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Programming IT

Ask Slashdot: What's the Best Podcast About Computer Science? 37

Posted by EditorDavid from the production-environments dept.
Long-time Slashdot reader destinyland writes: They say "always be learning" — but do podcasts actually help? I've been trying to find podcasts that discuss programming, and I've enjoyed Lex Fridman's interviews with language creators like Guido van Rossum, Chris Lattner, and Brendan Eich (plus his long interviews with Donald Knuth). Then I discovered that GitHub, Red Hat, Stack Overflow, and the Linux Foundation all have their own podcast.

There's a developer podcast called "Corecursive" that I like with the tagline "the stories behind the code," plus a whole slew of (sometimes language-specific) podcasts at Changelog (including an interview with Brian Kernighan). And it seems like there's an entirely different universe of content on YouTube — like the retired Microsoft engineer doing "Dave's Garage," Software Engineering Daily, and the various documentaries by Honeypot.io. Computerphile has also scored various interviews with Brian Kernighan, and if you search YouTube enough you'll find stray interviews with Steve Wozniak.

But I wanted to ask Slashdot's readers: Do you listen to podcasts about computer science? And if so, which ones? (Because I'm always stumbling across new programming podcasts, which makes me worry about what else I've been missing out on.) Maybe I should also ask if you ever watch coding livestreams on Twitch — although that gets into the more general question of just how much content we consume that's related to our profession.
Fascinating discussions, or continuing work-related education? (And do podcasts really help keep your skills fresh? Are coding livestreams on Twitch just a waste of time?) Most importantly, does anyone have a favorite geek podcast that they're listening to? Share your own experience and opinions in the comments...

What's the best podcast about computer science?
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Ask Slashdot: What's the Best Podcast About Computer Science? More

Ask Slashdot: What's the Best Podcast About Computer Science?

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  • Looking for the latest fads? (Score:3)

    by narcc ( 412956 ) on Sunday February 26, 2023 @03:04PM (#63324708) Journal

    Because that's what a podcast will get you. Chasing fads is for kids who can afford to go down a few blind alleys early in their career. Also, for the insecure middle-aged who never developed wisdom and are afraid of getting left behind.

    If you want to stay sharp, review core concepts on your own and take some online classes. Better yet, develop interests outside of computer programming. Broaden your horizons.

    • Re: (Score:1)

      by Tablizer ( 95088 )

      Surfing fads are how some get ahead, for good or bad. There's always a PHB who is hiring based on buzzwords.

      • Some fads are just fads. Others become part of the foundation.

        How do you know which are which?

        Answer: By educating yourself and listening to experts. One way to do that is with podcasts.

        • Re: (Score:1)

          by Tablizer ( 95088 )

          > How do you know which [fads] are which [lasting or duds]? Answer: By educating yourself and listening to experts.

          Experts often get it wrong also. If they were so good at it, they'd be so rich from investments that they wouldn't need a pundit job such that you wouldn't be hearing from them.

          For example, many dismissed the first iPhone because it had features other phones already had, just a "somewhat better UI". For whatever reason, it triggered a consumer rush into the smart-phone market.

          Tech experts ar

    • Chasing fads is for kids

      If you don't pay attention to fads you'll also miss trends.

      It doesn't mean you have to follow them, but you should at least be aware of where the industry as a whole is moving.

      • Re: (Score:2)

        by narcc ( 412956 )

        "The industry" is descending into a crisis of it's own making. That's what chasing fads and trends gets you. Enjoy your 3-hour scrum meeting.

    • It isn't necessarily fads: I was completely unaware of the Raspi 2040 chip for a year after it came out because none of my usual sources - like /. - mentioned it. At least not in a way that made any sort of impression on me. And, given that I spend about 7 or 8 hours on the road twice a week, I'd love to combine a tech review in a podcast format to keep my drive time productive.

  • Software Engineering Radio [se-radio.net] is interesting.

  • "They say "always be learning" â" but do podcasts actually help?"

    The ratio of signal to noise is dismal.

    OTOH, as a recreational activity, podcasts are better than many other entertainments. You get to know interesting people and you get a feeling for how they think. This can be useful if you seek inspiration.

  • So, OP can just do:

    https://duckduckgo.com/?q=comp... [duckduckgo.com]

    Define "best" - it's entirely dependent on your personal preferences/biases.

  • with michael kennedy.

  • I enjoy "The Real Python Podcast", "Code Comments", "Software at Scale", "Python for Everybody", "Command Line Heroes"

  • Some I have enjoyed over the years. Programming Throwdown is my top choice, Off Heap and Java Pub House for Java specific. Systems podcasts I like are Linux Action News and Linux Unplugged

  • Under the Radar [relay.fm] is more niche than the examples in the summary, but it’s two iOS developers—one is the original developer behind Tumblr and Instapaper who’s now behind the Overcast podcast app, the other the developer of Widgetsmith and a host of other apps—talking through the real world, day-to-day issues they encounter as independent developers/business owners.

    It’s less “war stories” and more slice of life topics like “let me explain when I think it makes se

  • Signals And Threads (Score:3)

    by Tupper ( 1211 ) on Sunday February 26, 2023 @03:41PM (#63324796) Homepage

    Signals And Threads is a very high quality CS podcast from Jane Street. Interviews with various developers doing interesting things of surprising variety.

  • Is there some podcast that helps you analyze multiple factors, and tradeoffs in the possible solutions? You know, one that doesn't presuppose there is some universal metric called "best"?

    I'm going for some ice cream now. I will choose the best flavor...

  • it's easy to forget in 2023 that conferences are still a thing, but they very much are, and most of them put up videos for free after.

    So look around for conferences that might appeal to you and watch some sessions from those. One interesting and topically diverse one just to pick one off the top of my head is the Strange Loop [youtube.com] conference, but if you just search for conferences on areas of technology that interest you, you can probably find something good.

  • since a sequential recording of human speech is about the least efficient method there is of storing or transferring human knowledge, i'm not interested in any sort of podcast, and won't be as long as my eyesight isn't severely impaired (which is one of the 2 edge cases where a podcast even makes sense, the other being "while walking my dog" in which case just stop being a derp and fucking pay attention to the dog and the walking, you'll read up about that interesting stuff later).

  • As part of the Computer History Museum's collection strategy, they interview many computer pioneers. Every year, they select four or five pioneers to present Fellows Awards at a big fund raising banquet. The Fellows are interviewed while at CHM.

    Oral History web page: https://computerhistory.org/or... [computerhistory.org]

    CHM also has lectures, these usually appear on youtube as part of their channel. For example, when the Babbage Difference Engine arrived at CHM: https://www.youtube.com/watch?... [youtube.com]

    Recently, they captu

  • Maybe it's because I'm too ADD, but I don't have the patience to listen to podcasts, particularly on technical or other challenging content. Usually the 'bandwidth' is too low and I get bored. But sometimes I need to go back and re-read something, and although you can do that on a podcast, one thing you can't easily do is cross-check by marking a position in a book, reading a footnote or going elsewhere in the book, and then return to the bookmark. Thus the linear enforced flow of a podcast is not how I

    • Re: (Score:2)

      by youn ( 1516637 )

      Two things that help me:
      _ Pick the speaker, some people are really knowledgeable but would put a volcano to sleep
      _ Skip through the "Clever introduction" where some try to tie random useless S*** to the current topic to sound original. Example: Today, we'll talk about data abstraction and to illustrate I will show you a slide from [insert here random tribe in the middle of nowhere], and how their society organization relates to hierarchy of objects in c++
      _ Listen to podcast at 2X
      _ Jot down interesting topic

  • Wasting Dutch tax dollars for decades on his pet project while his agency leaves the Dutch society in ruins with their botched up statistical reports.

  • I listen to a lot of networking podcasts, which I wish more CS majors listened to as well. They include: Packet Pushers [packetpushers.net], The Brothers WISP [thebrotherswisp.com], and modem.show [modem.show] Doc Searls' The FLOSS show is often good.

  • Rambling blah blah blah. I can read about 30 times faster than they can talk, so Podcasts are an extremely inefficient way to transmit information.

    No thanks...

    • Agree. Also, reading is way easier to skip forward or backward. I guess podcasts are for commuters.

    • They’re significantly more efficient at conveying information when you’re mowing, driving, in the shower, or otherwise engaged in a chore, which is when most of us listen to them. It’s not like we’re listening to podcasts instead of reading. We’re making the best use of time that would otherwise be a wasted opportunity.

      • Re: (Score:2)

        by KlomDark ( 6370 )

        Maybe for you. For me, those are times for background processing, that's when I do my best thinking. Not going to crowd out those times with someone shit babbling.

  • While podcasts aren't tutorials, they do help fill in the details and inform relevant users on the subject matter from SME mouths directly (at least that's the theory.) They're more like talk shows. You might find out what Jimmy Kimmel's guests like for breakfast and what they think about all day, and maybe that's helpful to you if you work in some related field, but nobody expects to get new concepts on Jimmy Kimmel. I consider podcasts to be pretty much like that. They're fan spaces, not learning hubs.
  • In general, it's better to practice more. Listening is good, but you have to tap your fingers. In between, I like to read. Recently it was about death penalty, used https://edubirdie.com/examples/death-penalty/ [edubirdie.com] for that. There are many podcasts about computer science, but I can recommend a few of them: "Software Engineering Radio" and "Talk Python To Me" - is a podcast about the Python programming language and its use in various fields such as data science, web development, and artificial intelligence. But
  • In general, it's better to practice more. Listening is good, but you have to tap your fingers. In between, I like to read. Recently it was about death penalty, used https://edubirdie.com/examples/death-penalty/ [edubirdie.com] for that. There are many podcasts about computer science, but I can recommend a few of them: "Software Engineering Radio" and "Talk Python To Me" - is a podcast about the Python programming language and its use in various fields such as data science, web development, and artificial intelligence. But

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