RobbieTheWagner 
Charles William Carpenter III 
Adam Argyle Testing
Test-Driven Development, E2E Testing, and Quality Assurance
Explore testing strategies, tools like Cypress and Playwright, TDD practices, and how to build confidence in your code through comprehensive testing.
59 Episodes
May 2021 — Jan 2026
Episodes in This Collection
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226: A Very Merry Descent Into Holiday Madness
This week, Robbie and Adam talk about holiday travel chaos, parenting stress, and health scares before diving into AI-assisted coding, Linux quirks, IDE trends, burnout in open source, and more. In this episode: - (00:00) - Intro - (02:07) - Whiskey rating & r...
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224: Spooky Scary CSS
This week, Robbie and Adam talk about Halloween vibes, excellent scotch, and the strange state of modern web development. After rating an Orphan Barrel single malt, they dig into AI coding workflows, agent tools, why one-shot prompts so often fail, and more. I...
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221: Are Developers Overthinking Everything? w/ Bdougie
Recorded live at All Things Open, Robbie and guest co-host Nick Taylor talk with Bdougie (Brian Douglas) about open source’s impact on their careers, the legacy of OpenSauced, and why developer tools succeed—or don’t. They dive into Git philosophy, editor wars...
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214: npm Worms & RubyGems Coups: Trust Issues in Open Source
This week, Robbie, Chuck, and Adam talk about the worst whiskey they’ve tasted, Tailwind as a “state management library,” and recent security scares in open source. Also — dependency hygiene, developer visa drama, and whether inflated tech salaries are finally...
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212: TalkShop Show w/ Macho Man Randy Standards
This week, Robbie and Adam talk with Dave "Macho Man Randy Standards" Rupert about whiskey, web culture, and the quirks of building side projects. They dive into the shifting landscape of the web—AI-driven development, spec-driven workflows, RSS’s decline, and...
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208: Dial-Up Is Dead, Long Live Adam Argyle
This week, Robbie and Adam talk about CascadiaJS, Adam’s new role at Shopify, and why tech interviews are so broken. They explore accessibility in front-end dev, the sameness of modern frameworks, and whether AI is the future of engineering or just another hyp...
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207: Will Frameworks Survive? Web Development in an AI-Driven World w/ Typecraft and Robert Jackson
This week, Robbie and Chuck talk with Typecraft and Robert Jackson about everything from Japanese rice whiskey to the future of software engineering. They dig into Robert’s open source journey, his insights on MCP and AI, and whether frameworks will remain rel...
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205: Error 500: Our Lives
This week, Robbie and Chuck talk about whiskey on Mondays, parenting chaos, and Chuck’s hot-water disaster. They dive into open-source dependency drama, including the Stylus package getting flagged as malicious, and the TEA app’s massive data leak. They questi...
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202: From the Rickhouse: Why Svelte Might Just Outdo React w/ Rich Harris
In this special International Whiskey Day episode of Whiskey Web and Whatnot, hosts RobbieTheWagner, and Charles William Carpenter III are joined by special guest Rich Harris. They share a toast with Lagavulin Offerman Edition whiskey and dive into a discuss...
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201: From FAANG to Fired: The Illusion of Stability in Big Tech w/ Adam Argyle
This week, Robbie and special guest co-host Adam Argyle talk about life after layoffs, the myth of job security at big tech companies, and what it really means to build meaningful things on the web. In this episode: * (00:00) - Intro * (01:23) - Whiskey: C...
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198: Will AI Kill the Joy of Coding?
This week, Robbie and Chuck review Barrell Craft Spirits' Cranky Kong, and talk about the AI boom, how senior devs are (or aren’t) using it, and what the future of software jobs might look like. They also discuss the rise of "celebrity developers", job market ...
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196: The Myth of Perfect Code w/ Marc Backes
This week, Robbie and Chuck talk with Marc Backes about Vue vs. React, work-life balance, and the realities of messy codebases. They also sip an Evan Williams Single Barrel, debate inbox zero, and discuss Marc’s adventures in coffee roasting and pilot training...
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191: WTF is MCP? w/ David Cramer
This week, Robbie and Chuck talk with David Cramer about MCP—microservices for language models—and why it might be the future of AI tooling. They dig into the state of AI agents, developer efficiency, and why Codegen isn’t killing jobs anytime soon. In this e...
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185: Tailwind 4, DeepSeek AI, and the End of the Old Web
This week, Robbie and Chuck cover a wide range of topics, including AI and its impact on web development. They discuss DeepSeek, Tailwind’s latest updates, and whether Stack Overflow is still relevant. Plus, a detour into skiing, college sports, and Nintendo's...
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181: The Future of Web Dev: Are We Overcomplicating Everything?
This week, Chuck and Robbie talk about the neverending evolution of web dev tools and frameworks. Over a Hatozaki Japanese whiskey, they dive into ORMs, the pros and cons of Prisma, Drizzle, and AstroDB, and how modern dev tools shape the ecosystem. Plus, a de...
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165: Shepherd.js, the Future of Open Source, Capitalism, and Corporate Responsibility
This week, Robbie and Chuck sip on some Stranahan’s Second Chance Single Barrel Colorado Whiskey, and explore a variety of topics, from new tech to health. They discuss the future of open-source libraries like Shepherd.js and its transition from a developer to...
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152: The Future of Ember and Modern Build Tools with Chris Manson
In this episode of Whiskey Web and Whatnot, Robbie talks with Chris Manson about the intricacies of JavaScript classes, the evolving landscape of React and Ember, and the benefits of using Vite in modern app development. Over a Bulleit Rye, Robbie and Chris d...
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150: Secrets of a JavaScript Guru: Natalia Venditto on AI, GraphQL, and More!
Join host Charles William Carpenter III and special guest host Adam Argyle as they welcome Natalia Venditto on this episode of Whiskey Web and Whatnot. They dive into Natalia's background in JavaScript and her current work at Microsoft. The trio shares their ...
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146: Unlocking the Secrets of AI in Tech with April Yoho
Join hosts Charles William Carpenter III and Adam Argyle for a riveting episode of 'Whiskey Web and Whatnot' featuring guest April Yoho. Based in the UK and a seasoned developer advocate, April shares her extensive 25+ years of experience in tech while indulg...
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142: Flagging Features and Dropping Beats with Ben Rometsch
In this episode of Whiskey Web and Whatnot, hosts RobbieTheWagner and Charles William Carpenter III are joined by Ben Rometsch, CEO and co-founder of Flagsmith. The discussion kicks off with a lighthearted conversation about the absence of landscapers at Chuc...
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137: Unleash Developer Superpowers: Tracksuits, Productivity Hacks & Wordpress on Vercel w/ Joel Griffith
In this episode of 'Whiskey Web and Whatnot,' hosts RobbieTheWagner and Charles William Carpenter III welcome Joel Griffith, founder and CEO of Browserless.io. The trio initially clarifies the common confusion between whiskey and bourbon, setting the tone for ...
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136: Curling, Coding, and Deno with Kevin Whinnery
In this episode of 'Whiskey Web and Whatnot,' hosts RobbieTheWagner and Charles William Carpenter III are joined by Kevin Whinnery, a member of the Deno team. They discuss Kevin's work with JavaScript, his journey with Deno, and his previous experience at Twil...
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135: From React Miami to Fly Fishing: Diving Deep with ThePrimeagen and Friends
This episode uniquely blends a variety of discussions, ranging from Prime Barrel whiskey tastings with RobbieTheWagner, Charles "the Plumber" Carpenter, and ThePrimeagen, to in-depth explorations of tech, fitness, and lifestyle optimization. The hosts share p...
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133: Inclusive Experiences in React Applications: Championing Neurodivergent Accessibility w/ Amera White
In this episode of Whiskey Web and Whatnot hosts Robbie and Charles discuss various aspects of coding and web development with special guest, experienced front-end Engineer, Amera White. She shares her personal journey of transitioning from a career in aviatio...
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132: Next.js's Speed vs. RedwoodJS's Strength: The Web Development Drama You Can't Ignore
Join hosts RobbieTheWagner and Charles William Carpenter III as they delve into a wide variety of topics on their podcast, Whiskey Web and Whatnot. This episode features a detailed tasting of the Booker's Small Batch, Kentucky Straight Bourbon Whiskey – the St...
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131: Chris Coyier on Embracing Technology and the Future of Web Development
Hosts Robbie Wagner and Charles William Carpenter III welcome special guest, Chris Coyier the co-founder of CodePen and an avid web enthusiast, to share his insights on the latest trends and happenings in the tech world. Pondering over the pros and cons of Gi...
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128: The Missteps of GraphQL and the Promise of Progressive Enhancement
In this episode of 'Whiskey, Web, and Whatnot', hosts RobbieTheWagner and Charles William Carpenter III debate podcast names, discuss the feasibility of creating a company, and share insights on tech projects like Biome and Shepherd. They also talk about the i...
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125: Tech Conferences, Remote Work and the Intersection of AI and Web Design with Clark Sell
In this episode of Whiskey Web and Whatnot, hosts RobbieTheWagner and Charles William Carpenter III invite Clark Sell onto the show. Clark, the founder of 'THAT Conference' and 'Unspecified', talks about the genesis of the conference, the current state of tech...
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115: Tech Talk, Social Media Use, and Netflix with The Primeagen
The Primeagen is known for embracing controversy. He returns to the podcast for a conversation on a range of topics like masculinity, social media, and pornography. He also opens up about his father’s passing and his journey growing up with a single mother. M...
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114: Privacy, Cyber Crime Stories, and Tech with Jack Rhysider
Social media platforms have become our virtual playgrounds, and the choices we make in this realm can have profound impacts on our lives. Are we sacrificing our privacy for the sake of convenience Jack Rhysider, Creator of the Darknet Diaries podcast, brings ...
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107: Polaris, Vite, and Exploring the Future of Ember with Jared Galanis and Preston Sego
Recorded at EmberConf from the heart of the Multnomah Whiskey Library with Jared Galanis, Software Engineer on the Ember Learning Team, and Preston Sego aka NullVoxPopuli, Software Artificer at AuditBoard, Chuck and Robbie delve into the evolution and future o...
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102: TypeScript, React, and API Issues with Matt Pocock
Matt Pocock, a TypeScript educator and author of Total TypeScript, became an evangelist for the programing language after searching for a solution for a project plagued by API contract issues. When TypeScript brought newfound confidence and increased velocity ...
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98: Tech Careers, Hot Takes, and Wix with Emmy Cao and Yoav Abrahami
Chuck and Robbie are joined by Emmy Cao, Developer Advocate at Wix, and Yoav Abrahami, Chief Architect at Wix at the RenderATL 2023 conference to talk all things tech, including whether low code, no code tools are making developers obsolete. Emmy and Yoav del...
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86: Tech Layoffs, the Economy, and Remote Work
The tech industry is still grappling with the aftermath of the second dot com crash. Executives are cash grabbing, banks are failing and the government seems to be turning a blind eye. Will executives replace all their developers with AI? It can be difficult ...
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83: PNPM, Algorithms, and Angular
It’s hard to find a good package manager, and even the most seasoned developers still struggle to figure them out. Robbie kicks off the tech talk by sharing his misadventures trying to figure out pnpm leading Chuck to ask the burning question “Would you wear a...
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78: Tailwind Twitter Wars and the State of JS
The developer community can be highly opinionated. We find our favorite tools and fiercely support them because they help us meet our goals. Tailwind has been polarizing since it launched in 2017. Some developers swear by it, claiming it makes their code clea...
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77: CSS Trig, Cypress, and Software Testing Alternatives
Slow page speeds and bad developer experience are huge pain points. If you can get those two things right, the developer community will likely rally behind you. CSS hit the bullseye when it introduced trigonometry functions to boost performance by avoiding Jav...
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76: SQL vs NoSQL, Web Technologies, and Holiday Recap
If you’re like Robbie and you haven’t dug into SQL since college, learning the basics of SQL vs NoSQL is a great place to start. Working with data isn’t a part of every developer’s day-to-day, but it can’t hurt to understand the differences. NoSQL is gaining ...
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75: The Case for Adopting TypeScript with Josh Goldberg
Many people dream about being their own boss, but there’s no clear rulebook that outlines how to get there. While self-employment seems glorious to some, it’s not for everyone. How does someone know when they are ready to take the step into the unknown, and ho...
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61: Debating React, Fonts, and Fatherhood with Josh Collinsworth
React isn’t good at anything, except being popular. That’s a bold statement, but it’s one that Josh Collinsworth stands by. It seems like nearly every major tech company has React in their stack. But why is a framework built specifically for Facebook so popula...
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59: A11y Hour with Amber Hinds
WordPress powers over 43% of sites on the internet today, making it a powerhouse web technology. Its simplicity attracted bloggers and do-it-yourselfers who navigate the platform by Googling code snippets. That knowledge gap comes with a whole host of accessib...
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53: Embracing New Tech, JavaScript, and the W3WC NFT Launch
The beauty of tech is that it keeps evolving. As a developer, it's important to keep evolving too. Whether that's trying new frameworks, starting side projects, or adopting emerging tech. JavaScript, for example, has taken on a whole new purpose since it was ...
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51: A11y Hour with Crystal Preston-Watson
Accessibility is like learning a new language, leaving many developers wondering where to start. The answer is pretty simple, start anywhere. But the onus isn’t all on devs. Crystal Preston-Watson has partial sight and uses a screen reader in her day-to-day a...
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50: The Release of Nuxt 3 with Daniel Roe
The best way to win over a developer is to make their job simpler. The release of Nuxt 3 promises an even better developer experience than its former versions. That’s music to every developer’s ears. Who doesn’t want faster rendering? Daniel Roe, framework ar...
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49: HTML Accessibility, Package Managers, and the Whiskey Web and Whatnot NFT
Devs have a lot on their plate, but the key is to find time for what's important. Championing accessibility is only possible if devs prioritize it and a good place to start is by knowing your HTML elements. If dogs can learn 50 human words, then devs can learn...
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48: Tech Rants, Supporting Open Source, and Great TV Shows
Building products is hard. And devs can often feel hamstrung by competing priorities. The battle between revenue and quality is ever-present and ongoing. But is it possible to achieve both? In this episode, Chuck and Robbie discuss some of their frustrations...
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46: A11y Hour with Mark Steadman
Like many developers, Mark Steadman began working in web development with just a couple of goals in mind: write something that runs and passes a test. No major thought for those using the interface he created. Mark's perspective changed when he sat with a fe...
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43: A11y Hour with Eric Bailey
In recent years, accessibility has evolved from a way to avoid legal landmines, to a specialization developers are taking a serious approach to for the sake of their companies, apps, and users. Eric Bailey has been at the forefront of this maturation, working ...
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42: Developing Orbit and the Future of Cross Framework Solutions with Dan Gebhardt
Years ago, Dan Gebhardt was mapping out data needs for an app he was building. In a struggle to make sense of every requirement and apply them to other packages like Ember Data, he hit a wall. At this point, there was no option for adapting Ember Data to the c...
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41: Matt Johnson: When Web3 Is Worth It and Learning to Lead
In high school, Matt Johnson followed in the footsteps of his older brother, pursuing similar hobbies like sports and music. After joining a band, Matt realized they needed a website. Mirroring his brother, Matt learned to code, built a website, and changed hi...
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36: Mystery Maker's Monday, Testing, and GraphQL
They say if it's not broken, don't fix it. So why are we running tests on tests on tests that aren't business-critical? There's an art to testing beyond just striving to get 100% coverage. In fact, over-testing can actually hamper your progress more than help ...
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33: Are Monorepos and NFTs Worth It?
Do you use monorepos? Do you love NFTs named after dogs? Chuck and Robbie have mixed feelings on both monorepus and Shiba Inu tokens and they're probably not the only ones conflicted. Developer tools and the metaverse are complex topics that don't always yield...
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31: Developing as a Developer, Appreciating Workers, and Navigating Framework Wars with Chris Garrett
When someone hands you an opportunity to specialize, to do something crazy with people you like, to learn from people building something before your eyes, it's difficult to pass up. An opportunity like that prompted Chris to leave LinkedIn for Bitski, a digita...
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27: Alternatives to Relay, the GraphQL Stack, and Adulthood with Charles Lowell and Taras Mankovski
Just because something is widely used doesn't always mean it's your best solution. Frontside Founder Charles Lowell and CEO Taras Mankovski, stumbled into an alt GraphQL stack simply because the nature of a product didn't mesh with Apollo. After happening upon...
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24: Runspired vs. Chris Manson on Solving the Number One Open Source Maintainer Dilemma
As Chris Thoburn (otherwise known as runspired) began prepping for his own Whiskey Web and Whatnot, he found himself driving along to Chris Manson's episode from a few weeks prior. Nodding along as Chris explained his point of view on all things Ember, runspir...
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21: The Right Way to NFT, Blockchain, and Making Your Mark in the Digital Marketplace with Juan Palomino
In a world of invaluable yet intangible artwork and every developer fighting for a space on the blockchain, it's hard to sort out what's adding value to our brave new world and what's taking up space. Juan Palomino, founder of Full Speed Media [https://fullspe...
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18: Chuck's Origin Story: Career Pivots, and Learning to Love Ember
After diving into Robbie’s backstory in episode 017, today we’re panning the camera to Chuck. If you’ve ever wondered how he ended up at Ship Shape and where Chuck first discovered the world of the web, today’s episode explores his digital origin story. Like ...
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13: RedwoodJS, Developer Experience, and Developing for Scale with Tom Preston-Werner
Every developer straddles the fine line between creating a unique space and reinventing the wheel. Tom Preston-Werner has lived between those two lines for much of his career, most recently while developing an app framework for startups, RedwoodJS. Tom has a...
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9: Uncle Nearest 1856, JSON:API vs GraphQL, Traveling, Mexico, and Middleburg
In this episode we try the Uncle Nearest 1856 100 proof premium whiskey, discuss the pros and cons of JSON:API vs GraphQL, and give updates on our lives post-vaccination, the new office space in Middleburg, and the latest news in the Ship Shape world.
