Building an AI App with Calum Simpson

Building an AI App with Calum Simpson

Author: Carl Franklin and Richard Campbell December 4, 2025 Duration: 1:00:00
What's it like building an AI-centric application? Carl and Richard talk to Calum Simpson of SSW about their product YakShaver. Calum talks about building a tool that speeds reporting on issues and ideas, so you can spend more time focusing on key issues rather than "shaving the yak." The use of LLMs makes YakShaver far more capable, and the upcoming V2 uses Model Context Protocol (MCP) servers to expand functionality and feed information directly into bug reports, such as GitHub issues and feature requests. The conversation also turns a bit more philosophical, focusing on innovative uses of LLMs, properly constraining these tools, and maintaining a transparent chain of responsibility for your code.

Hosted by Carl Franklin and Richard Campbell, .NET Rocks! is a long-running conversation with the people building the future of software. This isn't a dry lecture; it's a lively, technical deep dive where two seasoned developers explore the vast ecosystem around Microsoft .NET, Azure, and modern development practices with a diverse roster of expert guests. Each episode feels like you're pulling up a chair in a room full of brilliant minds, listening to unfiltered discussions about real-world coding challenges, architectural patterns, and the tools that shape our daily work. You'll hear practical advice, war stories from the trenches, and forward-looking insights that go far beyond the documentation. Tuning into this podcast means connecting with a community of professionals who are as passionate about the craft as you are, offering perspectives that can transform how you approach your next project. Whether you're deep into C# or just curious about cloud-native development, these conversations provide a valuable blend of knowledge, humor, and genuine enthusiasm for technology.
Author: Language: English Episodes: 1000

.NET Rocks!
Podcast Episodes
Performance Tuning in Azure with Christopher Bennage [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 1:02:28
If it's on the cloud, it'll scale and perform, right? Carl and Richard talk to Christopher Bennage about his work at Patterns and Practices helping understand where performance can go wrong with Azure. It's on GitHub to…
Energy Storage Geek Out [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 57:35
Time for an Energy Storage Geek Out! The most requested Geek Out on FeatHub as Battery Technology, Carl and Richard discuss a wide range of aspects of energy storage. The conversation starts out on electrochemical batter…
Instrumenting using Stackify with Jason Taylor and Michael Paterson [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 53:48
So how are you instrumenting your applications? Carl and Richard talk to Jason Taylor of Stackify and Michael Paterson of Carbonite about the power of great instrumentation to make awesome software. Stackify provides a s…
Extending C# using Fody with Simon Cropp [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 57:53
How do you extend C#? Carl and Richard talk to Simon Cropp about his open source project called Fody. Simon talks how Fody allows you do do "weaving" of .NET assemblies to add capabilities. Sounds simple, but it's not -…
Deeper into DDD with David Rael [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 57:07
So how deep are you into Domain Driven Design? Carl and Richard talk to David Rael about his work applying DDD principles to the systems his customers develop. David focuses in on the idea of the ubiquitous language, som…
Building Microservices with Howard Dierking [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 54:17
Microservices? Carl and Richard talk to Howard Dierking about his work building microservices starting with the name - Howard hates the term microservices. He prefers to call them focused services, which only makes sense…
Building Web Apps using TypeScript with Steve Ognibene [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 1:00:31
Have you been building web apps with TypeScript? Carl and Richard talk to Steve Ognibene about his work with TypeScript projects. The discussion starts with dispelling myths about TypeScript - no, it doesn't exist just t…
Making a Developer Calendar with Steve Smith and Brendan Enrick [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 53:57
What do developers like on their calendars? Carl and Richard talk to Steve Smith and Brendan Enrick about the making of the new 2016 developer calendar. They have been the team behind the NimblePros and later Telerik dev…
CSS for Developers with Elijah Manor [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 56:06
Do you fear the CSS? You're not alone! Carl and Richard chat with Elijah Manor about his experiences becoming a "real" front end developer and embracing CSS development. Elijah talks about making the leap from hiding beh…
Actor Models on Orleans with Barry Briggs [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 50:13
Remember Orleans? Once an MSR project to scale Halo 4 multiplayer mode, it has grown into a full blown actor model implementation. Carl and Richard chat with Barry Briggs about bringing Orleans to your project. Barry tal…