Steven Sanderson's blog

If you’re the sort of developer who still thinks about software when you’re not at work, you might enjoy listening to one or more of the following podcasts. They’re all free and are a great way to fill your head with new ideas or distract you from a boring chore.

Software Engineering Radio

My absolute favourite technical podcast, SE Radio, isn’t afraid to get deeply technical. The best aspect is its main host, Markus Voelter, who seems to have an amazingly clear grasp of so many aspects of software development – from what happens inside your CPU to what happens inside Fortune 500 company boardrooms – to the extent that his guests often struggle to keep up with his fast stream of insightful ideas, even though the guest is supposed to be the expert on the discussion topic.

This isn’t a .NET or Microsoft-specific podcast. Although .NET is a frequent topic of discussion, you’re just as likely to learn about current ideas in the Java space or about technology-agnostic architectural or academic concepts. SE Radio sets out to be “a lasting education resource, not a newscast.” As such, it’s quite serious, so is best suited for long car journeys rather than 10-minute bursts on the treadmill.

URL: http://www.se-radio.net/
New episode frequency: Every 2 weeks
Best time to listen: During long journeys

Some particularly good episodes I can remember:

• eBay’s Architecture Principles with Randy Shoup
• Interview with Anders Hejlsberg
• The Singularity Research OS with Galen Hunt

.NET Rocks

Since 2002, Carl Franklin and Richard Campbell have hosted more than 450 (!) episodes of .NET Rocks. The typical show focuses on a specific Microsoft-related product or technology from the perspective of a .NET developer, and is about an hour long (though personally I never listen to the first 8 minutes or so – it’s banter about emails they’ve received or community events taking place around the USA – I always just skip ahead to the point where they introduce their guest).

The two presenters of .NET Rocks evidently have many years of software development experience, with an anecdote or war story on hand for every occasion. They have a fine grasp of the psychology of a coder and the ways that software and business interact, and are especially good at reminiscing about the old days and predicting where we’re heading.

The only downside to .NET Rocks is that their technical discussions never get deep or specific. When they have an interesting and fast-thinking guest, the presenters tend to hold them back and respond as if they don’t understand the points raised, perhaps because they think their listeners aren’t up to it. But hey, it’s free, and since they publish so frequently, there’s always something new to entertain you. Set your iPod to play at 2x speed and enjoy it…

URL: http://www.dotnetrocks.com/
New episode frequency: Every few days
Best time to listen: On the treadmill

Some particularly good episodes I can remember:

• The State of Publishing with Don Box and Chris Sells
• Why Projects Fail with Pat Hynds
• The Human Side of Software Development with Jeff Atwood

Hanselminutes

I only started listening to Scott Hanselman’s weekly podcast about a year ago, but it’s such a solid, reliably entertaining production that now I never miss a show. The episodes are fairly short – about 30 minutes – but they get right to the point. Overall the focus is on Microsoft-based web development,  but rather than cycling through the same old list of Microsoft technologies, Scott tends to cover development practices (e.g., agile development or code generation), specific open-source projects, and trends within the industry.

The main strength of Hanselminutes is that Scott is an excellent interviewer: even when his guests run out of interesting things to say (and you can tell when that happens), Scott always draws out an insightful new thread and gives the guest confidence to get back on track.

I’m struggling to think of any particular downside to this show, except perhaps that some guests seem to be on the show to promote a tool, book, development technique, or product, and I’d love to hear them more seriously challenged about the counterarguments to their product or practice. That’s just a vague feeling though – as a whole it’s well worth subscribing to.

URL: http://www.hanselminutes.com/
New episode frequency: Every week
Best time to listen: During the morning commute

Some particularly good episodes I can remember:

• A C64 Emulator in Silverlight 3 with Pete Brown
• SOLID Principles with Uncle Bob
• Managed Extensibility Framework with Glenn Block

Anyone got any other recommendation?