My favorite software subreddits

Originally published on December 5, 2021.

If you are an experienced software developer whose only exposure to reddit is dank memes, proggit or even language-specific subreddits like /r/python, you're missing out.

What follows are my favorite subreddits in tech. My criteria is that:

• The subreddit topic is relevant to advancing as a programmer
• Posts generally go into good depth
• The comments stay on topic
• And the shit-posting is minimal

This list isn't hard to guess at if you consider advanced topics in software. But I wanted to share because I think it's worth explicitly supporting high-quality subreddits.

• /r/EmuDev
  • My favorite sub of all. Also has a phenomenal Discord group.
• /r/ProgrammingLanguages
  • Focuses a little more on PLT topics (parsing techniques, syntax, type systems) than on compiling and interpreting techniques, but still good.
• /r/DatabaseDevelopment
  • All about database internals, which ends up involving a bunch of correctness and distributed systems stuff as well.
  • Disclosure: I run this sub. It's at 2.7k+ members at time of publishing.
• /r/ReverseEngineering
  • The largest subreddit on this list but still has pretty good posts.
• /r/EsoLangs
  • One of the best/most fun intros to programming languages/compilers/interpreters is through languages like Brainfuck. This sub does a good job of keeping the fun going.
• /r/Compilers
• /r/GraphicsProgramming

While some language subreddits are pretty good, they are more so a mixed bag than some of the topic-specific subreddits here. So they don't make my list, more on principle than anything else.

If there is a good one already, send me it!

What am I missing?

Am I missing other amazing subreddits? Just don't say language-specific ones. :)

It's an incorrect meme IMO that tech Reddit is low-quality. You just have to find the interesting subreddits.

I've updated my list for 2023.https://t.co/OtM2tk8HOn pic.twitter.com/ymyzChp0SO

— Phil Eaton (@eatonphil) May 16, 2023