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Markdown Mayhem: John Macfarlane Unpacks the Battle Over Simplicity in Tech Writing — Inside the quirks, wars, and future of digital markup with Pandoc's creator
TWiT+ Club Shows

Aug 29th 2026

TWiT+ Club Shows 768

Off By One With Jeff Atwood #5

Hosted by Leo Laporte, Jeff Atwood

Markdown Mayhem With John Macfarlane

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Guests: John Macfarlane

Philosophy, programming, and the birth of Markdown standards collide! Join Jeff Atwood and Leo Laporte as they welcome John Macfarlane, creator of Pandoc and lead mind behind CommonMark and Djot, for a lively debate on why text formats matter. From the wild inconsistencies of Markdown to AI translation and the chaos of tech giveaways, there’s humor, geek history, and plenty of keyboard shortcuts. Don’t miss their deep dive into language, meaning, notorious yard signs, and a mountain of surprise t-shirts.

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