4. Performance: The Art of Making Software Faster

On the Season 1 Finale of Tech'd Out, Corey and Geoff discuss cookies. They explain the difficulty of keeping someone logged in on a website, how every site seems to know exactly what ads interest you, and why you should always be an incognito browser before you plan your next vacation.

Corey, Geoff, and GUEST Karen MacPherson talk about the ever-changing web. They discuss the birth of modern web-applications and how it's almost rude to call them websites! They also explain the DOM that is the important translator allowing JavaScript to communicate with the content of the webpage (HTML). At the end of the day, an important realization comes about: web browsers are basically just tacos.

Corey and Geoff explore many ways of organizing data for all different kinds of tasks. How is it similar between that seemingly never-ending wait in the Fortnite queue to play your game and Microsoft Word's undo functionality?

Corey and Geoff discuss the algorithms all around us and how, in many cases, they've gotten CREEPILY good at what they do. How can a machine built by humans that is given little-to-no instructions from a human learn to play a game like chess better than any human ever could? How do you by proving you're "not a human" on a website actually teach cars how to drive themselves? Corey also brings out his background in Neuroscience and highlights some forms of machine learning attempt to mimic some connections we find in our own brain!

Corey and Geoff take a deep dive into servers. How do the servers at the New York Times manage to stay alive during peak hours like election night? What exactly is cloud computing and how did it change the way software was built in so little time?

In the second half of "History of Computing", Corey and Geoff discuss the wild evolution of programming languages. Why do we have so many options for languages in the field of software and when would we choose one over another? What computational changes and industry demands cause the growth of new languages?

In this first part of "History of Computing", Corey and Geoff go over the brief history of computing from early mechanical sketches and "programs" to electrical machinery and the development of the modern system. How did some drama in census bureau during the 1880s lead to IBM and expedite computational technology? If you check out Episode 2, "Understanding Data", it may give a greater appreciation for some of the content covered here!

Corey and Geoff hash out Security. They go over some common indicators that tell us what websites we can and cannot trust and discuss some strategies web servers should be using to keep all of our personal information safe. How can we go about truly hiding a password on something as public as the internet?

Corey and Geoff discuss the performance of our logic. How is it possible that checking if you put "apples" on a shopping list of 1-million items could take less time than sifting through a list of just 100 items?

Corey and Geoff discuss algorithms in modern computing, the ways they are commonly designed, as well as some of their well-known limitations. These two accomplish this in a non-technical way by addressing Geoff's "obsession" with carnivals.