Uploaded June 2026 | Updated September 2026, 2 weeks ago
Ever wonder why computers struggle with basic math? This video explores a massive class of software bugs from the early 2000s that allowed people to generate real money out of thin air.
As early digital payment systems and banks rushed to digitize, engineers relied on standard floating-point numbers to process currency. However, because computers use binary (Base 2) rather than decimal (Base 10), certain fractions like $0.1$ and $0.2$ cannot be represented exactly—leading to minuscule rounding errors.
Video created by @aniakubow
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Learn to code for free and get a developer job: freecodecamp.org
Read hundreds of articles on programming: freecodecamp.org/news
Ever wonder why computers struggle with basic math? This video explores a massive class of software bugs from the early 2000s that allowed people to generate real money out of thin air.
As early digital payment systems and banks rushed to digitize, engineers relied on standard floating-point numbers to process currency. However, because computers use binary (Base 2) rather than decimal (Base 10), certain fractions like $0.1$ and $0.2$ cannot be represented exactly—leading to minuscule rounding errors.
Video created by @aniakubow
❤️ Support for this channel comes from our friends at Scrimba – the coding platform that's reinvented interactive learning: scrimba.com/freecodecamp
🎉 Thanks to our Champion and Sponsor supporters:
👾 @omerhattapoglu1158
👾 @goddardtan
👾 @akihayashi6629
👾 @kikilogsin
👾 @anthonycampbell2148
👾 @tobymiller7790
👾 @rajibdassharma497
👾 @CloudVirtualizationEnthusiast
👾 @adilsoncarlosvianacarlos
👾 @martinmacchia1564
👾 @ulisesmoralez4160
👾 @_Oscar_
👾 @jedi-or-sith2728
👾 @justinhual1290
--
Learn to code for free and get a developer job: freecodecamp.org
Read hundreds of articles on programming: freecodecamp.org/news
![The ultimate dev skill is Integration Testing feat. Internet of Bugs [Podcast #209]](https://i.ytimg.com/vi/s950xhRvqYQ/mqdefault.jpg "The ultimate dev skill is Integration Testing feat. Internet of Bugs [Podcast #209]
Today Quincy Larson interviews Carl Brown, who runs the Internet of Bugs YouTube channel and has worked as a dev at Amazon, IBM, Sun Microsystems, and startups for over 37 years.
We talk about:
- The hype versus the utility in LLMs and agent code generation tools
- Why you might want to target developer jobs at smaller companies, and how these differ from big tech
- How everyone will face agism eventually. Carl argues that a consulting career is a great escape hatch.
Support for this podcast comes from the 10,113 kind folks who donate to our charity each month. Join them and support our mission at https://donate.freecodecamp.org
Get a freeCodeCamp tshirt for $20 with free shipping anywhere in the US: https://shop.freecodecamp.org
Links from our discussion:
- My interview with Stack Overflow founder Joel Spolsky: https://www.freecodecamp.org/news/trello-stack-overflow-founder-joel-spolsky-podcast-interview/
- Quincys book How to learn to code and get a developer job: https://www.freecodecamp.org/news/learn-to-code-book/
Ted Chiang ChatGPT Is a Blurry JPEG of the Web article:
https://www.newyorker.com/tech/annals-of-technology/chatgpt-is-a-blurry-jpeg-of-the-web
The Karpathy on Moltbook saga:
//Karpathy hyping up MoltBook
https://x.com/elonmusk/status/2017370646767145419 //Noon Jan 30
//Doubles Down after being accused of overhyping Moltbook
https://x.com/karpathy/status/2017442712388309406 // 9:39 PM Jan 30
// Tweet showing Karpathys private info from a MoltBook security breach
https://x.com/theonejvo/status/2017732898632437932 // 4:53PM Jan 31
// Fortune quotes Karpathy saying MoltBook is a dumpster fire, and I also definitely do not recommend that people run this stuff on their computers
https://fortune.com/2026/02/02/moltbook-security-agents-singularity-disaster-gary-marcus-andrej-karpathy/ // Feb 2
Quote from Cory Doctorow about code failing well: https://pluralistic.net/2026/01/06/1000x-liability/
Excerpt from Corys Mastodon with that quote in it: https://mamot.fr/@pluralistic/115848576290992814
Mastodon from Carl to Cory telling him Im going to use that quote (which he boosted): https://mastodon.social/@carlbrown/115867074293449215
Article on Claude 4.6 being good at finding bugs with fuzzing: https://red.anthropic.com/2026/zero-days/
Reference to it from Computer Security Guru Bruce Schneier: https://www.schneier.com/blog/archives/2026/02/llms-are-getting-a-lot-better-and-faster-at-finding-and-exploiting-zero-days.html
Older paper on LLMs being good at fuzzing prior to this new claim about claude 4.6: https://arxiv.org/html/2508.01750v1
Falsehoods programmers believe about names from Patio11: https://img.sauf.ca/pictures/2025-10-23/61fb6db44e7173cd9318753c955f7dda.pdf
Same kind of article, but this one is about time instead of names (Carl said he was wrong in that Partick/Patio11 didnt write this one, but its worth passing along): https://infiniteundo.com/post/25509354022/more-falsehoods-programmers-believe-about-time
Article with discussion of ageism in tech with the Zuckerberg quote Carl was thinking of: https://www.forbes.com/sites/stevenkotler/2015/02/14/is-silicon-valley-ageist-or-just-smart/
Book on (interpersonal) networking that Carl recommends: https://www.penguinrandomhouse.com/books/227558/never-eat-alone-expanded-and-updated-by-keith-ferrazzi-and-tahl-raz/
And another one: https://www.penguinrandomhouse.com/books/105512/dig-your-well-before-youre-thirsty-by-harvey-mackay/
Carls video on how AdTech is fracturing Society: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FmYXyWbis9w
Carls Website: https://internetofbugs.com/
Community news section:
1. Computer Networking Course (12 Hours)
Learn fundamental concepts, protocols, and architectures, including topology, subnetting, IPv4, and DNS.
https://www.freecodecamp.org/news/computer-networking-fundamentals/
2. The Italian Game: Chess Handbook & Course
Master this classic opening with 2285-rated engineer Ihechikara Abba. Learn powerful traps for White and how to defend them.
https://www.freecodecamp.org/news/the-chess-italian-game-handbook-traps-for-white/
3. Product-Led Research (Full Book)
CTO Omer Rosenbaum breaks down research frameworks and methodologies for tech managers through real-world case studies.
https://www.freecodecamp.org/news/product-led-research-a-practical-guide-for-randd-leaders-full-book/
4. Optimize Django REST APIs
Boost your Python performance. Learn to use profiling, logging, and caching to eliminate bottlenecks and scale your APIs.
https://www.freecodecamp.org/news/how-to-optimize-django-rest-apis-for-performance/
5. Song of the Week: No One Emotion
A 1984 synth-jazz gem from George Benson. Features a driving bassline and a solo by Michael Sembello (of Maniac fame).
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q-MyvbolxG0
0:00 News
3:34 Carl Brown
4:43 LLMs: Blurry JPEGs
12:33 AI & Code Quality
20:53 AI Bubble
31:47 Testing Skill
1:07:20 Beat Ageism")
