The Stack Overflow Podcast

Interface is everything, and everything is an interface

Ryan talks with Wesley Yu, head of engineering at Metalab, about the evolution of interfaces in technology, the pressure that UI generated on the fly would put on your backend systems, and why AI is just the latest and fanciest in a long line of CRUD apps.  Episode notes: Metalab [https://www.metalab.com/] designs interfaces for top brands around the world, helping them design, build, and ship their products. Connect with Wesley on Twitter [https://x.com/wesleycyu] and LinkedIn [https://www.linkedin.com/in/wesleyy/]. Congrats to Populist badge winner SiddAjmera [https://stackoverflow.com/users/2622292/siddajmera], who won the badge for their answer to Angular FormControl check if required [https://stackoverflow.com/questions/53557690/angular-formcontrol-check-if-required]. TRANSCRIPT [https://stackoverflow.blog/2025/12/12/interface-is-everything-and-everything-is-an-interface] See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy [https://art19.com/privacy] and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info [https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info].

AI is a crystal ball into your codebase

Ryan is joined by Kayvon Beykpour, CEO and founder of Microscope, to dive into AI-powered code review’s potential for managing large codebases, the need for humans-in-the-loop for reviewing PRs so AI tools can efficiently and effectively debug, and how AI can increase visibility  through summarization at the abstract syntax tree level and high signal-to-noise ratio code reviews. Episode notes: Macroscope [https://macroscope.com/] helps you understand your code through AI-powered code review, automated PR descriptions, and real-time status reports Connect with Kayvon on Twitter [https://x.com/kayvz] and LinkedIn [https://www.linkedin.com/in/kayvz/]. This week’s shoutout goes to user Jesper Grann Laursen [https://stackoverflow.com/users/110214/jesper-grann-laursen] for winning a Populist badge on their answer to Exclude Table during pg_restore [https://stackoverflow.com/questions/37038193/exclude-table-during-pg-restore].  See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy [https://art19.com/privacy] and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info [https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info].

Treating your agents like microservices

Ryan is joined by Outshift by Cisco’s VP of Engineering Guillaume De Saint Marc to discuss the future of multi-agent architectures as microservices, the challenges and limitations of the infrastructure for these multi-agent systems, and the importance of communication protocols and interoperability in order to build decentralized and scalable architectures.  Episode notes: Outshift [https://outshift.cisco.com/] is Cisco’s tech incubator that pursues emerging technologies like agentic AI, quantum computing, and next-gen infrastructure. Learn more about multi-agent architecture at their open-source collective AGNTCY [https://agntcy.org/]. Connect with Guillaume on Linkedin [https://www.linkedin.com/in/guillaume-de-saint-marc-54928a1/].  Today we’re shouting out a Socratic badge winner, Avraam Mavridis [https://stackoverflow.com/users/2277094/avraam-mavridis], who won the badge for asking well received questions on 100 separate days. See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy [https://art19.com/privacy] and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info [https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info].

Abstraction, but for robots

Ryan welcomes Simone Kalmakis, VP of Engineering at Viam, to dive into how her team is bridging the gap between software and robotics, the importance of abstraction layers in making robotics more accessible, and the real-world applications of robotics from lobster traps to industrial sanding robots. Episode notes: Viam [https://www.viam.com/] is a robotics platform that brings modern software development tools into hardware applications.  Connect with Simone on Linkedin [https://www.linkedin.com/in/simonekalmakis/].  This week’s shoutout goes to Lifejacket winner Sergey Kalinichenko [https://stackoverflow.com/users/335858/sergey-kalinichenko] for their answer to How does this K&R code for reading an int work? [https://stackoverflow.com/questions/37553055/how-does-this-kr-code-for-reading-an-int-work]. See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy [https://art19.com/privacy] and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info [https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info].

Lightning-as-a-service for agriculture

Darryl Lyons, co-founder and Chief Rainmaker at Rainstick, joins the show to dive into advancements in AgTech and how Rainstick is using bioelectricity to enhance agricultural productivity. They discuss how Rainstick mimics natural thunderstorms to create electric fields and frequencies that promote plant growth, challenges and breakthroughs in their research, and their participation in the AWS Compute for Climate Fellowship. Episode notes: Rainstick [https://www.rainstick.com.au/] uses electricity to mimic the natural effects of lightning to grow crops bigger, faster, and more sustainably.  Want to learn more about the Compute for Climate program? Check our podcast [https://stackoverflow.blog/2025/03/14/can-climate-tech-startups-address-the-current-crisis/] with Lisbeth Kaufman, Head of Climate Tech at AWS. Ryan wrote about how software is being applied to agriculture [https://stackoverflow.blog/2023/06/21/part-man-part-machine-all-farmer/] a few years ago.  Connect with Darryl on LinkedIn [https://www.linkedin.com/in/darryl-lyons-90424623/]. Congrats to Lifeboat badge winner WestCoastProjects [https://stackoverflow.com/users/1056563/westcoastprojects] for their answer to Test accuracy is greater than train accuracy what to do? [https://stackoverflow.com/questions/51464591/test-accuracy-is-greater-than-train-accuracy-what-to-do]. See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy [https://art19.com/privacy] and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info [https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info].