CoRecursive: Coding Stories

CoRecursive is not your typical software engineering podcast. Adam Gordon Bell takes a narrative storytelling approach, spending weeks researching each episode to tell one complete story about the people and decisions behind significant pieces of software. The show has been running since 2017 with about 114 episodes, released monthly, and each one feels like a short documentary rather than a standard interview. Recent episodes have covered the early days of Google AdWords through the eyes of engineer Ron Garret, a developer's 15-year battle with an elusive bug, the story behind the Compiler Explorer (Godbolt), and a software failure that actually sent innocent people to prison. Bell's production quality is high — there is real narrative structure, not just a host reading questions off a list. He weaves together original interviews, historical context, and technical explanation into something that keeps you listening on a commute or a walk. The 4.9 star rating from nearly 200 reviews makes it one of the highest-rated software podcasts on Apple Podcasts, and that reputation is earned. The show also has an active Slack community where listeners discuss episodes. If you have ever wanted to understand how a particular technology came to be, or what it was actually like to work on a pivotal project, CoRecursive delivers that experience consistently. Monthly releases mean each episode gets the attention it deserves.