823: Is Cursor AI the VS Code Killer?

Scott and Wes talk with Topher Martini, a former Engineering Program Manager at Apple, about his extensive experience over two decades in the tech industry. Topher shares his journey at Apple, from starting as an intern in 2001 to working on groundbreaking products like iPhone, iPad, and Vision Pro. Show Notes 00:00 Welcome to Syntax! 00:40 What it was like working on the first iPhone 04:47 How Topher landed at Apple early in his career 08:40 How Apple’s culture has changed over time 11:03 What makes a great employee? 16:37 Tips for better communication 17:54 Are meetings a good means of communication? 20:05 What makes a bad employee? 22:21 What does it take to get hired at a company like Apple? 26:16 Brought to you by Sentry.io 26:55 The relationship between passion and career 29:08 Topher’s advice for growing in your career 31:50 What is a sabbatical? 33:36 Teaching tech to kids 35:49 Topher’s work on self-driving cars Aurora 39:33 AI’s impact on tech and the future 41:22 What can developers do to stand out and be relevant in a world of AI? 43:30 Topher’s thoughts on career development One Small Step Can Change Your Life: The Kaizen Way Paul Copplestone 44:47 What is a light field camera? 46:47 Spatial media and Vision Pro 48:10 The nifty stuff in Topher’s background 49:53 Something wild that happened while Topher was at Apple 51:34 Sick Picks & Shameless Plugs Sick Picks Topher: Bambu Lab P1S 3D Printer Bento 3D Shameless Plugs Topher: Topher’s YouTube Channel Hit us up on Socials! Syntax: X Instagram Tiktok LinkedIn Threads Wes: X Instagram Tiktok LinkedIn Threads Scott: X Instagram Tiktok LinkedIn Threads Randy: X Instagram YouTube Threads

In part 2 of covering the best apps for web developers, Scott and Wes dive into must-have tools that will level up your workflow. From screenshot utilities to development tools and video production apps, this episode is packed with recommendations to boost your productivity and creativity. Show Notes 00:00 Welcome to Syntax! 01:44 Brought to you by Sentry.io. 02:30 Utilities. 02:48 BetterTouchTool. 09:31 Hyperkey. 11:46 Amethyst. 12:51 Klack. 13:47 Bottom (Btm). 14:54 Pearcleaner 16:40 App Cleaner. 17:35 Rocket Emoji. 20:27 Clippy. 23:37 Screenshots and Screen Recordings. 24:05 Dropshare. 25:29 OBS with Source Record. 29:20 Screen Studio. 30:58 Detail.co. 31:22 Cap. 32:08 Kap. 32:46 CleanShot X 34:15 Video and Production. 34:24 DaVinci Resolve. 37:46 Affinity Pro. 39:42 PrincipleForMac. 40:39 Inkscape. 41:34 Development tools. 41:38 DBngin. 43:12 TablePlus. 45:48 MongoDB Compass. 46:14 Proxyman. 47:00 Wireshark. 47:31 Polypane. 48:30 Setapp. 49:44 SVG Grabber. 51:42 Sick Picks & Shameless Plugs. Sick Picks Scott: Untold Sign Stealer. Wes: Magentiles Marble Run. Shameless Plugs Hit us up on Socials! Syntax: X Instagram Tiktok LinkedIn Threads Wes: X Instagram Tiktok LinkedIn Threads Scott: X Instagram Tiktok LinkedIn Threads Randy: X Instagram YouTube Threads

Scott walks Wes through the new Syntax Production Assistant Desktop App, designed to streamline and automate their complex publishing process. From tech stack choices like Svelte5 and Rust to AI-driven features, they dive into how this tool keeps everything consistent. Show Notes 00:00 Welcome to Syntax! 00:44 Brought to you by Sentry.io. 01:37 What was the idea? 05:42 The tech. Svelte5, Tauri, Rust, FFMPEG. 08:32 Markdown editor. ink-mde, Dillinger. 09:32 Epoch timestamps. Epoch.vercel. 10:01 Updating front-matter. 10:10 Dexie.js function. 11:25 Backing up data. 11:58 Rust functions. 12:58 Why a desktop app and not a website? 14:38 Some small AI features. 16:26 Challenges with OAuth. 20:03 Publishing challenges. 23:29 Could this work on Windows? 23:54 Debugging. 26:23 Deciphering Apple logs. Hit us up on Socials! Syntax: X Instagram Tiktok LinkedIn Threads Wes: X Instagram Tiktok LinkedIn Threads Scott: X Instagram Tiktok LinkedIn Threads Randy: X Instagram YouTube Threads

In this episode of Syntax, Wes and Scott talk with Taylor Otwell, the creator of Laravel. Taylor shares insights on his journey from creating Laravel in his free time to building a strong community and user base. He discusses Laravel’s growth, including the major features and tools that were developed over the years. Taylor also shares his outlook on the PHP ecosystem, productivity tips, and plans for Laravel Cloud, a new deployment platform for PHP and Laravel applications. Show Notes 00:00 Welcome to Syntax! 00:29 Laracon 03:13 Laravel’s inspiration and features Intertia Livewire 07:18 Why don’t we have a “Laravel for JavaScript”? 09:02 What parts of Laravel came first? 10:07 The Laravel ecosystem Forge Vapor 12:29 Laravel Cloud 14:00 What parts of Laravel are Intertia and what parts are React? 15:57 How many people are using Laravel? 16:59 Taylor’s productivity and development philosophy 24:43 Brought to you by Sentry.io 25:19 What makes a beautiful API? 29:33 Taylor’s thoughts on typing PHP 30:41 Features Taylor would like to see in PHP 33:03 What people get wrong about modern PHP 34:22 PHP stacks and CMSs Nginx FrankenPHP Statamic 37:30 Taylor’s thoughts on WordPress 38:14 Lambo memes 43:44 Taylor’s coding setup Sublime Text Vs Code 45:36 Sick Picks + Shameless Plugs Sick Picks Taylor: Tiny Glade No Man’s Sky Shameless Plugs Taylor: Laravel Cloud Hit us up on Socials! Syntax: X Instagram Tiktok LinkedIn Threads Wes: X Instagram Tiktok LinkedIn Threads Scott: X Instagram Tiktok LinkedIn Threads Randy: X Instagram YouTube Threads

Scott and Wes serve up a discussion on AI coding assistants with a deep look at Cursor AI, exploring its unique features like multi-line auto-complete and Smart Rewrites. They also discuss why Cursor’s intuitive UI stands out and tackle the big question: is it worth the investment? Show Notes 00:00 Welcome to Syntax! 01:16 Brought to you by Sentry.io. 01:48 Handling objections around AI assistants. 02:55 Context windows and how they’re improving functionality. Syntax.fm Episode 728 with Kevin Hou of Codeium 04:08 Cursor’s UI. 04:51 This is cool, why is it not a plugin? 08:12 What makes the UI interesting. 09:13 Smart Rewrites. 11:44 It can create multiple files. 13:05 Using the chat interface. 16:32 Another chat example. 20:22 The main features of Cursor. 21:55 Multi-line auto-complete. 23:55 Using docs for additional context. 27:26 AI is here to help you, not replace you. 33:27 Is it worth it? 33:55 The pricing. 44:10 Sick Picks & Shameless Plugs. Sick Picks Scott: The Iron Historian, Scott’s Salt & Pepper Mills. Wes: Oxo Salt & Pepper Mills. Shameless Plugs Scott: Syntax.fm Zed Theme. Hit us up on Socials! Syntax: X Instagram Tiktok LinkedIn Threads Wes: X Instagram Tiktok LinkedIn Threads Scott: X Instagram Tiktok LinkedIn Threads Randy: X Instagram YouTube Threads

Wes unveils his Hack-Week project —a thermal printer controlled by JavaScript that prints out Sentry.io errors in real-time. Scott and Wes dive into the nitty-gritty of how it works, from the ESC/POS protocol to tackling socket issues, and whether the project was worth the effort. Show Notes 00:00 Welcome to Syntax! 00:38 Brought to you by Sentry.io. 01:10 What is Hack Week? 01:41 The project. Follow the posts on X. 02:40 Why a receipt printer? 03:55 How do these printers work? ESC/POS. 05:20 Communicating with the printer. 07:24 ESC/POS Encoder. ESC/POS Encoder. 08:42 Socket issues. 09:56 Using Transformers.js to stop ‘toxic comments’. Xenova’s toxic-bert. Implementation in Wes’ code. 10:48 Back to socket issues. 12:18 Integrating with Sentry. 15:01 Printing images with Playwright. 16:17 Was it worth it? Hit us up on Socials! Syntax: X Instagram Tiktok LinkedIn Threads Wes: X Instagram Tiktok LinkedIn Threads Scott: X Instagram Tiktok LinkedIn Threads Randy: X Instagram YouTube Threads

In this episode of Syntax, Wes and Scott talk with Daniel Thompson-Yvetot about Tauri. They dive into what Tauri is, the motivations behind its development, its open-source ecosystem, use cases, and more. Show Notes 00:00 Welcome to Syntax! 02:01 What is Tauri? 02:59 What’s new in Tauri 2.0? 06:41 The benefits of Tauri over Electron 11:28 Can you use Node? 14:21 Mac, Linux, and Windows Verso Servo 25:05 How does Tauri make money? CrabNebula 30:05 Brought to you by Sentry.io 30:30 Accessing Swift from JavaScript 31:44 What’s the hardest part of a project like this? Haptics Plugin 37:00 Some of the apps that have shipped with Tauri Cody GitButler Tauri Discord Awesome Tauri 43:18 The future of Tauri 50:23 Sick Picks & Shameless Plugs Links Rustlings Cassidy Williams Sick Picks Daniel: 5secondfilms Shameless Plugs Guest: Manufacturing European Software (Coming Soon) Hit us up on Socials! Syntax: X Instagram Tiktok LinkedIn Threads Wes: X Instagram Tiktok LinkedIn Threads Scott: X Instagram Tiktok LinkedIn Threads Randy: X Instagram YouTube Threads

In this Potluck episode of Syntax, Scott and Wes answer your questions, from weighing the trade-offs between numerous small npm packages and a few larger ones to managing the challenges of work-from-home life. They also explore CSS modules, strategies for shrinking JavaScript bundles, and even where to find the best replacement ear cups for your headphones. Show Notes 00:00 Welcome to Syntax! 00:38 Commentating basketball. 01:16 Brought to you by Sentry.io. 02:09 The video podcast doesn’t translate well to audio. 04:08 Many small npm packages vs a few large. 09:55 Developers dealing with WFH, ADHD, and kids. 15:59 CSS modules for scoping styles to components. 20:55 Scoped CSS in React? 23:21 Reducing JS bundle sizes. Bundle Phobia. Javascript Bundle Analysis [Beta]. 29:44 Balancing learning, doing, and teaching. 33:04 Making maps local first. 36:20 How to pronounce ‘schema’. Wes Bos Tweet. 37:09 HTML tag. 40:11 Where to get replacement ear cups for headphones? wickedcussions. Scott’s Audeze Headphones. 42:21 ESLint and hiding errors. 48:48 Sick Picks & Shameless Plugs. Sick Picks Scott: Allen Wrench Set. Wes: Clarkson’s Farm – Amazon Prime. Shameless Plugs Wes: Syntax.fm, YouTube Hit us up on Socials! Syntax: X Instagram Tiktok LinkedIn Threads Wes: X Instagram Tiktok LinkedIn Threads Scott: X Instagram Tiktok LinkedIn Threads Randy: X Instagram YouTube Threads

Scott and Wes serve up a hasty discussion on side projects, sharing their latest Hack Week experiments and tips on how to turn fun ideas into profitable ventures. They cover everything from finding inspiration to choosing the right tech, and even offer advice on how to finish what you start. Show Notes 00:00 Welcome to Syntax! 01:11 Brought to you by Sentry.io. 01:27 Wes’ Hack Week project. 02:30 Scott’s Hack Week project. 04:18 Where do you get ideas for side projects? 09:22 End goals for a side project. 14:47 Other end goals. 16:45 What tech should you use? drop-in. 20:34 Keeping notes. 23:14 Finishing side projects. 26:39 Shameless Plugisode! Hit us up on Socials! Syntax: X Instagram Tiktok LinkedIn Threads Wes: X Instagram Tiktok LinkedIn Threads Scott: X Instagram Tiktok LinkedIn Threads Randy: X Instagram YouTube Threads

In this episode of Syntax, Wes and Scott talk with CJ Reynolds about the resurgence of meetups in a post-COVID world. They discuss the benefits of attending and speaking at meetups, and the logistics of organizing them. CJ also shares his experiences running the DenverScript meetup, including sourcing speakers, finding venues, and ensuring a welcoming community. Show Notes 00:00 Welcome to Syntax! 01:35 Brought to you by Sentry.io 01:49 CJ’s history hosting meetups DenverScript Code Talent 06:35 How do you structure a meetup? 09:50 How do you raise awareness for a meetup and get people to attend? Meetup.com Guild 13:27 How to pay for a meetup 15:22 How to get speakers at meetups 16:50 The length of these talks 17:03 Does live-streaming hurt attendance? Syntax 806 - The King of Drag and Drop: Alex Reardon 19:32 Is there a vetting process for finding speakers? Syntax 019 - How to Get Into Speaking at Conferences 24:26 A meetup doesn’t have to be talks Develop Happy Hour 27:48 What’s the worst part about hosting a meetup? 29:37 What was your first meetup like? 33:27 What’s the best meetup you’ve been to and why? 37:10 How to be a good attendee 40:45 Are meetups back? 44:00 Tips for organizing a great meetup 45:29 How to find a meetup 47:37 Sick Picks & Shameless Plugs Sick Picks CJ: Fillo’s Walking Tamales Shameless Plugs CJ: DenverScript You Should Use Hono in your Next Project Hit us up on Socials! Syntax: X Instagram Tiktok LinkedIn Threads Wes: X Instagram Tiktok LinkedIn Threads Scott: X Instagram Tiktok LinkedIn Threads Randy: X Instagram YouTube Threads