Zombie Coder: Recent Episodes
The Undead Programmer
For the new programmer or the seasoned professional, the Zombie Coder podcast offers a look into Computer Science and technology topics with an experienced industry veteran.
The Zombie Coder is back for a new season! Today’s episode focuses on one of the Zombie’s key coding philosophies: Worse is Better. Learn about the history of the phrase and join the “Cult of Done” if you dare. Key Resources for today: Why Perfectionism and Burnout Go Hand in Hand – A lifehacker article … Continue reading "Code Philosophy: Why Worse is Better (Ep. 15)"
In this episode I’ll talk a bit about plans for the next season of Zombie Coder, and review some of the lessons learned over the past several months. Look for more episodes to resume after the new year! Music: https://audionautix.com
In this episode, I conclude a series on Merkle Trees – or, the key technology and ideas behind distributed systems. I hope this episode captures your imagination to the potential applications of the distributed web. Resources and Links: https://www.codementor.io/blog/merkle-trees-5h9arzd3n8 – Codementor article on merkle trees. This covers most of the material I discuss in this … Continue reading "CS Topics: Welcome to Hash World (Ep. 13)"
What is a death march project? Recognizing Death March projects is easier than you might expect, and avoiding them means simply setting your own boundaries. Death March [Amazon]: The “standard” book describing death march projects. https://www.pmi.org/learning/library/changing-death-march-project-parade-6066: Paper describing death march projects https://www.theverge.com/2017/6/13/15782200/one-device-secret-history-iphone-brian-merchant-book-excerpt: Article on the history of the iPhone https://ea-spouse.livejournal.com/274.html: Livejournal post that sparked substantial … Continue reading "Avoiding Death March Projects"
In this week’s episode, we dive a bit deeper into the underlying theory behind how random numbers and the importance behind the XOR operator when creating hashes. This episode does depend on pre-existing knowledge of basic boolean operators. If you aren’t familiar check out this page. GNU C Sources: Look for the linear congruential method … Continue reading "CS Topics: Rand and Xor Magic"
Today I’ll cover my major take-homes from a couple embedded Linux conferences that I (virtually) attended. Subjects: Let’s be positive All about embedded linux Be prepared: Containers are coming! (Someone please make docker-lite for embedded!) Risc V is up and coming real soon now Learn VSCode if you want a common IDE experience Diversity thoughts … Continue reading "Nix News: Embedded Linux Update"
Today I offer some advice for those currently staring down the barrel of failing midterm grades for CS and Engineering students. The Camel Doesn’t Have Two Humps – Commentary on the retraction of the oft-mentioned article on Computer Science being bi-modal. Reforming Mathematics – A detailed paper on Mathematics pedagogy, including coverage on educational theory … Continue reading "Hope for the Camel’s Second Hump"
Today we cover one of the primary building blocks for blockchain – Hash Functions. References: Introduction to Algorithms 3rd Ed. (CLRS) pg. 262 FNV Algorithm Wikipedia SHA-2 Page
Today I cover a small “oops” from the UK health center, and extend some thoughts on its relationship to “Real Programming”.
How I’m trying to keep sane while working remote. Some basic guidelines I’ve adopted over years of remote work.
Today I discuss the implications of ethics in software development. We’ll take a look at some of my personal experience, and 2 new Netflix documentaries: The Social Dilemma, and Challenger: The Final Flight. IBM and the Nazis – HBR podcast on IBM and the Holocaust Twitter apologizes for racist algorithm – Controversy on twitter algorithm … Continue reading "Episode 5 – Ethics of Software Programmers"
A look at major new developments in the coding world for C/C++ – and some brief talk on Amazon BottleRocket and Microsoft’s Hyper-V advancements. Amazon Announcement for “BottleRocket” Linux distribution ZDNet Coverage – Microsoft Hyper-V patches for Linux kernel as root Infoworld Coverage – C++20 technical approval CMake feature tracker – CMake C++ modules support … Continue reading "Episode 4 – Fall 2020 Programming Developments"
For new and aspiring developers – in this episode I answer the #1 question asked from future coders – should I go to college? Pros and Cons of a college degree and the University system. Contents: The Cold Truth of Job Seeking. Beware of For-Profit systems. Selecting a Degree. The actual meaning of a Computer … Continue reading "Episode 3 – To College or not to College?"
We return to the early 80s and 90s to discuss the rise of consumer access to Usenet and the following decline of the service and its rise to the ranks of the undead. Contents: Show introduction Merging of networks SPAM, SPAM, more SPAM A brief analysis of the “Decline” Resources: Mozilla Thunderbird: https://www.thunderbird.net/en-US/ Eternal September: … Continue reading "Episode 2 – The Decline of Usenet"
Today, we go back in time to the late 70’s and observe the events that led to the creation of newgroups and usenet. Especially as this podcast covers historic events, factual corrections will be attached to the original post and/or episode as required. Contents: Introduction The A News Reader The B News Reader Creation of … Continue reading "Episode 1 – The Creation of Usenet"
After repeated encouragement from friends and coworkers, I’ve decided to take a dive into the world of podcasting. We’ll see if this is something that can keep going or not – but for now, I introduce the first episode of my podcast for this site. Show contents: Introduction Inspiration “suckless.org” software project Rebuilding fun in … Continue reading "Introduction the Podcast"