JS Party: JavaScript, CSS, Web Development · Changelog Media

Digging through Jerod Santo’s tool box

October 17, 2024·59 min·5 clips

Jerod's programming teacher forced him to use Vim, saying other editors were only for writing emails to your grandma.

The episode frames itself as a sequel to an earlier deep dive into panelist Nick Nisi's toolbox, turning the lens on Jerod Santo, described as the person behind every JS Party episode even when not hosting. K-Ball opens by noting that Jerod is not just a developer but also a business owner and longtime podcaster, making his toolbox likely to differ from a pure developer profile. Jerod explains his text editor trajectory: he was forced to learn Vim in a college programming class, stayed with it for terminal and SSH work, moved through TextMate and Sublime Text, never adopted VS Code despite having installed it, and recently switched to Zed for project work within the last six months. His key criteria is speed: Sublime was always faster than everything else, VS Code has gained weight over time, and Zed -- built from the ground up for performance by Nathan Sobo, a former lead on Atom at GitHub -- is the first editor that feels Sublime-like in responsiveness. Jerod notes he still keeps Sublime launched for quick buffer work. The episode covers his terminal setup, package management, and the tools he uses specifically for podcast production at Changelog, a media company that produces JS Party and numerous other developer-focused shows. The distinction between his developer tools and his media operations tools forms a recurring thread. Jerod also discusses how he manages multiple responsibilities across code, content, and business operations, including the role of the Fly.io hosting partnership. The conversation explores the philosophy behind tool selection: preferring fast, minimal, and reliable tools over feature-rich but sluggish alternatives.

As heard by us

An eight-year-old web app argues for targeted infrastructure work instead of a full Jamstack rewrite.

The host's toolbox frames a familiar maintenance problem: a web app can age past the assumptions of its original stack without becoming a bad app.

Read the full review in PlayNext →

Why you'd press play

You want to hear what an eight-year-old web app teaches you about living with old choices, quiet complexity, and the occasional rewrite temptation.

Read the full recommendation in PlayNext →

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