SE Radio 663: Tyler Flint on Managing External APIs
Tyler Flint, CEO of qpoint.io, joins host Robert Blumen for a conversation about managing external vendor dependencies, including several best practices for adoption. They start with a look at internal versus external services, including details such as the footprint of external services within a micro-services application, and difficulties organizations have tracking their service consumption, quantifying service consumption, and auditing external services. Tyler also discusses the security implications of external services, including authentication and authorization. They examine metrics and monitoring, with recommendations on the key metrics to collect, as well as acceptable error rates for external services. From there they consider what can go wrong, how to respond to external service outages, and challenges related to testing external services. The episode wraps up with a discussion of qPoint’s migration from a proxy-based solution to one based on eBPF kernel probes. Brought to you by IEEE Computer Society and IEEE Software magazine.
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52:27
SE Radio 662: Vlad Khononov on Balancing Coupling in Software Design
Software architect and author Vlad Khononov joins host Jeff Doolittle for a discussion on balancing coupling in software design. They start by examining coupling and its relationship to complexity and modularity. Vlad explains the historical models for assessing coupling and introduces his updated approach, integration strength, which aims to simplify earlier frameworks and adapt them for modern practices. The episode explores three dimensions of coupling: integration strength (knowledge sharing), distance (proximity of components), and volatility (likelihood of change). Vlad illustrates how design decisions can lead systems toward complexity or modularity, and he emphasizes the importance of managing coupling to minimize cognitive load and cascading changes. The conversation wraps up with insights on applying these principles to real-world software projects and a reminder of coupling's critical role in software architecture. Brought to you by IEEE Computer Society and IEEE Software magazine.
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56:19
SE Radio 661: Sunil Mallya on Small Language Models
Sunil Mallya, co-founder and CTO of Flip AI, discusses small language models with host Brijesh Ammanath. They begin by considering the technical distinctions between SLMs and large language models. LLMs excel in generating complex outputs across various natural language processing tasks, leveraging extensive training datasets on with massive GPU clusters. However, this capability comes with high computational costs and concerns about efficiency, particularly in applications that are specific to a given enterprise. To address this, many enterprises are turning to SLMs, fine-tuned on domain-specific datasets. The lower computational requirements and memory usage make SLMs suitable for real-time applications. By focusing on specific domains, SLMs can achieve greater accuracy and relevance aligned with specialized terminologies. The selection of SLMs depends on specific application requirements. Additional influencing factors include the availability of training data, implementation complexity, and adaptability to changing information, allowing organizations to align their choices with operational needs and constraints. This episode is sponsored by Codegate.
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SE Radio 660: Pete Warden on TinyML
Pete Warden, CEO of Useful Sensors and a founding member of the TensorFlow team at Google, discusses TinyML, the technology enabling machine learning on low-power, small-footprint devices. This innovation opens up applications such as voice-controlled devices, offline translation tools, and smarter embedded systems, which are crucial for privacy and efficiency. SE Radio host Kanchan Shringi speaks with Warden about challenges like model compression, deployment constraints, and privacy concerns. They also explore applications in agriculture, healthcare, and consumer electronics, and close with some practical advice from Pete for newcomers to TinyML development. Brought to you by IEEE Computer Society and IEEE Software magazine.
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SE Radio 659: Brenden Matthews on Idiomatic Rust
Brenden Matthews, a seasoned software engineer, entrepreneur, and author of the Idiomatic Rust and Code Like a Pro in Rust books (both from Manning), speaks with SE Radio host Gavin Henry about Idiomatic Rust. They start with a look at what "idiomatic" means, and then discuss Generics, Traits, common design patterns you'll see in well written Rust code, and anti-patterns to avoid. Matthews suggests some tools that can help you immediately write idiomatic Rust, as well as what building blocks can also help. This episode examines what Generics are and how they compare to other languages, as well as what Traits are, how macros help, what a Fluent Interface is, and why unwrap() is bad. They also discuss what code smells to look out for, Clone, Copy, and a really nice place to go read real-world Idiomatic Rust code. Brought to you by IEEE Computer Society and IEEE Software magazine.
About Software Engineering Radio - the podcast for professional software developers
Software Engineering Radio is a podcast targeted at the professional software developer. The goal is to be a lasting educational resource, not a newscast. SE Radio covers all topics software engineering. Episodes are either tutorials on a specific topic, or an interview with a well-known character from the software engineering world. All SE Radio episodes are original content — we do not record conferences or talks given in other venues. Each episode comprises two speakers to ensure a lively listening experience. SE Radio is brought to you by the IEEE Computer Society and IEEE Software magazine.
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