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Happy Path Programming

Happy Path Programming

Bruce Eckel & James Ward 119 episodes Latest Jun 2, 2026

No-frills discussions between Bruce Eckel and James Ward about programming, what it is, and what it should be.

Episodes

#120 Aver AI-Native Programming Language with Szymon Teżewski Jun 2, 2026 01:10:27 We dive into the new Aver programming language with its creator, Szymon Teżewski: The AI-native language where code explains itself.Aver is a language where every function carries its intent, side effects are visible in the type system, and tests are executable specs next to the code. The optimization target is the reviewer, not the generator.Resources:- Aver: https://averlang.dev/- Agent Language
#119 FP Reaches the Masses with Paul Snively Jan 24, 2026 01:29:16 We chat with Paul Snively (https://x.com/JustDeezGuy) about how Functional Programming has gone mainstream.Resources- Winter Tech Forum - https://www.wintertechforum.com- Paul Snively's LambdaConf Talk on Verse - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VBT0j14rn5c- Paul Snively's Blog Post on the Verse Calculus - https://paul-snively.github.io/posts/2022-12-15-verse-calculus.html- Eugenio Moggi, &
#118 Effects of 2025 Jan 2, 2026 01:11:48 Bruce & James recap the technology shifts of 2025 and look ahead to what may be ahead in 2026.Resources:Register for the Winter Tech Forum (March 2-6 2026 in Crested Butte, Colorado)The Eternal Return of Abstraction: Why Programming Was Never About CodeThinking in Typesjavadocs.devWhat's New in EmbabelDiscuss this episode: ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠discord.gg/XVKD2uPKyF
#117 Special Episode: Entering Computer Science as a New Graduate Nov 18, 2025 01:12:29 At Western State Colorado University in Gunnison on Sept 11, 2025, Bruce Eckel, Bill Venners and Dianne Marsh each give their own 10-minute perspectives on finding fulfillment in the field, especially considering the impact of AI and other recent changes in computing. The remainder of the session answers questions from the student audience.Discuss this episode: ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠discord.gg/XVKD
#116 Infrastructure as Effects with Sam Goodwin Sep 19, 2025 00:58:57 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
#115 More Python Type Checking! Pyrefly with Aaron Pollack & Steven Troxler Aug 11, 2025 01:02:12 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 t
#114 ty: Fast Python Type Checking with Carl Meyer Jul 25, 2025 01:05:20 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
#113 Graph & RAG with Jennifer Reif Jul 21, 2025 01:05:27 We chat with Jennifer Reif about integrating LLMs with data using RAG, vectorized data, and Graph databases.Discuss this episode: ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠discord.gg/XVKD2uPKyF⁠⁠
#112 AI Agents Get More 9's with Rod Johnson Jul 2, 2025 01:14:29 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
#111 Wasm & MCP with Steve Manuel Apr 10, 2025 00:51:09 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
#110 Unlocking Developer Productivity with Justin Reock Apr 9, 2025 01:05:04 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
#109 AI, LLMs, and MCP with Lize Raes Feb 21, 2025 01:12:57 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

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