Issue 293: Write the code you want to see in the world

This week, we're talking a lot about open-source, and remembering what MJ said—if you want to make the world a better place, take a look at some open-source code and make that...CHANGE! We've got two open-source founders on the pod this week. We're joined by the creator of Svelte, Rich Harris, to talk about web frameworks and their dirty little secrets. Plus, the creator of NumPy and SciPy, Travis Oliphant, also sat down with us to chat about the development of Python as a data science tool. And if these two convos don't have you itching to join in on the open-source fun, we have a story from the web about the millions of one-person open-source projects in the world that will surely light a fire under you. XX

And we're looking to be the change we want to see, too. On the blog, we shared how we're making a better future for our communities with part one of how we moved our public sites to the cloud. And for a little inspiration, we've also got a pod episode with Darko Mesaroš, Principal Developer Advocate at AWS, about the history of technologies and breakthroughs that made software development more powerful. And if you're a leader thinking about making that change on your teams, we've got a blog about the power of continuous learning at work. XX

Looking for more? We've got everything you could want, like stories from the web about German Strings and uncertainty, or questions on metaphysics and orange sharks. Links are all down below.

From the blog

Open-source is for the people, by the people

Travis Oliphant, creator of NumPy and SciPy, joins Ryan to explore the development of Python as a data science tool, the evolution of these foundational libraries, and the importance of community and collaboration in open-source projects, including Travis’ current work to support sustainable open-source through the OpenTeams Incubator.

Moving the public Stack Overflow sites to the cloud: Part 1

Stack Overflow, born on the bare metal racks of a data center, ascends to the cloud.

From punch cards to prompts: a history of how software got better

Ryan welcomes Darko Mesaroš, Principal Developer Advocate at AWS and all-around computer history buff, to chat about the history of software development improvements and how they made developers made more productive.

Svelte was built on “slinging code for the sheer love of it”

Rich Harris, creator of Svelte and software engineer at Vercel, joins Ryan on the show to dive into the evolution and future of web frameworks. They discuss the birth and growth of Svelte during the rise of mobile, the challenges of building robust and efficient web applications, how companies can back more open-source community projects, and the dirty little secret about asynchronous operations and component frameworks.

Making continuous learning work at work

The most effective learning doesn’t happen in a classroom. It happens during work.

Interesting questions

Why are metaphysicians obsessed with language?

"Language is our means to transport and apprehend meaning."

Reverse engineering images from old Japanese videogame

Have you tried the old Missy Elliott trick of putting your thing down, flipping it, and reversing it?

How do we deal with trainees/students using LLM for higher academic work?

They did promise a graduate student in your pocket...even for the graduate students.

Was a bright orange shark discovered in Costa Rica?

Maybe it's just a really unfortunate spray tan.