Hacking the Grepson

Hacking the Grepson 042: Data Types and Structures, Part 1

Matt and Mike finally get to some fundamentals about programming: variables. In Part 1, we discuss so-called "primitive" types, such as Boolean and String.

Hacking the Grepson 041: Tech Taxonomy Redux

It's best not to get too hung up on terminology, especially as it relates to people's skills and job titles. That being said, Matt and Mike decide to ignore this advice and bikeshed the intention of three tech terms for a time.

Hacking the Grepson 040: MusicDev - Iteration

All things come to fruition through process. In programming, as in music, that process can be called iteration. In another installment of the MusicDev series, Matt and Mike go over (and over (and over)) this phenomenon.

Hacking the Grepson 039: Progle

Matt and Mike discuss a new daily obsession, Progle, which tasks one with identifying programming languages from both their attributes and their actual code.
https://progle.net

Hacking the Grepson 038: Pause Giant AI Experiments

Artificial Intelligence is having a real hey-day late-lay in the form of ChatGPT, and it seems like advances are happening at a rapid pace. Fear of our potential robotic overlords resulting from said advances have spurred a recent petition to pause said efforts. Matt and Mike discuss.
* ChatGPT 4: https://openai.com/product/gpt-4
* Petition to pause: https://futureoflife.org/open-letter/pause-giant-ai-experiments/

Hacking the Grepson 037: Game Automation

Mike and "Matt" and "Matt2" discuss a form of programming in gaming: automation. Two examples, PlateUp! and Minecraft, offer up their own version of this particular skill.
PlateUp!: https://www.plateupgame.com
Minecraft: https://minecraft.net

Hacking the Grepson 036: Backlogs and Planning

Matt and Mike discuss the importance (and sometimes harmfulness) of backlogs, and an interesting model of software development, framed as plain old human interaction.
* Backlogs are Useless: https://lucasfcosta.com/2023/02/07/backlogs-are-useless.html
* RailsConf 2020: Tidy Up?: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BFFY9Zor6zw

Hacking the Grepson 035: Uncovering Your Code’s House

Codebases are like houses, in that they can take on different shapes, sizes, and levels of organization and maintenance. Matt and Mike explore an article called "Uncovering Your Code's House" and discuss this interesting metaphor.
https://betterprogramming.pub/uncovering-your-codes-house-120d8f31075d

Hacking the Grepson 034: Software Ethics

Sure, writing code can be fun, but is it always "right" to write that code? Matt and Mike discuss the boundaries and responsibilities programmers should be aware of when developing.

Hacking the Grepson 033: Technical Debt

Matt and Mike explore the messy, but inevitable, topic of technical debt. Developing the "correct" way is often less efficient and less immediately satisfying, but it can avoid a potentially insurmountable mountain of spaghetti code later.

Hacking the Grepson 032: MusicDev - Loops

Matt and Mike dive in, once again, to that intersection of patterned audio and computer programming: MusicDev. This time, the discussion revolves, potentially endlessly, around loops, a fundamental concept in programming and also maybe in music.

Hacking the Grepson 031: Advent of Code 2022, Part 4

Advent of Code 2022 is officially over! Matt and Mike gather around the ol' podcast microphones to discuss Day 19-25, and our final thoughts about the whole shebang.
* Advent of Code: https://adventofcode.com
* Tiny Code Challenge: https://tcc.lovebyte.party
* LowRez NX: https://lowresnx.inutilis.com

Hacking the Grepson 030: Advent of Code 2022, Part 3

It's time for another weekly wrap-up of Advent of Code puzzles. On this episode, Matt and Mike discuss Day 12 through Day 18, but also with a side diversion through another daily coding challenge that Mike stumbled upon. Puzzles got harder and completion was no longer guaranteed this time!
* Advent of Code: https://adventofcode.com
* Tiny Code Christmas: https://tcc.lovebyte.party
* Cracking the Coding Interview: https://www.crackingthecodinginterview.com
 

Hacking the Grepson 029: Advent of Code 2022, Part 2

Another week in December, another episode about the Advent of Code! The programming puzzle generator threw Day 5-11 at us this time, and we dig in.
It's a super-sized episode because there's just that much to discuss!
* Advent of Code: https://adventofcode.com

Hacking the Grepson 028: Advent of Code 2022, Part 1

Hey, everybody! It's time for the Advent of Code again! AoC is, of course, a yuletide set of logic puzzles usually solved using some kind of programming. Matt and I did it for the first time last year, had a lot of fun, and are doing it again this year.
On this episode we go over our thoughts about how it's going after 4 days of not-too-grueling-yet Christmas elf-themed word problems.
* Advent of Code: https://adventofcode.com
* Eric Wastl Behind the Code: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Mb8WwKS6ajk
* aoc-cli: https://github.com/scarvalhojr/aoc-cli
* solving AoC using GPT: https://github.com/max-sixty/aoc-gpt
  * discussion on reddit about the ethics of such a thing: https://www.reddit.com/r/adventofcode/comments/zc27zb/2022_day_4_placing_1st_with_gpt3

Hacking the Grepson 027: Content Tagging

There's a lot of digital stuff across all the computers and devices that exist in the world. Somehow, you, the user, must find specific things in all that stuff, and content tagging is one way to make it easier. Matt and Mike explain how.

Hacking the Grepson 026: Twitter in Decline

Usually, this podcast goes for more evergreen content, but the shakeup at Twitter over the last few weeks is too juicy to ignore with a new CEO and a daily influx of restructuring and drama. Join Matt and Mike as they try to make sense of it all, while also explaining microblogging and software development leadership.
* It Begins: Elon Musk purchase timeline, courtesy of NPR: https://www.npr.org/2022/10/27/1131378869/twitter-elon-musk-timeline
* Breaking news on "Twitter 2.0": https://www.cnbc.com/2022/11/16/elon-musk-demands-twitter-staff-commit-to-long-hours-or-leave.html

Hacking the Grepson 025: Who is the Artist?

When a creative work is, uh, created, the question of who deserves the credit for its, um, creation is not an easy one to answer. Matt and Mike, er, try to do that, though, in this particular episode.

Hacking the Grepson 024: ImprovDev - Yes, And

Matt: We should do a podcast episode about Improv, and the concept of "Yes, And".
Mike: No, that sounds bad.
Matt: ...
Mike: I mean, uh...yes! And it should be how it relates to programming!
Matt: Let's do it!

Hacking the Grepson 023: MusicDev - Libraries

Matt and Mike start a new recurring segment about the similarities between creating music and creating code, starting with their shared usage of libraries.