Empower Apps

Guest

• Donny Wals - donnywals.com
  • Twitter @donnywals
  • Practical Combine (25% Off Link!!!) - An introduction to Combine with real examples

Related Episodes

• Episode 33: 2020 Developer Wish List with Alex Bush
• Episode 19: WWDC 2019 - Swift UI with Jason Anderson

Related Links

• Donny's Posts on Combine
• Using Combine by Joseph Heck
• Timelane by Marin Todorov
• CombineCocoa - helpers for UIKit
• rxswift-to-combine-cheatsheet - cheatsheet for Reactive API Patterns
• Removing duplicate values from an array in Swift by Donny Wals
• Asynchronous Multi-Threaded Parallel World of Swift by Leo Dion
• Preventing strong reference cycles - using assign with self
• Heartwitch for the Apple Watch (uses Combine, SwiftUI, and Vapor)
• ReactiveX - An API for asynchronous programming with observable streams
  • RxSwift - Swift ReactiveX implementation
• Promise Libraries
  • PromiseKit
  • SwiftNIO
  • Google Promises
• Open source implementations of Apple's Combine framework
  • OpenCombine
  • CombineX

Sponsors

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Disney Streaming Services

• How the service has been affected by the pandemic
• Expansion to other regions
• How Donny uses Swift at Work
• Apps that DSS support
• Working from Home regularly and now

Practical Combine

• What is Functional Reactive Programming?
• What is a Publisher and it's relationship with time
• How Publishers can simplify data tasks and JSON decoding
• The advantages of functional programming
• Why it's important to keep track of Cancellables?
• How to store and remove Cancellables in your ObservedObject
• Differences between Threads and Schedulers
• Why Type-Erasure is important in Combine

Lifecycle of a Stream

• Sink vs. Assign
• Differences between Combine and other Reactive Programming
• Differences between Combine and MVC
• Differences between Combine and Promises
• Builtin Publishers with Notifications, Timers, and Data Tasks
• How to work with Delegates and Callbacks
• When to use @Published vs PassthroughSubject vs CurrentSubject
• How easy is it to use Combine with UIKit
• How do you build your own Publisher and Subscriber

Projects and Combine

• How does Combine fit with current or future projects
• Where would Combine not be a good fit
• Is Combine production ready for new apps
• How to do Unit Testing with Combine
• How to debug with Combine
• Are there alternatives for older OSes or Linux?

Writing Practical Combine

• How Donny got started
• How he tested the idea
• What questions he asked when getting started
• Using questions to organize content
• How he got outsiders to edit and beta test the book
• What topic is Donny is interested in next?

Social Media

Email
[email protected]

Twitter
BrightDigit - @brightdigit
Leo - @leogdion

LinkedIn
BrightDigit
Leo

Instagram - @brightdigit
Patreon - empowerappshow

Credits

Music from https://filmmusic.io
"Blippy Trance" by Kevin MacLeod (https://incompetech.com)
License: CC BY (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/)

Guest

• Dave Verwer - daveverwer.com
  • Twitter @daveverwer
  • iOS Dev Weekly - Twitter @iOSDevWeekly
  • iOS Developer Community Survey
  • SwiftPM Library - Twitter @SwiftPMLibrary 
  • iOS Dev Jobs - Twitter @iOSDevJobsHQ
  • iOS Dev Directory

Related Episodes

• Episode 31: Future Proofing Your Apps with Gui Rambo
• Episode 37: Machine Learning with Kevin Scott
• Episode 42: Patterns and Practices for Scalable Apps
• Episode 45: Developer Community (Part 1) with Dave Verwer

Related Links

• My Appearance on Responder Chain with Lucas Derraugh
• iOS Dev Directory Projects
  • Swift News by Tibor Bödecs
  • iOS Dev Blogs by Andrew Yates

Sponsors

BrightDigit

• Specialize in helping businesses build apps for iPhone, iPad, Mac and Apple Watch
• 10 years of experience developing for a variety of Apple platform
• Helping dev shops which lack experience with Apple platforms and Swift

Contact me if you need help today.

Swift Packages

• What's the future of Swift Packages
• Cocoapods vs Carthage vs Packages vs Submodules
• Limitations of Swift Packages

SwiftPM Library

• How SwiftPM.co began?
• What does it provide to the community?
• Issues with older packages
• Issues with other dependency management systems (NPM, RubyGems, etc...)

Open Source Data

• How to use pull-requests for contributing information?
• How iOS Dev Directory works
• How it helps prevent spam 
• Allowing for others to build on top of

Social Media

Email
[email protected]

Twitter
BrightDigit - @brightdigit
Leo - @leogdion

LinkedIn
BrightDigit
Leo

Instagram - @brightdigit
Patreon - empowerappshow

Credits

Music from https://filmmusic.io
"Blippy Trance" by Kevin MacLeod (https://incompetech.com)
License: CC BY (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/)

Guest

• Dave Verwer - daveverwer.com
  • Twitter @daveverwer
  • iOS Dev Weekly - Twitter @iOSDevWeekly
  • iOS Developer Community Survey
  • SwiftPM Library - Twitter @SwiftPMLibrary 
  • iOS Dev Jobs - Twitter @iOSDevJobsHQ
  • iOS Dev Directory

Related Episodes

• Episode 31: Future Proofing Your Apps with Gui Rambo
• Episode 37: Machine Learning with Kevin Scott
• Episode 42: Patterns and Practices for Scalable Apps

Related Links

• Ruby on Rails Demo
• BrightDigit - What You Should Know About iOS Software Architecture (My Boring Article 😆)

Sponsors

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iOS Developer Community Survey

• How Dave started iOS Dev Weekly
• Why we love macOS over Windows
• How the community loves Swift
• Community and AR (and ML)
• How big is Swift development outside of iOS?
• What the big backend technologies for iOS devs?

iOS Developer Community History

• Mobile Development before iOS
• Democratization of the Internet and the iPhone
• Challenges using Desktops 
• Objective-C vs. Swift
• Architecture and Programming Fads

Social Media

Email
[email protected]

Twitter
BrightDigit - @brightdigit
Leo - @leogdion

LinkedIn
BrightDigit
Leo

Instagram - @brightdigit
Patreon - empowerappshow

Credits

Music from https://filmmusic.io
"Blippy Trance" by Kevin MacLeod (https://incompetech.com)
License: CC BY (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/)

Guest

• Peter Witham - Compileswift.com - Twitter

Previous Episode

• Episode 43: WWDC Spectacular (Part 1) with Peter Witham

Related Episodes

• CompileSwift - Episode 20 - iPad gets a cursor
• CompileSwift - Episode 10 - Apple Release Cycles 
• Episode 29: Managing iOS Development with Peter Witham
• Episode 7: Apple 2019

Related Links

• Here’s how the iPad’s new trackpad actually works - The Verge
• Peter's Video on Cursor Support for iPadOS 13.4
• LidAR example of real-time mapping

Sponsors

IndieSupportWeeks
Indie Support Weeks is an open two-week effort aimed at helping indie developers within the Apple Developer Community who have been financially impacted by the current global COVID-19 pandemic.
Here are some of the apps we recommend:

• Home Inventory by @DianeRHamilton - A Mac App Store Editor’s Choice, Home Inventory has been helping people around the world document & manage their home & belongings since 2005.
• Pushever - APNS Tester by @soulchildpls - Test push notification easily
• NativeConnect by @vadimshpakovski - Native macOS Client for App Store Connect
• Modules by @specrefco - super easy for Swift developers to visualize and organize modules in a Swift package
• Working Copy by @palmin - Access Git repositories on the go. Clone, edit, commit and push while allowing other apps access to repositories.

Learn more here about other apps from Indie Developers.

Apple March Updates

• Why can't the Mac Mini fill the desktop gap to Mac Pro?
• How the Mac mini works as a background server for CI, Video, etc...
• Is the Mac Book Air sufficient for a beginner developer?
• Is the iPad Pro enough for "real work"?
• Why prefer iPad over Mac Book
• The "Surfacing" of the iPad Pro
• Portrait vs Landscape
• The New iPad Pro Magic Keyboard
• Leo's iPad Stands and Keyboard Cases
  • KABCON Quality Tablet Stand (Portable)
  • Canopy by Studio Neat
  • Lamicall Tablet Stand
• Peter's iPad Brydge Keyboard Case
• The limitations of touch for interaction
• Will voice controls and Siri continue to improve?
• Does age matter in how we expect to interact with technology?
• Does LidAR help VR supplant AR?
• What LidAR means for developers?

Social Media

Email
[email protected]

Twitter
BrightDigit - @brightdigit
Leo - @leogdion

LinkedIn
BrightDigit
Leo

Instagram - @brightdigit
Patreon - empowerappshow

Credits

Music from https://filmmusic.io
"Blippy Trance" by Kevin MacLeod (https://incompetech.com)
License: CC BY (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/)

Guest

• Peter Witham - Compileswift.com - Twitter

Related Episodes

• CompileSwift - Episode 20 - iPad gets a cursor
• CompileSwift - Episode 10 - Apple Release Cycles 
• Episode 35: SwiftUI - The Good, the Bad, and the Benefits
• Episode 34: Server-Side Swift with Tim Condon
• Episode 29: Managing iOS Development with Peter Witham
• Episode 20: WWDC 2019 - Mac Development with Daniel Jalkut
• Episode 10: Business and IT Applications
• Episode 7: Apple 2019

Related Links

• Here’s how the iPad’s new trackpad actually works - The Verge
• Bitrise
• MacStadium
• Vapor – Deep Dive Guide into Setup and Deployment for Heroku and Ubuntu
• Swift Playground Book

Sponsors

BrightDigit

• Specialize in helping businesses build apps for iPhone, iPad, Mac and Apple Watch
• 10 years of experience developing for a variety of Apple platform
• Helping dev shops which lack experience with Apple platforms and Swift

Contact me if you need help today.

We have an opening for sponsors

• Do you have a product or service which can target our ever growing community of developers as well as technology and business leaders? 

Contact me today if you are interested in sponsoring or go to our Patreon page.

Remote Working From Home

• Having to work home with everyone at home
• Having a dedicated office
• Livestreaming vs. Conference Calls
• Having a schedule
• Sharing your work schedule on the family calendar

WWDC 2020?

• Will WWDC be cancelled this year?
• How can they produce video for the conference?
• How does a remote conference?
• Does this year have a Marzipan?
• Refinements for iOS, macOS, etc...?
• Any opening of other services (messaging)?
• What happened to Apple TV+?
• Where is Apple in the server or cloud?
• What's going to be the plan for the iPhone?

SDK Updates?

• Swift UI 2.0?
• What's the future of Catalyst?
• More Independence for the watchOS?
• more Independence for iPadOS 😄
• More Machine Learning ...
• What's the ARKit Demo? AR Conference?
• Swift Playgrounds on the Mac
• Xcode on the iPad?

Social Media

Email
[email protected]

Twitter
BrightDigit - @brightdigit
Leo - @leogdion

LinkedIn
BrightDigit
Leo

Instagram - @brightdigit
Patreon - empowerappshow

Credits

Music from https://filmmusic.io
"Blippy Trance" by Kevin MacLeod (https://incompetech.com)
License: CC BY (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/)

Video

• Youtube Video - https://youtu.be/TQpRYibmyvQ

Related Episodes

• Episode 39: Managing Code Quality with Anne Cahalan
• Episode 24: Continuous Integration with Kyle Newsome
• Episode 23: Modularizing in Xcode with Abbey Jackson
• Episode 31: Future Proofing Your Apps with Gui Rambo
• Episode 15: Test-Driven Development with Joshua Greene and Michael Katz
• Episode 14: iOS App Architecture with René Cacheaux and Josh Berlin

Related Links

• iOS Continuous Integration: How To Avoid Merge Hell
• SwiftUI: Everything is possible if you think like Apple
• How to avoid iOS app failure with Test-Driven Development
• Swift Package Continuous Integration Guide

Sponsors

BrightDigit

• Specialize in helping businesses build apps for iPhone, iPad, Mac and Apple Watch
• 10 years of experience developing for a variety of Apple platform
• Helping dev shops which lack experience with Apple platforms and Swift

Contact me if you need help today.

We have an opening for sponsors

• Do you have a product or service which can target our ever growing community of developers as well as technology and business leaders? 

Contact me today if you are interested in sponsoring or go to our Patreon page.

Why Good Patterns and Practices Matter

• Bug fixes and code upgrades become more difficult to execute
• Adding new features can be a real challenge if there's a lack of organization.
• Without breaking each layer and functionality apart, it makes testing excruciating.
• Without consistency, new developers will have a hard time understanding how the code works.
• By using the right patterns, modularizing your code, and maintaining good code quality; you can keep your app development project running smoothly and save money in the long run.

Architectural Patterns

• Understand the legacy of Objective-C
• How Model View Controller is intrinsic to UIKit  
• How do Delegation Pattern fits 
• Why Protocol Oriented Programming works so well with Swift and Testing?
• Why Functional Programming makes it easier to build complex functionality?
• Why the shift to Model-View-ViewModel?
• How Reactive Programming, the Subscriber-Publisher model, and Combine makes sense for UI development?

Modularizing Layers of Functionality

• Modularity ensures individual pieces of functionality can work independently. 
• While each piece of code and functionality remains simple, it is their multitude and integration which is complex.
• Each module is an Interchangeable Part.
• Modularity allows for use in multiple operating systems and devices.
• How does Xcode and Swift allow for modularity
• Why Framework Targets are the most mature way still to create independent 
• Where Workspaces and Projects fit with with Independent Apps and Products
• Why Swift Packages are the future

Maintaining Quality Code

• Good Architectural Patterns means Easy Testing
• Code Coverage is a good metric but not the only one.
• Reduce Complexity in your code for easier maintenance
• Consistent Styling makes version control and team management easier
• Code Reviews Help get an additional set of eyes even though they may be your own.
• Continuous Integration of components and apps are the best way to ensure quality code

Social Media

Email
[email protected]

Twitter
BrightDigit - @brightdigit
Leo - @leogdion

LinkedIn
BrightDigit
Leo

Instagram - @brightdigit
Patreon - empowerappshow

Credits

Music from https://filmmusic.io
"Blippy Trance" by Kevin MacLeod (https://incompetech.com)
License: CC BY (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/)

Guest

• Kaya Thomas (Twitter @kthomas901)
  • kayathomas.info

Related Episodes

• Episode 15: Test-Driven Development with Joshua Greene and Michael Katz
• Episode 8: Cloud and Backend Services For Apps 

Related Links

• We Read Too
• Apple's Developer Docs on Notifications
• Beams by Pusher
• NWPusher by noodlewerk
• Preparing Your App For iOS 12 Notifications by Kaya Thomas - Smashing Magazine 

Sponsors

BrightDigit

• Specialize in helping businesses build apps for iPhone, iPad, Mac and Apple Watch
• 10 years of experience developing for a variety of Apple platform
• Helping dev shops which lack experience with Apple platforms and Swift

Contact me if you need help today.

We have an opening for sponsors

• Do you have a product or service which can target our ever growing community of developers as well as technology and business leaders? 

Contact me today if you are interested in sponsoring or go to our Patreon page.

Why Notifications Are Important

• Can encourage user engagement 
• Notify of updates and messages
• Need to be trustworthy and needless
• Onboarding helps make Notifications more welcoming

What are the different types of Notifications?

• Local vs Remote Push Notifications
• Remote Notifications are ideal for complex logic and messaging
• How Rich Notifications Work

What are the challenges in implementation of Notifications?

• Using Enums to Implement Notifications
• How Categories and Actions Work
• Using NWPusher to Test Remote Notifications
• Big Improvement Coming to Xcode 11.4
• How to Unit Test with Abstractions and Mocking

How Push Notifications Work?

• Implementing Remote Notifications on the Server
• Using Cloud Based Services for Push Notifications such as Firebase
• Using Beams for Testing Push Notifications
• How APNS works
• Dealing with APNS Issues
• Understanding APNS Throttling

How to making Notifications part of the design process?

• How would Notification make the app more useful?
• Would it help the user engage more?
• Keep complex actions in the app as opposed to the Notification UI
• Being responsible with how Notifications are used
• Stay up-to-date with Apple's guidelines

Social Media

Email
[email protected]

Twitter
BrightDigit - @brightdigit
Leo - @leogdion

LinkedIn
BrightDigit
Leo

Instagram - @brightdigit
Patreon - empowerappshow

Credits

Music from https://filmmusic.io
"Blippy Trance" by Kevin MacLeod (https://incompetech.com)
License: CC BY (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/)

Guest

• Jeff Kelley (Twitter @SlaunchaMan)

Related Episodes

• Episode 35: SwiftUI - The Good, the Bad, and the Benefits
• Episode 18: WWDC 2019 - Apple Watch with Gary Sabo
• Episode 15: Test-Driven Development with Joshua Greene and Michael Katz

Related Links

• Jeff's talk from Code Mash - Taking Control of Errors in Swift
• How To Test fatalError In Swift by Marco Santa
• A guide to Charles Proxy by Nelida Velazquez
• Running Real Tests on watchOS - Jeff Kelley
• Leo's sample code for testing for fatalError

Sponsors

BrightDigit

• Specialize in helping businesses build apps for iPhone, iPad, Mac and Apple Watch
• 10 years of experience developing for a variety of Apple platform
• Helping dev shops which lack experience with Apple platforms and Swift

Contact me if you need help today.

We have an opening for sponsors

• Do you have a product or service which can target our ever growing community of developers as well as technology and business leaders? 

Contact me today if you are interested in sponsoring or go to our Patreon page.

What is special about errors in Swift 

• The history of Objective-C and Swift errors
• The strong-typed nature of Swift
• fatalError vs assert vs precondition
• How to test fatalError in unit tests

What are some ways to handle errors?

• User initiated errors and dialogs
• Chaining logging and error tracking
• Differentiating release and debug build
• Using proxy server to listen to requests in debug
• When to purposely crash with fatalError
• Dealing with asynchronous callbacks and Combine
• What is the Never type?
• Dealing with permission prompts like HealthKit

What can teams do to design and develop for errors

• Use a service to track errors for developers
• Showing the user the correct information
• Dealing with issues which aren't errors
• Designers should show how errors are handled
• Design the write localized messages for errors
• With agile development, make sure each error path is handled in your story card

Social Media

Email
[email protected]

Twitter
BrightDigit - @brightdigit
Leo - @leogdion

LinkedIn
BrightDigit
Leo

Instagram - @brightdigit
Patreon - empowerappshow

Credits

Music from https://filmmusic.io
"Blippy Trance" by Kevin MacLeod (https://incompetech.com)
License: CC BY (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/)

Guest

• Anne Cahalan 
  • Twitter @northofnormal
  • Github northofnormal

Related Episodes

• Episode 36: Upgrading Your Skills in 2020 with Paul Hudson
• Episode 34: Server-Side Swift with Tim Condon
• Episode 24: Continuous Integration with Kyle Newsome 
• Episode 14: iOS App Architecture with René Cacheaux and Josh Berlin

Related Links

• Swift For Good - UI Design by Dave Delong
• Goodbye Clean Code by Dan Abramov

Sponsors

BrightDigit

• Specialize in helping businesses build apps for iPhone, iPad, Mac and Apple Watch
• 10 years of experience developing for a variety of Apple platform
• Helping dev shops which lack experience with Apple platforms and Swift

Contact me if you need help today.

We have an opening for sponsors

• Do you have a product or service which can target our ever growing community of developers as well as technology and business leaders? 

Contact me today if you are interested in sponsoring or go to our Patreon page.

What is Code Quality

• Making Code that's easy to maintain
• Low Cyclomatic Complexity
• Making your code easily testable
• Your code should read like sentences
• Avoid fancy short code for more wordy code
• Messy code is easier to fix then over-engineered code
• While the integration may be complex, keep your code separated into simple parts 

Why is Code Quality Important

• Saving Time = Saving Money
• Easy to Maintain and Easy to Update
• Shorter Onramp for New Developers
• Code Rots over Time (Delegation Patters vs Subscriber/Publisher Model)
• Addresses Tech Debt

When should you upgrade your code

• When it makes sense
• Use Interoperability (bridge headers, HostingControllers, ViewRepresentable, etc...) to slowly bridge the gap
• Be careful leaving too much old code behind

Good Swift Code Quality

• Use argument labels and parameter name correctly
• Avoid ternary operators
• Avoid switch statements with too much logic and cases
• Use Generics judiciously
• Extensions are great for separating Protocol implementation

Good Code Reviews and Pull Requests

• Clear your mind
• Use pull requests and templates
• Add context and details to the pull requests
• Use screen shots to show what the result is
• Communicate clearly what is going on
• Let them know what to look at and what is a work-in-progress

What Can Managers Do

• Set a great example 
• Provide enough time to the team for quality code
• Have some background and experience with quality code
• Be attentive and open to what your developers say
• Allow time for unit testing

Code Quality Tools

• SwiftLint and SwiftFormat
• Codecov - for code coverage
• CodeFactor and CodeClimate - for code quality
• Having a human look at code is always best
• Be thoughtful and considerate for each decision
• Leo's Swift Package Automated CI Template - WIP

Social Media

Email
[email protected]

Twitter
BrightDigit - @brightdigit
Leo - @leogdion

LinkedIn
BrightDigit
Leo

Instagram - @brightdigit
Patreon - empowerappshow

Credits

Music from https://filmmusic.io
"Blippy Trance" by Kevin MacLeod (https://incompetech.com)
License: CC BY (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/)

Guest

• Kim Arnett (kimarnett.com)
  • Twitter @kaydacode
  • DEV.TO @kaydacode

Related Episodes

• Episode 31: Future Proofing Your Apps with Gui Rambo

Related Links

• The Curb Cut Effect: How Making Public Spaces Accessible to People With Disabilities Helps Everyone
• Deque
• Chris DeMars
• Nathan Loding
• a11y with lindsey

Sponsors

BrightDigit

• Specialize in helping businesses build apps for iPhone, iPad, Mac and Apple Watch
• 10 years of experience developing for a variety of Apple platform
• Helping dev shops which lack experience with Apple platforms and Swift

Contact me if you need help today.

We have an opening for sponsors

• Do you have a product or service which can target our ever growing community of developers as well as technology and business leaders? 

Contact me today if you are interested in sponsoring or go to our Patreon page.

What is Accessibility

• Accessibility is more than just permanent disabilities
• Considering text size, color blindness, screen readers, touch issues

What Can Developers Do Now?

• Making fonts scalable with Dynamic Text 
• Consider text size based on other languages
• Apple makes it simple to include accessibility
• Using built-in controls over third-party tools
• Using accessibility labels
• Don't forget Dark Mode

Why Accessibility is important?

• Includes a larger audience which depends on it
• 20% report having disabilities
• Fear of Lawsuit 😱
• Make Sure Everyone Has A Voice
• The Curb Cut Effect: How Making Public Spaces Accessible to People With Disabilities Helps Everyone

What can managers do?

• The importance of diversity in your team
• Practice using the app without sight and only screen readers
• Using iPhone Accessibility settings to test your app

Social Media

Email
[email protected]

Twitter
BrightDigit - @brightdigit
Leo - @leogdion

LinkedIn
BrightDigit
Leo

Instagram - @brightdigit
Patreon - empowerappshow

Credits

Music from https://filmmusic.io
"Blippy Trance" by Kevin MacLeod (https://incompetech.com)
License: CC BY (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/)