I have a long drive to work, and one of the things I do to pass the time regularly is listen to podcasts in the car. I really enjoy programming podcasts and conference talk recordings, and it's a really great way to educate yourself on the go. I wanted to throw a shout out to some podcasts that I haven't previously mentioned on the blog and hopefully turn on a few new listeners.

For reference, here are links to the previous posts:

July 2011 Podcasts for Web Developers, Programmers and Software Engineers

Podcasts for Programmers, Developers and Web Designers

/dev/hell

This is probably my favorite new programming podcast, hosted by one of my internet heroes Chris Hartjes and Ed Finkler. This is a mostly PHP podcast, but there are many discussions about other languages like Javascript, Python, etc. Truthfully those discussions are generally presented through the lens of a PHP developer frustrated with the shortcomings of his chosen language. It was fun to listen along to this podcast over the year and hear discussions about Ed Finkler's MicroPHP Manifesto, and watching Chris try to develop his brand as grumpy programmer, write a book and even stress out about organizing a conference True North PHP. The other great thing is that since Chris and Ed part of the so-called "PHP Elite", you get a really nice selection of top tier guests like Elizabeth Naramore, Chris Shiflett, Joël Perras. This is definitely the must-listen podcast for PHP developers, but I think any web developer would appreciate it.

Giant Robots Smashing into other Giant Robots

This is an awesome new podcast put out by the guys at thoughtbot. It is primarily ruby focused, but I find that the topics covered are interesting to almost any programmer. There are also interviews with various people in the programming industry at various stages in their careers. Notable guests like David Heinemeier Hansson, the creator of Ruby on Rails, help to give even more credibility to this podcast. One of the great things about this podcast is the host, Ben Orenstien. His questions and voice are really thoughtful and he never comes off as pretentious. It's really refreshing considering the way the ruby community in general tends to suffer from a bit of elitism, at least in the presentation. Most of my favorite episodes was entirely about code and you will often here refrains to "Tell, don't ask" and other useful design patterns. Spin this one up even if you aren't a rubyist.

Programming Throwdown

Programming Throwdown is a podcast built around the idea of discussing a different programming language or developer technology with each episode. Each episode starts with about 20 minutes of banter and soft-talk which admittedly I try to skip, but if you are willing to forgive the hosts enthusiasm and overuse of the word "like" and unabashed "valley speak" you will find some excellent technical knowledge behind these discussions. If I had to imagine, the hosts probably went to the same college and comp sci courses together because you actually can't tell them apart. In any event, where else can you listen to a podcast about Latex one week, and C++ or Python the next week.

Javascript Jabber

Javascript Jabber is an in-depth, technical podcast based around the JavaScript language. This podcast is hosted by Charles Max Wood, and features a rotating cast of notables from the JavaScript world. My favorite episode was pretty much a debate between Yehuda Katz (Ember.js, Rails, jQuery) and Jeremy Ashkenas (Backbone,js, underscore.js) about JavaScript MVC frameworks. Other regular guests are guys like Tim Caswell, who is a big deal in the node community. This podcast gets very technical about JavaScript development which to me makes it very attractive and distinct from The Javascript Show, which is more of a news roundup about the happenings in the JavaScript world. Definitely check this one out if you develop with JavaScript.

Hanselminutes

I initially avoided Hanselminutes since I assumed it was strictly a .NET and Microsoft centered podcast, since host Scott Hanselman is a big fish in the Microsoft World. After running dry on podcasts I decided to download a few episodes and I was pleasantly surprised by how well put together this podcast is. I think Scott puts a lot of effort into covering a broad range of topics, everything from interviewing a guy who makes 3d modeling software, to discussing his struggles with Git. Scott interviews all kinds of interesting people from around the developer ecosystem, and isn't afraid to get personal, talking about his struggles with diabetes for example. The podcast is probably especially worthwhile to listen to if you come from an open-source background since Scott has an interesting perspective considering his experience in the industry.

Herding Code

While I'm on the subject of .NET/Microsoft focused podcasts, Herding Code is another great listen even for the open-source guys. These guys pump out a ton of interesting discussions on a very regular basis and topics range from ASP.NET MVC to testing and mobile development. This podcast really did a lot to change my opinion about Microsoft developers, who I used to think just played with Excel all day and generated code with wizards. I mean sure, they still do that, but….give the podcast a listen to anyway!

P.S Check out this awesome implementation of Clippy in javascript!

 

Did I miss anything?

That's all I have for the moment folks! There are a few podcasts I didn't mention because I don't listen to them or I think they are low-quality but please leave a comment if I'm missing anything you like to listen to!