PodKit

50 episodes listed below

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Bundlers, TypeScript tricks and snow-day tangents from three hosts.

The gist

PodKit is a web development conversation between Brandon Johnson, Brian Mitchell and Ryan Rampersad, built on specifics like ESM-only packages, bundler choices and TypeScript type tricks. The shop talk is loose and full of jokes, and it happily wanders off into episode-number math and snowstorms.

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About PodKit

PodKit is a web development conversation shared by three hosts: Brandon Johnson, Brian Mitchell and Ryan Rampersad. Its subject is the everyday friction of building for the web. One stretch of talk covers packages that have moved from CommonJS to ESM-only releases, and how miserable it gets to import them. Another weighs whether a personal site built from hand-assembled Rollup bundles should switch to SWC, or to SvelteKit and the Vite and esbuild machinery underneath it. One host is amazed at how fast the newer compilers bundle. Then comes a shrug about how much is still unknown; as one line puts it, there is now more to the don't-know than there used to be. TypeScript supplies its own material. A discussion of types built from keyof and typeof reaches a fair verdict: numbing to read, magical once it clicks. The work stories are the most concrete part. There is an ESLint rule switched off because React Table expects everything to extend object, and a move to React 17 and TypeScript 4.1 that let a team delete a redundant React import from hundreds of files. In 'PodKit #64: Cool Gray', one host describes automating something a few coworkers had been doing by hand: picking a GIF for a pull request review. The search words come from the review itself, positive for an approval and negative when changes were requested. The stated payoff is coworkers laughing together over their reviews. The show's personality shows up before any code does. Episodes tend to open with a formal roll call of number, title, date and hosts, followed by a nonsense line such as 'flurp the flooples' or 'nobody will understand'. From there the banter can go anywhere, including a group effort to establish that 64 is two to the sixth. Off-topic talk is allowed to run. One exchange in 'PodKit #46: Triclops' is mostly about snowstorms, working from home and a commute stuck behind fire trucks. The episode titles give little away, as 'PodKit #65: Big Borg Cliffhanger' and 'PodKit #66: Everything Old Is Out Of Beta' show. For the module and bundler talk, start with 'PodKit #66: Everything Old Is Out Of Beta'; for TypeScript and the React upgrade, try 'PodKit #65: Big Borg Cliffhanger'. PodKit is part of The Nexus TV network, and its sign-offs point to Twitter, Patreon and a subreddit the hosts admit is largely inactive.

Made for: Suits a listener who writes JavaScript or TypeScript and wants to hear others wrestle with the same module errors, bundler choices and framework upgrades, told as relaxed conversation rather than a lesson.

What sets it apart: PodKit stays at the level of the actual toolchain, naming the bundler, the ESLint rule and the number of files touched. It pairs that detail with shared silliness, from nonsense lines in the cold open to group arithmetic about powers of two.

In their own words

PodKit is a show about Apple inclined Web Developers discussing web development and technology in general, with hosts Brian Mitchell, Brandon Johnson, and Ryan Rampersad.

Why you'd press play

A pull request review gets a GIF; your tooling headaches finally get a laugh track.

Press play if you want

  • to compare React 17 migration scars, including a regex mistake that needed another regex to fix
  • to hear someone admit that ESM-only packages can make a simple import miserable
Read the full recommendation in PlayNext →
ESM versus CommonJS modulesJavaScript bundlers and compilersTypeScript type techniquesReact upgrades and linting rulesautomating pull request reviewsoff-topic chat about weather and commutes

Talks about

Best episodes of PodKit

Short reviews from the PlayNext desk, based on the episodes we processed.

PodKit #66: Everything Old Is Out Of BetaMar 7, 2022

PodKit turns recent web tooling churn into a candid, technically specific catch-up.

PodKit returns with a grounded catch-up on the way familiar web-development habits keep moving under newer tooling. The hosts work through ESM-only packages, SWC and Rollup, Svelte and SvelteKit, and the browser vendors' Interop 2022 push, with CSS cascade layers and newer color…

PodKit #66: Everything Old Is Out Of BetaMar 7, 2022

A loose, candid return to ESM headaches, modern tooling, and browser work aimed at making specs behave more consistently.

PodKit returns after less than a year away with Apple-inclined web developers trying to get their bearings in a toolchain that has shifted under them.

PodKit #65: Big Borg CliffhangerApr 12, 2021

A candid, easygoing episode about React migration work, regex recovery, and a new-job week.

PodCat #65 turns a late return into an easygoing tour of a host's week, from a new job and a LEGO Space Shuttle build to the practical mess of a React 17 and TypeScript 4.1 upgrade.

PodKit #65: Big Borg CliffhangerApr 12, 2021

A relaxed developer catch-up where TypeScript migration work, regex fallout, LEGO, and an unexplained website share the same table.

PodCat #65 plays like a relaxed developer check-in, but it has a firm technical center. Brandon Johnson, Brian Mitchell, and Ryan Rampersad move easily from a new job, Star Trek: The Next Generation, and a LEGO Space Shuttle into TypeScript enum types, `keyof` and `typeof`,…

PodKit #64: Cool GrayFeb 8, 2021

A modest GitHub Action turns pull request reviews into a shared team joke, with useful candor about the build.

PodKit #64, "Cool Gray," follows a small workplace habit into a tidy developer automation story. A GitHub Action reads pull request review wording, searches a GIF API, and posts a reaction on the review.

Podcasts like PodKit

Episodes

  1. 1

    PodKit #66: Everything Old Is Out Of Beta

    Hidden gem

    Interoperability work in 2022 is about “forms and scrolling,” “subgrid,” and “dialogue element.”

    Mar 7, 2022·44m·2 clips
  2. 2

    PodKit #66: Everything Old Is Out Of Beta

    Hidden gem

    Brandon Johnson says "we live in a very insecure age" before revealing the site is now "HTTPS."

    Mar 7, 2022·44m·2 clips
  3. 3

    PodKit #65: Big Borg Cliffhanger

    Hidden gem

    Jest 24 to 26 changed mock resets, and 190 of 900 tests failed.

    Apr 12, 2021·49m·2 clips
  4. 4

    PodKit #65: Big Borg Cliffhanger

    Hidden gem

    PodKit #65 opens with Brandon Johnson, Brian Mitchell, and Ryan Rampersad talking about Brian’s new senior front-end engineer role and a recent move away from C.T.

    Apr 12, 2021·49m·2 clips
  5. 5

    PodKit #64: Cool Gray

    Hidden gem

    PodKit #64, "Cool Gray," is a January 30, 2021 episode with Brandon Johnson, Brian Mitchell, and Ryan Rampersad discussing Eleventy, XPath, GitHub Actions, and new Mac hardware.

    Feb 8, 2021·53m·2 clips
  6. 6

    PodKit #64: Cool Gray

    Brian says XPath can match text in a table's first cell and click a delete button in the same row's third cell.

    Feb 8, 2021·53m·2 clips
  7. 7

    PodKit #63: Every Year Since January First

    Brandon Johnson, Brian Mitchell, Ryan Rampersad, and guest Zach Skalko compare remote development tools, Svelte, Tailwind, and React Query as notable 2020 technologies.

    Dec 31, 2020·1h 4m·2 clips
  8. 8

    PodKit #63: Every Year Since January First

    The PodKit hosts and guest Zach Skalko review developer tools they used in 2020, including VS Code Remote, Svelte, Tailwind, and React Query.

    Dec 30, 2020·1h 4m·2 clips
  9. 9

    PodKit #62: FontKit

    Nov 25, 2020·53m
  10. 10

    PodKit #62: FontKit

    Nov 25, 2020·53m
  11. 11

    PodKit #61: PHP is Great

    Oct 20, 2020·44m
  12. 12

    PodKit #61: PHP is Great

    Oct 19, 2020·44m
  13. 13

    PodKit #60: The Shallow Web

    Sep 12, 2020·1h 4m
  14. 14

    PodKit #60: The Shallow Web

    Sep 12, 2020·1h 4m
  15. 15

    PodKit #59: Soon to Soonish

    Aug 9, 2020·1h 8m
  16. 16

    PodKit #59: Soon to Soonish

    Aug 8, 2020·1h 8m
  17. 17

    Code Harvest

    Jun 7, 2020·48m
  18. 18

    PodKit #58: Code Harvest

    Jun 7, 2020·48m
  19. 19

    PodKit #57: I Dare You to Type "REQ"

    May 1, 2020·57m
  20. 20

    PodKit #57: I Dare You to Type “REQ”

    May 1, 2020·57m
  21. 21

    PodKit #56: On This Side of the Time Warp

    Apr 4, 2020·1h 9m
  22. 22

    PodKit #56: On This Side of the Time Warp

    Apr 4, 2020·1h 9m
  23. 23

    PodKit #55: Rapid Unscheduled Disassembly 🚀

    Feb 18, 2020·51m
  24. 24

    PodKit #55: Rapid Unscheduled Disassembly 🚀

    Feb 18, 2020·51m
  25. 25

    PodKit #54: Too Many Quacks Out There

    Dec 31, 2019·41m
  26. 26

    PodKit #54: Too Many Quacks Out There

    Dec 30, 2019·41m
  27. 27

    PodKit #53: Cache the Whole Farm

    Dec 1, 2019·1h 6m
  28. 28

    PodKit #53: Cache the Whole Farm

    Dec 1, 2019·1h 6m
  29. 29

    PodKit #52: Untitled PodKit Game

    Oct 2, 2019·37m
  30. 30

    PodKit #52: Untitled PodKit Game

    Oct 2, 2019·37m
  31. 31

    PodKit #51: But If You Invest Now

    Sep 3, 2019·55m
  32. 32

    PodKit #51: But If You Invest Now

    Sep 3, 2019·55m
  33. 33

    PodKit #50: Be Kind, Rewind

    Jul 31, 2019·47m
  34. 34

    PodKit #50: Be Kind, Rewind

    Jul 31, 2019·47m
  35. 35

    PodKit #49: Dark is Eternal

    May 29, 2019·59m
  36. 36

    PodKit #49: Dark is Eternal

    May 29, 2019·59m
  37. 37

    PodKit #48: I’m More Punk Than You

    Apr 30, 2019·59m
  38. 38

    PodKit #48: I’m More Punk Than You

    Apr 29, 2019·59m
  39. 39

    PodKit #47: Moved Fast and Broke Things

    Mar 27, 2019·54m
  40. 40

    PodKit #47: Moved Fast and Broke Things

    Mar 27, 2019·54m
  41. 41

    PodKit #46: Triclops

    Feb 22, 2019·1h 4m
  42. 42

    PodKit #46: Triclops

    The hosts chat about snow and commuting before diving into web development topics.

    Feb 21, 2019·1h 4m
  43. 43

    PodKit #45: Gridability

    Jan 28, 2019·57m
  44. 44

    PodKit #45: Gridability

    The hosts discuss their irregular podcast schedule and recap their previous episode about open source maintainers as developer advocates.

    Jan 28, 2019·57m
  45. 45

    PodKit #44: Maintainer Did Advocate

    Jan 7, 2019·1h 5m
  46. 46

    PodKit #44: Maintainer Did Advocate

    Jan 6, 2019·1h 5m
  47. 47

    PodKit #43: React Courage

    The hosts discuss web development topics, recent tech news, and their experiences with Apple products.

    Nov 5, 2018·1h 1m
  48. 48

    PodKit #43: React Courage

    Nov 5, 2018·1h 1m
  49. 49

    PodKit #42: React So Strongly

    The hosts discuss Apple news and a Scott Hanselman blog post about C-Sharp.

    Sep 29, 2018·56m
  50. 50

    PodKit #42: React So Strongly

    Sep 29, 2018·56m