Ben talks with Eran Yahav, a former researcher on IBM Watson who’s now the CTO and cofounder of AI coding company Tabnine. Ben and Eran talk about the intersection of software development and AI, the evolution of program synthesis, and Eran’s path from IBM research to startup CTO. They also discuss how to balance the productivity and learning gains of AI coding tools (especially for junior devs) against very real concerns around quality, security, and tech debt.

Eira May

Today’s guest is Jonathan Schneider, co-founder and CEO of Moderne and creator of OpenRewrite, an open-source automated refactoring ecosystem for source code built to help developers eliminate tech debt. He tells Ben and Ryan about the challenges of automatic refactoring, how Java continues to evolve, and what kind of impact tech debt has on software development. Jonathan also describes the transition from open-source project to startup, why clean code is so important, and the role AI plays for developers right now.

Eira May

It’s tempting to push projects out the door to woo and impress colleagues and supervisors, but the stark truth is that even the smallest projects should have proper review periods.

Ryan chats with Jon Bevan, a software engineer currently building the cloud version of Scriptrunner, an Atlassian app, about the concept of tech debt. They explore how tech debt can arise from outdated technology choices, shortcuts, and the need for maintenance work. They also delve into the challenges of upgrading dependencies and the potential scope creep of requirements and features over time.

Eira May

On this episode: Matt Van Itallie, Founder and CEO at Sema, a company that assesses code to improve outcomes for users, companies, and developers. Plus, friend of the show and erstwhile cohost Cassidy Williams joins the conversation.

Eira May

If you want the tech debt metaphor to really shine, get some numbers behind it.

Ryan Donovan

Today, it’s easier than ever for a team to monitor software in production. But it's also easy to build up a lot of tech debt around monitoring.

Jean Yang

Code quality affects the mental state of a programmer, communication within their team, and the incentives attached to their work. Improve your code and you can improve your organizational health and competence as a whole.

Isaac Lyman