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In this short episode, Donn talks about the CODEOWNERS file and how it can help you ensure teams review the code that they are responsible for before merging.

The CODEOWNERS file is a file that you drop into the root of your project (or into the /docs or .github/ directory) that tells GitHub (or whatever git host you’re using) to require a review for any code changes that match the patterns as defined in the CODEOWNERS file. You’ll specify a matching pattern and users, or teams that own that pattern of files and they will be required to review the PR before it can be merged. This helps prevent unwanted changes to files that may or may not be owned by one team or another. This is useful as teams grow larger and need more control over the changes in their application codebase.

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In this episode, Donn talks about the tips and tricks he’s used over the last 20 years of consulting, freelancing and working full time to find jobs and new opporftunities. We’re hoping some of these tips help those affected by the recent tech layoffs.

These are tips that Donn still uses to this day. They work wonders to help you land a job quickly when you do them.

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In this episode, Donn and Kaushik talk about their thoughts on Jetpack Compose and XML for Android layouts and which one you should learn first.

As with every conversation in tech … it depends on what you’re trying to do, where you are at in your career, what the company is doing and more. Donn and Kaushik go into both of their thought processes around Compose and XML and when you should learn one or the other, or even both and whether Jetpack is the future … or is XML here to stay?

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In this episode, Donn and Kaushik talk about the thought of having a terminal for Android.

Have you ever wished you could whip up a quick script to get the current location of a device, add it to cron and do some automated tasks on your phone? Wouldn’t it be nice to have low level access to your system like you do on your desktop?

In this episode, Donn and Kaushik dive into the details of what that might look like and why they find it intriguing.

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In this episode, Kaushik goes solo and interviews Ben Orenstein. Ben is a prolific Ruby developer, an amazing conference speaker, an ardent vim-ster, and now the CEO of Tuple.

Kaushik has been a big fan of Ben’s work and was super stoked to talk to Ben and pick his brains on a host of topics: starting the company Tuple, pair programming in general, learning different programming languages and technology, giving better conference talks and more!

This episode is chock full of wisdom from Ben. Enjoy!

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In this episode, Donn and Kaushik talk about how many Android applications seem to suffer from the disease of over-architecture while neglecting the product (UI/UX) itself. They discuss why this is deterimental to the user experience in the Android platform and how they’ve seen it evolve over the years. They attempt to provide some thoughful ideas on how this can be rectified in the future and more.

We’re looking for your feedback on this show. What are your favorite product apps that are just a joy to use on Android? Let us know on Twitter at @donnfelker and @kaushikgopal and @fragmentedcast

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In this episode, Donn and Kaushik talk to John Rodriguez (jrod) about the Paparazzi library which allows you to perform UI screenshot testing on Android without emulators or physical devices.

They talk to John about what screenshot testing is, why it’s important, advantages and it’s disadvantages as well. You’ll learn how to use Paparazzi and how it can test various different screen configurations without having to run an emulator. You read that correct … without an emulator.

If you’re looking to incorporate screenshot testing into your app, this is the episode for you.

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In this episode Donn and Kaushik talk about frustration, finding “flow state” and how it’s known as “the madness” and how to deal with it.

We originally were going to talk about an other topic, but during the off air banter Donn brought up how he was frustrated with losing/burning so much time on a task that he had for his side project. He only meant to spend a little bit of time on it and then spent WAY more time than he meant to. He got to the point where he had to stop working on the project, yell at himself for not time boxing it and then he had to refocus. This piqued Kaushik’s interest and they decided to hit record to talk about this topic as its something they both deal with and have also hear many other developers deal with too. 

The “Madness” is when you get consumed by your work and you’re so passionate that you lose track of time, eating and more. You’ve become consumed … you have “The Madness”. This happens to all developers, and Donn and Kaushik talk about how to not let this derail your day when you have other responsibilities as well as life and work. We hope you enjoy today’s off the cuff developer discussion.

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In this episode, Donn and Kaushik talk to Android GDE Vinay Gaba about learning Jetpack Compose.

They talk about how to learn how to use Jetpack Compose by example (and Vinay’s excellent talk by the same name). How to use Jetpackcompose.app to help you find the right Jetpack Compose component and how to use ShowKase to organize discover and visualize your Jetpack Compose Elements. 

We then dive into why someone might want to learn Jetpack Compose and how to start learning it. They touch briefly on the parts of Compose, such as the compiler, runtime, UI, foundation, and more. They wrap up by talking about Unidirectional State flow and by answering the hot question … “Is Jetpack Compose ready for production?” 

If you’re looking to learn more about Jetpack Compose, this is an episode for you. 

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In this episode Donn talks about that pit of the stomach feeling we all get when we feel like we should know something but we  don’t. It’s that voice in our head as developers that makes you feel like an idiot even when you’re not.

Donn gives examples of how even senior engineers are subject to this feeling and how they are often the ones to not speak up about it simply because of their experience level and seniority. 

This episode talks about why we get this feeling and how to combat it going forward.