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Happy Path Programming

Happy Path Programming
Author: Bruce Eckel & James Ward
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© Bruce Eckel & James Ward
Description
No-frills discussions between Bruce Eckel and James Ward about programming, what it is, and what it should be.
Buy the Happy Path Programming t-shirt: https://happy-path.printify.me/products
Buy the Happy Path Programming t-shirt: https://happy-path.printify.me/products
115 Episodes
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Infrastructure as Code (IaC) is "code" but without most of the benefits of being code. Sam Goodwin is reinventing IaC with Alchemy and an upcoming Alchemy Effect project which aims to manage infrastructure dependencies & provisioning in the same way we manage requirements in Effect Oriented Programming.Discuss this episode: discord.gg/XVKD2uPKyF
Excitement around Python type checking continues to grow and the tools continue to evolve. We chat with Aaron Pollack and Steven Troxler about Pyrefly - a Rust-based Python type checker and IDE extension. We also touch on the adoption and sentiment around types in Python's ecosystem.Resources:Pyrefly DiscordPackage Type Coverage ReportPackages being tracked for moving types from typeshed to the source projectTyping Survey SlidesBlog post with survey analysisPython typing community forumMCP PyreflyDiscuss this episode: discord.gg/XVKD2uPKyF
Carl Meyer works on the ty Python type checker, built in Rust by Astral the creators of Ruff and uv. We chat about type systems, the evolution of static typing in Python, and the focus on performance.Resources:Richard Feldman: Roc compiler moving from Rust to ZigDiscuss this episode: discord.gg/XVKD2uPKyF
We chat with Jennifer Reif about integrating LLMs with data using RAG, vectorized data, and Graph databases.Discuss this episode: discord.gg/XVKD2uPKyF
Rod Johnson, creator of the Spring Framework, has created a JVM-based AI Agent framework called Embabel. We dive in and learn how enterprises can build more reliable Agents using deterministic planning and domain-driven orchestration.Discuss this episode: discord.gg/XVKD2uPKyF
We chat with Steve Manuel (of dylibso.com and mcp.run) about LLM "plugins" with Wasm & MCP (Model Context Protocol).Discuss this episode: discord.gg/XVKD2uPKyF
Justin Reock has spent a lot of his career thinking about how to help developers be more productive. In this episode we learn about the methodologies that can help developers spend more time in "flow state" - happily coding the fun stuff. Further reading: Measuring developer productivity with the DX Core 4 Discuss this episode: discord.gg/XVKD2uPKyF
Lize Raes teaches us about AI models, LLMs, Tools, Agents, and MCP.Article from Anthropic on Agent architectures: Building effective agentsDiscuss this episode: discord.gg/XVKD2uPKyF
Join us at the 2025 Winter Tech Forum! www.wintertechforum.com
Projects Mentioned:
uv for Python
TypeScript Effect
Pkl CloudFormation Extras
Pkl GitHub Actions
Other Episodes Mentioned:
#81 TypeScript & Effects with Michael Arnaldi
#97 The Pkl Configuration Language with Philip Hölzenspies
We chat with Dave Thomas, co-author of The Pragmatic Programmer, about the joy of programming and the tensions between our and others needs.
Discuss this episode: discord.gg/XVKD2uPKyF
Jutta Eckstein is expanding the concepts of Agile to be a company-wide model, instead of a niche process for software developers. We chat with her about the book "Company-wide Agility with Beyond Budgeting, Open Space & Sociocracy" which she co-authored on this subject. For more details on the book and many free resources, see: www.agilebossanova.com
Discuss this episode: discord.gg/XVKD2uPKyF
Nathan Sobo is co-founder of Zed, a super-fast, collaborative, AI-powered, code editor. We chat about his journey to build the ultimate code editor: lessons learned from building Atom, Electron and its challenges, CRDTs, Rust native GPU GUIs, AI Code Assistants, and more CRDTs.
See also:
Nathan on the Software Unscripted podcast
Discuss this episode: discord.gg/XVKD2uPKyF
After 4 years in development, our book is out! Along with our friend and lead-author, Bill Frasure, we we discuss the book, its motivation and the process we used to create it. Now available in digital and print forms at: effectorientedprogramming.com
At the end of the episode we step into the "twilight zone" with a 7 minute NotebookLM AI-generated podcast based on the book.
Discuss this episode: discord.gg/XVKD2uPKyF
Stephan Janssen is always on the bleeding edge of both helping developers grow and with how he uses technology to accomplish amazing things. He led the creation of Devoxx but is a coder at heart. Stephan shares his journey with AI, both as a "library" in his applications and also as an "assistant" that helps him iterate and program more quickly.
Resources:
DevoxxGenie IntelliJ Plugin
Ollama
LangChain for Java
LMstudio
Llama.cpp
James on The AI Native Dev Podcast: Rethinking Software Development: James Ward on AI's Role in Software Testing and Coding
Discuss this episode: discord.gg/XVKD2uPKyF
We chat with Venkat about his upcoming dev2next conference and the new Stream Gatherers API (preview in JDK 22).
Discuss this episode: discord.gg/XVKD2uPKyF
Johannes Schickling (@schickling | schickling.dev) gets us up-to-speed on Effect, the ZIO-inspired Effect System for TypeScript, and the Local-First movement. Resources:
Local-First Podcast: www.localfirst.fm
Ink & Switch's Local-First Essay: www.inkandswitch.com/local-first
Effect (TypeScript Library): effect.website
Riffle research project: riffle.systems
LiveStore: github.com/livestorejs
Overtone: overtone.pro
Related Episodes:
#81 TypeScript & Effects with Michael Arnaldi
#62 Musing About Local-First Sync & CRDTs with Mark McGranaghan
Discuss this episode: discord.gg/XVKD2uPKyF
Diana Montalion teaches us about Systems Thinking and why it matters for those of us building software. Diana is founder of Mentrix, which teaches "systems architecture skills for an increasingly complex world."
Pre-Order Diana's book: Learning Systems Thinking: Essential Nonlinear Skills and Practices for Software Professionals
Discuss this episode: discord.gg/XVKD2uPKyF
We chat with Trond Hjorteland about Agile and why it hasn't led to successful outcomes in many traditional organizations.
Mentioned and related resources:
Trond & João Rosa's training on Agile + DP2
Open Systems Theory
LinkedIn Group for Open Systems Theory
More material on Open Systems Theory
Resource List from Trond
Some of Trond's recorded talks
We chat with Valentina Servile about her upcoming book on Continuous Deployment and reducing the risks to keeping HEAD not just always deployable, but automatically deployed to production.
Book for preorder on Amazon: Continuous Deployment: Enable Faster Feedback, Safer Releases, and More Reliable Software
Discuss this episode: discord.gg/XVKD2uPKyF
We chat with Philip Hölzenspies, one of the maintainers of the new Pkl configuration language (pkl-lang.org).
Resources:
James' Pkl for GitHub Actions: github.com/jamesward/pklgha
Discuss this episode: discord.gg/XVKD2uPKyF
I love this podcast. BUT please stop interrupting your interviewee. It happens so often. Let them speak. Arty was making such an interesting point at the start then you interrupt mid-flow with some pointless observation.