Dead Code
@deadcode.website
A podcast by @jardo.dev about making the software industry better. New episodes every Tuesday. https://deadcode.website
Stephen Margheim outlines a middle path between Tailwind class soup and component sprawl.
He shows how to compose higher-level styling in Tailwind while keeping tree shaking, autocomplete, and flexibility, so teams ship faster without a pile of one-off classes.
He shows how to compose higher-level styling in Tailwind while keeping tree shaking, autocomplete, and flexibility, so teams ship faster without a pile of one-off classes.
February 4, 2026 at 4:15 PM
Stephen Margheim outlines a middle path between Tailwind class soup and component sprawl.
He shows how to compose higher-level styling in Tailwind while keeping tree shaking, autocomplete, and flexibility, so teams ship faster without a pile of one-off classes.
He shows how to compose higher-level styling in Tailwind while keeping tree shaking, autocomplete, and flexibility, so teams ship faster without a pile of one-off classes.
Stephen Margheim explains a modern CSS trick that makes defaults behave like defaults.
He digs into the specifics of zero-style, which keeps overrides predictable and composable, especially in real design systems.
He digs into the specifics of zero-style, which keeps overrides predictable and composable, especially in real design systems.
February 4, 2026 at 4:15 PM
Stephen Margheim explains a modern CSS trick that makes defaults behave like defaults.
He digs into the specifics of zero-style, which keeps overrides predictable and composable, especially in real design systems.
He digs into the specifics of zero-style, which keeps overrides predictable and composable, especially in real design systems.
Stephen Margheim uses a door handle metaphor to explain design systems.
Good UI signals how it’s meant to be used without labels or hacks. Margheim connects that idea to affordances and how naming that middle layer improves consistency.
Good UI signals how it’s meant to be used without labels or hacks. Margheim connects that idea to affordances and how naming that middle layer improves consistency.
January 30, 2026 at 4:15 PM
Stephen Margheim uses a door handle metaphor to explain design systems.
Good UI signals how it’s meant to be used without labels or hacks. Margheim connects that idea to affordances and how naming that middle layer improves consistency.
Good UI signals how it’s meant to be used without labels or hacks. Margheim connects that idea to affordances and how naming that middle layer improves consistency.
Stephen Margheim makes a brutal point. Components are a bad delivery mechanism for “just styles.”
If you’ve ever tried to borrow a component kit’s look and found it welded to structure and behavior, Margheim explains why that pain is baked in and what to do instead.
If you’ve ever tried to borrow a component kit’s look and found it welded to structure and behavior, Margheim explains why that pain is baked in and what to do instead.
January 28, 2026 at 4:15 PM
Stephen Margheim makes a brutal point. Components are a bad delivery mechanism for “just styles.”
If you’ve ever tried to borrow a component kit’s look and found it welded to structure and behavior, Margheim explains why that pain is baked in and what to do instead.
If you’ve ever tried to borrow a component kit’s look and found it welded to structure and behavior, Margheim explains why that pain is baked in and what to do instead.
Stephen Margheim built a star rating UI with no JavaScript that still submits like a real form input.
Most star widgets are pretty theater until the backend needs an actual value. He breaks down half-star ratings using plain HTML & modern CSS, without the hidden input duct tape.
Most star widgets are pretty theater until the backend needs an actual value. He breaks down half-star ratings using plain HTML & modern CSS, without the hidden input duct tape.
January 27, 2026 at 6:05 PM
Stephen Margheim built a star rating UI with no JavaScript that still submits like a real form input.
Most star widgets are pretty theater until the backend needs an actual value. He breaks down half-star ratings using plain HTML & modern CSS, without the hidden input duct tape.
Most star widgets are pretty theater until the backend needs an actual value. He breaks down half-star ratings using plain HTML & modern CSS, without the hidden input duct tape.
Kubernetes, cloud services, functions, frameworks: the benefits are obvious…until you’ve lived with them for a year.
Samir Talwar breaks down the hidden costs teams don’t account for (and why so many companies are building like they have billions of users).
Samir Talwar breaks down the hidden costs teams don’t account for (and why so many companies are building like they have billions of users).
January 23, 2026 at 4:15 PM
Kubernetes, cloud services, functions, frameworks: the benefits are obvious…until you’ve lived with them for a year.
Samir Talwar breaks down the hidden costs teams don’t account for (and why so many companies are building like they have billions of users).
Samir Talwar breaks down the hidden costs teams don’t account for (and why so many companies are building like they have billions of users).
This episode has one of the best explanations we’ve heard of what great testers actually do and why so many teams miss the point when they eliminate the role.
January 21, 2026 at 4:15 PM
This episode has one of the best explanations we’ve heard of what great testers actually do and why so many teams miss the point when they eliminate the role.
If your team’s “modern process” routinely turns into waiting around for reviews, you’re going to like this segment.
Samir Talwar challenges the default PR workflow and makes the case that we’ve normalized delayed shipping as if it’s a feature.
Samir Talwar challenges the default PR workflow and makes the case that we’ve normalized delayed shipping as if it’s a feature.
January 16, 2026 at 4:15 PM
If your team’s “modern process” routinely turns into waiting around for reviews, you’re going to like this segment.
Samir Talwar challenges the default PR workflow and makes the case that we’ve normalized delayed shipping as if it’s a feature.
Samir Talwar challenges the default PR workflow and makes the case that we’ve normalized delayed shipping as if it’s a feature.
There’s a specific kind of sadness that comes from realizing your daily workflow is starting to feel like 1970 again.
Samir Talwar talks about the regression from structure-aware refactors to manual text wrangling, and why it’s making programming worse.
Samir Talwar talks about the regression from structure-aware refactors to manual text wrangling, and why it’s making programming worse.
January 14, 2026 at 4:15 PM
There’s a specific kind of sadness that comes from realizing your daily workflow is starting to feel like 1970 again.
Samir Talwar talks about the regression from structure-aware refactors to manual text wrangling, and why it’s making programming worse.
Samir Talwar talks about the regression from structure-aware refactors to manual text wrangling, and why it’s making programming worse.
Everyone’s using AI for “refactors” now, but this convo asks a sharper question: why celebrate a workaround for what our tools already knew?
Samir Talwar digs into what we lost as editors got slower and workflows got dumber. If you’ve felt the drag, this will hit.
Samir Talwar digs into what we lost as editors got slower and workflows got dumber. If you’ve felt the drag, this will hit.
January 13, 2026 at 10:50 PM
Everyone’s using AI for “refactors” now, but this convo asks a sharper question: why celebrate a workaround for what our tools already knew?
Samir Talwar digs into what we lost as editors got slower and workflows got dumber. If you’ve felt the drag, this will hit.
Samir Talwar digs into what we lost as editors got slower and workflows got dumber. If you’ve felt the drag, this will hit.
HTMX is not “anti-JS.” It’s “stop making the browser suffer.”
If you’ve ever watched a simple UI become a 400-file front-end, this one will hit.
shows.acast.com/dead-code/e...
If you’ve ever watched a simple UI become a 400-file front-end, this one will hit.
shows.acast.com/dead-code/e...
Brutality of Behaviour (with Carson Gross) | Dead Code
A podcast about how the software industry got this way
shows.acast.com
January 12, 2026 at 4:00 PM
HTMX is not “anti-JS.” It’s “stop making the browser suffer.”
If you’ve ever watched a simple UI become a 400-file front-end, this one will hit.
shows.acast.com/dead-code/e...
If you’ve ever watched a simple UI become a 400-file front-end, this one will hit.
shows.acast.com/dead-code/e...
AI crawlers want your content. Heydon wants them to eat garbage.
A hilarious and practical episode about “poisoning” your own site to waste scraper resources.
shows.acast.com/dead-code/e...
A hilarious and practical episode about “poisoning” your own site to waste scraper resources.
shows.acast.com/dead-code/e...
Poisoning the Well (with Heydon Pickering) | Dead Code
A podcast about how the software industry got this way
shows.acast.com
January 11, 2026 at 5:00 PM
AI crawlers want your content. Heydon wants them to eat garbage.
A hilarious and practical episode about “poisoning” your own site to waste scraper resources.
shows.acast.com/dead-code/e...
A hilarious and practical episode about “poisoning” your own site to waste scraper resources.
shows.acast.com/dead-code/e...
Building in OCaml doesn’t have to be a purity test. Sabine breaks down a pragmatic stack (OCaml + a mainstream frontend) and why that choice matters in the LLM era.
January 11, 2026 at 12:00 PM
Building in OCaml doesn’t have to be a purity test. Sabine breaks down a pragmatic stack (OCaml + a mainstream frontend) and why that choice matters in the LLM era.
Most “communication problems” in engineering are actually alignment problems.
Rebecca Murphey breaks down why writing matters, how to make it useful, and how it changes your org.
shows.acast.com/dead-code/e...
Rebecca Murphey breaks down why writing matters, how to make it useful, and how it changes your org.
shows.acast.com/dead-code/e...
Why and Why Now? (with Rebecca Murphey) | Dead Code
A podcast about how the software industry got this way
shows.acast.com
January 10, 2026 at 5:45 PM
Most “communication problems” in engineering are actually alignment problems.
Rebecca Murphey breaks down why writing matters, how to make it useful, and how it changes your org.
shows.acast.com/dead-code/e...
Rebecca Murphey breaks down why writing matters, how to make it useful, and how it changes your org.
shows.acast.com/dead-code/e...
Dependency injection is great…until it becomes a Rube Goldberg machine.
This episode is a reality check on “clever” architecture and how it quietly turns into dead code.
shows.acast.com/dead-code/e...
This episode is a reality check on “clever” architecture and how it quietly turns into dead code.
shows.acast.com/dead-code/e...
Lethal Dependency Injection (with Tim Riley) | Dead Code
A podcast about how the software industry got this way
shows.acast.com
January 9, 2026 at 8:30 PM
Dependency injection is great…until it becomes a Rube Goldberg machine.
This episode is a reality check on “clever” architecture and how it quietly turns into dead code.
shows.acast.com/dead-code/e...
This episode is a reality check on “clever” architecture and how it quietly turns into dead code.
shows.acast.com/dead-code/e...
We get into the uncomfortable part of AI + open source: giant drive-by PRs, maintainers as the long-term memory of a codebase, and why “the model says it works” is not a review strategy. If you maintain anything or contribute to anything, this section alone is worth the listen.
January 9, 2026 at 4:15 PM
We get into the uncomfortable part of AI + open source: giant drive-by PRs, maintainers as the long-term memory of a codebase, and why “the model says it works” is not a review strategy. If you maintain anything or contribute to anything, this section alone is worth the listen.
A lot of engineering “best practices” are just fear in a trench coat.
A great conversation about testing, feedback loops, and what we do when we don’t trust our own systems.
shows.acast.com/dead-code/e...
A great conversation about testing, feedback loops, and what we do when we don’t trust our own systems.
shows.acast.com/dead-code/e...
January 9, 2026 at 1:30 PM
A lot of engineering “best practices” are just fear in a trench coat.
A great conversation about testing, feedback loops, and what we do when we don’t trust our own systems.
shows.acast.com/dead-code/e...
A great conversation about testing, feedback loops, and what we do when we don’t trust our own systems.
shows.acast.com/dead-code/e...
You can “just parse JSON” right into a security incident.
This episode is a tour of serialization, sharp edges, and the kind of bugs that show up at 2am.
shows.acast.com/dead-code/e...
This episode is a tour of serialization, sharp edges, and the kind of bugs that show up at 2am.
shows.acast.com/dead-code/e...
Deserial Killer (with Matt Schwager) | Dead Code
A podcast about how the software industry got this way
shows.acast.com
January 8, 2026 at 7:15 PM
You can “just parse JSON” right into a security incident.
This episode is a tour of serialization, sharp edges, and the kind of bugs that show up at 2am.
shows.acast.com/dead-code/e...
This episode is a tour of serialization, sharp edges, and the kind of bugs that show up at 2am.
shows.acast.com/dead-code/e...
Sabine Schmaltz makes a great point: runway isn’t just money, it’s energy. The ecosystem you build in can protect that, or drain it fast.
January 7, 2026 at 4:15 PM
Sabine Schmaltz makes a great point: runway isn’t just money, it’s energy. The ecosystem you build in can protect that, or drain it fast.
OCaml has great content. Like, actually great content. Sabine's building a tool to stop community links from being posted like dead fish—no context, no teaser, no reason to care. If you’ve ever tried to grow a technical community & felt the friction, you’ll want this convo.
January 6, 2026 at 6:00 PM
OCaml has great content. Like, actually great content. Sabine's building a tool to stop community links from being posted like dead fish—no context, no teaser, no reason to care. If you’ve ever tried to grow a technical community & felt the friction, you’ll want this convo.
Some people learn a language because they planned to. Sabine Schmaltz got pulled into OCaml because a job post nudged her into a whole ecosystem and she ran with it. This episode is a reminder that “I’m new to this” is not a disqualifier if your fundamentals & curiosity are real.
January 5, 2026 at 6:48 PM
Some people learn a language because they planned to. Sabine Schmaltz got pulled into OCaml because a job post nudged her into a whole ecosystem and she ran with it. This episode is a reminder that “I’m new to this” is not a disqualifier if your fundamentals & curiosity are real.
jj has early-Rust energy: confusing, then it clicks, then you don’t want to go back. Steve Klabnik explains why adoption is easier when you can take it for a spin without getting your whole team on board.
December 24, 2025 at 4:15 PM
jj has early-Rust energy: confusing, then it clicks, then you don’t want to go back. Steve Klabnik explains why adoption is easier when you can take it for a spin without getting your whole team on board.
The best feature isn’t flashy. It’s safety. Steve Klabnik talks about why jj makes it easy to experiment, recover fast, and stop fearing “one wrong command.”
December 24, 2025 at 4:15 PM
The best feature isn’t flashy. It’s safety. Steve Klabnik talks about why jj makes it easy to experiment, recover fast, and stop fearing “one wrong command.”
Fear not the rebase. Steve Klabnik explains jj's “keep going, resolve later” approach to conflicts which saves time and let's you deal with what matters, when it matters.
December 19, 2025 at 4:15 PM
Fear not the rebase. Steve Klabnik explains jj's “keep going, resolve later” approach to conflicts which saves time and let's you deal with what matters, when it matters.
Clean, review-friendly history shouldn’t require five different rituals and incantations. Steve Klabnik breaks down how jj makes common Git workflows feel simpler and more natural.
December 17, 2025 at 4:15 PM
Clean, review-friendly history shouldn’t require five different rituals and incantations. Steve Klabnik breaks down how jj makes common Git workflows feel simpler and more natural.