The New Stack Makers

In the past year, developers have faced both promise and uncertainty, particularly in the realm of generative AI. Heath Newburn, global field CTO for PagerDuty, joins TNS host Heather Joslyn to talk about the impact AI and other topics will have on developers in 2024.Newburn anticipates a growing emphasis on DevSecOps in response to high-profile cyber incidents, noting a shift in executive attitudes toward security spending. The rise of automation-centric tools like Backstage signals a changing landscape in the link between development and operations tools. Notably, there's a move from focusing on efficiency gains to achieving new outcomes, with organizations seeking innovative products rather than marginal coding speed improvements.Newburn highlights the importance of experimentation, encouraging organizations to identify areas for trial and error, learning swiftly from failures. The upcoming year is predicted to favor organizations capable of rapid experimentation and information gathering over perfection i

In this episode of The New Stack Makers, Rob Skillington, co-founder and CTO of Chronosphere, discusses the challenges engineers face in building tools for their organizations. Skillington emphasizes that the "build or buy" decision oversimplifies the issue of tooling and suggests that understanding the abstractions of a project is crucial. Engineers should consider where to build and where to buy, creating solutions that address the entire problem. Skillington advises against short-term thinking, urging innovators to consider the long-term landscape.Drawing from his experience at Uber, Skillington highlights the importance of knowing the audience and customer base, even when they are colleagues. He shares a lesson learned when building a visualization platform for engineers at Uber, where understanding user adoption as a key performance indicator upfront could have improved the project's outcome.Skillington also addresses the "not invented here syndrome," noting its prevalence in organizations like Microsoft

Jean Yang, founder of API observability company Akita Software, emphasizes that programming languages should be shaped by software development needs and data, rather than philosophical ideals. Yang, a former assistant professor at Carnegie Mellon University, believes that programming tools and processes should be influenced by actual use and data, prioritizing the developer experience over the language creator's beliefs. With a background in programming languages, Yang advocates for a shift away from the outdated notion that language developers are building solely for themselves.In this discussion on The New Stack Makers, Yang underscores the importance of understanding the reality of developers' needs, especially as developer tools have evolved into a full-time industry. She argues for a focus on UX design and product fundamentals in developing tools, moving beyond the traditional mindset where developer tools were considered side projects.Yang founded Akita to address the challenges of building reliable sof

Docker CTO Justin Cormack reveals that Docker has been a go-to tool for data scientists in AI and machine learning for years, primarily in specialized areas like image processing and prediction models. However, the release of OpenAI's ChatGPT last year sparked a significant surge in Docker's popularity within the AI community.The focus shifted to large language models (LLMs), with a growing interest in the retrieval-augmented generation (RAG) stack. Docker's collaboration with Ollama enables developers to run Llama 2 and Code Llama locally, simplifying the process of starting and experimenting with AI applications. Additionally, partnerships with Neo4j and LangChain allow for enhanced support in storing and retrieving data for LLMs.Cormack emphasizes the simplicity of getting started locally, addressing challenges related to GPU shortages in the cloud. Docker's efforts also include building an AI solution using its data, aiming to assist users in Dockerizing applications through an interactive notebook in Vis

In this episode, Stefano Maffulli, Executive Director of the Open Source Initiative, discusses the need for a new definition as AI differs significantly from open source software. The complexity arises from the unique nature of AI, particularly large language models and transformers, which challenge traditional copyright frameworks. Maffulli emphasizes the urgency of establishing a definition for open source AI and discusses an ongoing effort to release a set of principles by the year's end.The concept of "open" in the context of AI is undergoing a significant transformation, reminiscent of the early days of open source. The recent upheaval at OpenAI, resulting in the removal of CEO Sam Altman, reflects a profound shift in the technology community, prompting a reconsideration of the definition of "open" in the realm of AI.The conversation highlights the parallels between the current AI debate and the early days of software development, emphasizing the necessity for a cohesive approach to navigate the evolving

DockerCon showcased a commitment to enhancing the developer experience, with a particular focus on addressing the challenge of debugging containers in Kubernetes. The newly launched Docker Debug offers a language-independent toolbox for debugging both local and remote containerized applications.By abstracting Kubernetes concepts like pods and namespaces, Docker aims to simplify debugging processes and shift the focus from container layers to the application itself. Our guest, Docker Principal Engineer Ivan Pedrazas, emphasized the need to eliminate unnecessary complexities in debugging, especially in the context of Kubernetes, where developers grapple with unfamiliar concerns exposed by the API.Another Docker project, Tape, simplifies deployment by consolidating Kubernetes artifacts into a single package, streamlining the process for developers. The ultimate goal is to facilitate debugging of slim containers with minimal dependencies, optimizing security and user experience in Kubernetes development.While pro

TNS host Alex Williams is joined by Florian Valeye, a data engineer at Back Market, to shed light on the evolving landscape of data engineering, particularly focusing on Delta Lake and his contributions to open source communities. As a member of the Delta Lake community, Valeye discusses the intersection of data warehouses and data lakes, emphasizing the need for a unified platform that breaks down traditional barriers.Delta Lake, initially created by Databricks and now under the Linux Foundation, aims to enhance reliability, performance, and quality in data lakes. Valeye explains how Delta Lake addresses the challenges posed by the separation of data warehouses and data lakes, emphasizing the importance of providing asset transactions, real-time processing, and scalable metadata.Valeye's involvement in Delta Lake began as a response to the challenges faced at Back Market, a global marketplace for refurbished devices. The platform manages large datasets, and Delta Lake proved to be a pivotal solution in optim

Liam Crilly, Senior Director of Product Management at NGINX, discussed the potential of WebAssembly (Wasm) during this recording at the Open Source Summit in Bilbao, Spain. With over three decades of experience, Crilly highlighted WebAssembly's promise of universal portability, allowing developers to build once and run anywhere across a network of devices.While Wasm is more mature on the client side in browsers, its deployment on the server side is less developed, lacking sufficient runtimes and toolchains. Crilly noted that WebAssembly acts as a powerful compiler target, enabling the generation of well-optimized instruction set code. Despite the need for a virtual machine, WebAssembly's abstraction layer eliminates hardware-specific concerns, providing near-native compute performance through additional layers of optimization.Learn more from The New Stack about WebAssembly and NGINX:WebAssembly Overview, News and TrendsWhy WebAssembly Will Disrupt the Operating SystemTrue Portability Is the Killer Use Case fo

Jonathan Katz, a principal product manager at Amazon Web Services, discusses the evolution of PostgreSQL in an episode of The New Stack Makers. He notes that PostgreSQL's uses have expanded significantly since its inception and now cover a wide range of applications and workloads. Initially considered niche, it faced competition from both open-source and commercial relational database systems. Katz's involvement in the PostgreSQL community began as an app developer, and he later contributed by organizing events.PostgreSQL originated from academic research at the University of California at Berkeley in the mid-1980s, becoming an open-source project in 1994. In the mid-1990s, proprietary databases like Oracle, IBM DB2, and Microsoft SQL dominated the market, while open-source alternatives like MySQL, MariaDB, and SQLite emerged.PostgreSQL 16 introduces logical replication from standby servers, enhancing scalability by offloading work from the primary server. The meticulous design process within the PostgreSQL c

The practice of "shift left," which involves moving security concerns to the code level and increasing developers' responsibility for security, is facing a backlash, with both developers and security professionals expressing concerns. Peter Klimek, director of technology at Imperva, discusses the reasons behind this backlash in this episode.Some organizations may have exhausted the benefits of shift left, while the main challenge for many isn't finding vulnerabilities but finding time to address them. Security attacks are now targeting business logic vulnerabilities rather than dependencies, which shift left tools are better at identifying. These business logic vulnerabilities are often tied to authorization decisions, making them harder to address through code-level tools. Additionally, attacks increasingly focus on the frontend, such as API development and cart attacks.Klimek emphasizes the need for development and security teams to collaborate and advocates for using DORA metrics to assess the impact of se

Operational resiliency, as explained by Dormain Drewitz of PagerDuty, involves the ability to bounce back and recover from setbacks, not only technically but also in terms of organizational recovery. True resiliency means maintaining the willingness to take risks even after facing challenges. In a conversation with Heather Joslyn on the New Stack Makers podcast, Drewitz discussed the role of AI and automation in achieving operational resiliency, especially in a context where teams are under pressure to be more productive.Automation, including generative AI code completion tools, is increasingly used to boost developer productivity. However, this may lead to shifting bottlenecks from developers to operations, creating new challenges. Drewitz emphasized the importance of considering the entire value chain and identifying areas where AI and automation can assist. For instance, automating repetitive tasks in incident response, such as checking APIs, closing ports, or database checks, can significantly reduce inte

In this episode, Scott Johnston, CEO of Docker, highlights the evolving role of developers, emphasizing their increasing importance in architectural decision-making and tool development for applications. This shift in prioritizing a great developer experience and rapid tool development has led to substantial spending in the industry.Johnston expressed confidence that integrating generative AI into the developer experience will drive business growth and expand the customer base. He downplayed concerns about AI taking jobs, explaining that it would alleviate repetitive tasks, enabling developers to focus on more complex problem-solving. Johnston likened this evolution to expanding bike lanes in a city, leading to increased bike traffic, equating it to the development of more apps due to increased speed and efficiency.In his talk with TNS host, Alex Williams, Johnston emphasized that each advancement in programming languages and tools has expanded the developer market and driven greater demand for applications.

This episode of The New Stack Makers was recorded on the road at the Linux Foundation’s Open Source Summit Europe in Bilbao, Spain. A pair of technologists from Amazon Web Services (AWS) join us to discuss the development of Powertools for AWS Lambda. Andrea Amorosi, a senior solutions architect at AWS, and Leandro Damascena, a specialist solutions architect, share insights into how Powertools evolved from an observability tool to support more advanced use cases like ensuring workload safety, batch processing, streaming data, and idempotency.Powertools primarily supports Python, TypeScript, Java, and .NET. The latest feature, idempotency for TypeScript, was introduced to help customers achieve best practices for developing resilient and fault-tolerant workloads. By integrating these best practices during the development phase, Powertools reduces the need for costly re-architecting and rewriting of code.The success of Powertools can be attributed to its strong open source community, which fosters collaboration

KubeCon 2023 is set to feature three hot topics, according to Taylor Dolezal from the Cloud Native Computing Foundation. Firstly, GenAI and Large Language Models (LLMs) are taking the spotlight, particularly regarding their security and integration with legacy infrastructure. Platform engineering is also on the rise, with over 25 sessions at KubeCon Chicago focusing on its definition and how it benefits internal product teams by fostering a culture of product proliferation. Lastly, WebAssembly is emerging as a significant topic, with a dedicated day during the conference week. It is maturing and finding its place, potentially complementing containers, especially in edge computing scenarios. Wasm allows for efficient data processing before data reaches the cloud, adding depth to architectural possibilities.Overall, these three trends are expected to dominate discussions and presentations at KubeCon NA 2023, offering insights into the future of cloud-native technology.See what came out of the last KubeCon event

Digital.ai, an AI-powered DevSecOps platform, serves large enterprises such as financial institutions, insurance companies, and gaming firms. The primary challenge faced by these clients is scaling their DevOps practices across vast organizations. They aim to combine modern development methodologies like agile DevOps with the need for speed and intimacy with end-users on a large scale.This episode features a discussion between Wing To of Digital.ai and TNS host Heather Joslyn about platform engineering and the role of AI in enhancing automation. It delves into the dilemma of whether increased code production and release frequency driven by DevOps practices are inherently beneficial. Additionally, it explores the emerging challenge of AI-assisted development and how large enterprises are striving to realize productivity gains across their organizations.Digital.ai is focused on incorporating AI into automation to assist developers in creating and delivering code while helping organizations derive more business

Moving workloads to the cloud presents cost prediction challenges. Traditional setups with on-premises hardware offer predictability, but cloud costs are usage-based and granular. In this podcast episode, Matt Stellpflug, a senior FinOps specialist at ProsperOps, discusses the complexities of forecasting cloud expenses with TNS host Heather Joslyn.Cloud users face fluctuating costs due to continuous deployments and changing workloads. There are additional expenses for data access and transfer. Stellpflug emphasizes the importance of establishing reference workloads and benchmarks for accurate forecasting.Engineers play a vital role in FinOps initiatives since they ensure application availability and system integrity. Stellpflug suggests collaborating with engineering teams to identify essential metrics. He co-authored an "Engineer's Guide to Cloud Cost Optimization," highlighting the distinction between resource and rate optimization. Best practices involve addressing high-impact, low-risk areas first, engagi

In her keynote address at the Linux Foundation's Open Source Summit Europe, Fatima Sarah Khalid emphasized that being an ally is more than just superficial gestures like wearing pronouns on badges or correctly pronouncing coworkers' names. True allyship involves taking meaningful actions to support and uplift individuals from underrepresented or marginalized backgrounds. This support is essential, not only in obvious ways but also in everyday interactions, which collectively create a more inclusive community.Open source communities typically lack diversity, with only a small percentage of women, non-binary contributors, and individuals from underrepresented backgrounds. Khalid stressed the importance of improving diversity and inclusion through various means, including using inclusive language, facilitating asynchronous communication to accommodate global contributors, and welcoming non-technical contributions such as documentation.Khalid also provided insights on making open source events more inclusive, lik

In a recent conversation at the Open Source Summit in Bilbao, Spain, Gabriel Colombo, the General Manager of the Linux Foundation Europe and the Executive Director of the Fintech Open Source Foundation, discussed the potential impact of the Cyber Resilience Act (CRA) on the open source community. The conversation shed light on the challenges and opportunities that the CRA presents to open source and how individuals and organizations can respond.The conversation began by addressing the Cyber Resilience Act and its significance. Gabriel Colombo explained that while the Act is being touted as a measure to bolster cybersecurity and national security, it could have unintended consequences for the open source ecosystem, particularly in Europe. The Act, currently in the legislative process, aims to address cybersecurity concerns but could inadvertently hinder open source development and collaboration.Jim Zemlin, the Executive Director of the Linux Foundation, had previously mentioned the importance of forks in open

In this episode of The New Stack Makers podcast, Uma Daniel, a product manager at UST, discusses the current complexities in the global economy, marked by low unemployment except in the tech industry, high inflation, high interest rates, a volatile stock market, and the looming threat of recession. Amid these challenges, organizations are seeking ways to enhance their operational efficiency.Daniel introduces the concept of FinOps, which goes beyond just managing cloud costs. Instead, it focuses on leveraging the cloud to generate revenue. This represents a cultural shift in many organizations, emphasizing the need for a mindset change across different departments, including business, finance, and procurement.She dispels misconceptions, such as the belief that only certain teams should be involved in the FinOps process. Daniel stresses that it's a collaborative effort involving various teams, and it's best to adopt FinOps at the beginning of a cloud journey. Once an organization is already established in the c

Since the release of OpenAI's ChatGPT-3 in late 2022, various industries have been actively exploring its applications. Madhukar Kumar, CMO of SingleStore, discussed his experiments with large language models (LLMs) in this podcast episode with TNS host Heather Joslyn. He mentioned a specific LLM called Gorilla, which is trained on APIs and can generate APIs based on specific tasks. Kumar also talked about SingleStore Now, an AI conference, where they plan to teach attendees how to build generative AI applications from scratch, focusing on enterprise applications.Kumar highlighted a limitation with current LLMs - they are "frozen in time" and cannot provide real-time information. To address this, a method called "retrieval augmented generation" (RAG) has emerged. SingleStore is using RAG to keep LLMs updated. In this approach, a user query is first matched with up-to-date enterprise data to provide context, and then the LLM is tasked with generating answers based on this context. This method aims to prevent t