger, maybe what you have is an appetite for knowledge. Even in a post-GenAI world, there are some questions only users on Stack can answer. For instance, is it illegal for chatbots to pretend to be human? Did you like Klondike Solitaire before it was cool? Will someone please help this poor person delete these files off their USB? We have those answers for you—and so much more—down in the links below.

Issue 305: New hair, new clothes, still Stack Overflow

It's been an eventful week at Stack Overflow. If you haven't heard yet, we're unifying all our different selves into a Voltron of knowledge. At Microsoft Ignite, we showcased the next generation of our enterprise product, now named Stack Internal. We won't say too much about it in this here newsletter intro, but if you want all the juicy details, we've got them for you on the blog. That's not the only new thing happening, either. Check out our Community Products update to hear about what new features we've got cooking for the public platform. XX Our time at Ignite showed us that AI and agents are here to stay, so we've got two pods for you this week on just that topic. Retool's David Hsu sat down with us to talk guardrails and high-level programming primitives for AI coding assistants, so that no data will be harmed the next time your nontechnical coworker loads up a vibe coding bot. We also had Assaf Elovic from monday.com on the pod to discuss how they create agents that users actually adopt. Spoiler alert: they do it by focusing on user experience. XX Maybe our new rebrand has our head a little big this week, so enough about us. We've also got plenty links from around the web, ranging from a homemade synthesizer toy to a startup game where you can finally be the rich investor throwing around your money. And what would an Overflow newsletter be without the gift of knowledge? If you're curious about three yolk eggs, nuking barrels of oil, or lighting farts on fire, you'll love this week's answers. All of those—and much more—are ready for your curious eyes down below.