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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.

From the blog

How Stack Overflow’s MCP Server is helping HP modernize the software development lifecycle

HP's Distinguished Technologist Evan Scheessele shares how better knowledge access is allowing HP to experiment and modernize their software development lifecycle with the help of the Stack Internal MCP Server.

Interface is everything, and everything is an interface

Ryan talks with Wesley Yu, head of engineering at Metalab, about the evolution of interfaces in technology, the pressure generating UI on the fly would put on your backend systems, and why AI is just the latest and fanciest in a long line of CRUD apps.

Simulating lousy conversations: Q&A with Silvio Savarese, Chief Scientist & Head of AI Research at Salesforce

AI yells at voice agents so you don't have to.

Tell us what you really, really… do not want to spend time working on

With the promise of AI productivity gains not always coming to fruition, we wondered where developers still get frustrated.

AI is a crystal ball into your codebase

Ryan is joined by Kayvon Beykpour, CEO and founder of Macroscope, to dive into AI-powered code review’s potential for managing large codebases, the need for humans-in-the-loop for PR reviews so AI tools can efficiently and effectively debug, and how AI can increase visibility through summarization at the abstract syntax tree level and high signal-to-noise ratio code reviews.

The shift in enterprise AI—what we learned on the floor at Microsoft Ignite

There's a distinct shift in how enterprises are talking about their AI solutions. Speed and flashiness are giving way to steadier, slower, more focused AI strategies for companies, where market fit and proof points are more important than ever.

Global Payments: Building better– together.

You may not be a payments expert, but we are. Learn how you can make payments the easiest part of your tech stack with APIs, SDKs, and more with Global Payments for Developers.

Interesting questions

Do wooden cutting boards have antimicrobial properties?

Anything can be antimicrobial if you douse it in cleaning solution.

Is it feasible at all to build data centers in space?

Dyson sphere, here we come!

Worked alone for the same company during 7 years, now I feel like I lack a lot of basics skills

"Your imposter syndrome is right and you deserve a pay decrease," said no one ever.

Where does the phrase "the many faces of ..." originate?

The many faces of an overused title phrase.

Links from around the web

So you want to speak at software conferences?

Heavy is the head that wears the mic set.

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.

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."

4 billion if statements

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


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