Side Project Spotlight

The trio is taking a break over the holidays and so this is the first of a few special, short, solo episodes we are releasing until we get back to our regular routine in the new year. This week, Kotaro provides his retrospectives on our journey so far with this podcast and Side Project Saturday, plus lays out some goals for PhillyCocoa projects in the new year. Happy Holidays from Philly CocoaHeads!

## Topics Discussed:

- Podcast retrospective

- PhillyCocoa Community retrospective

- SPS goals for 2023

Intro music: "When I Hit the Floor", © 2021 Lorne Behrman. Used with permission of the artist.

This week, the trio finally remembers we passed our 1-year Podiversity before very skillfully transitioning into an in depth conversation on the topic of prototyping! What is it? How does it work? What are the tools and techniques? How is it practiced at a BigCo vs an Indie shop? The conversation is varied and interesting. Please note, this will be the last "regular" episode of 2022, but more content shall flow into your feed in the form of some special, shorter, episodes, so stay subscribed!

Topics Discussed:

- 1 year anniversary…back in October!

- No PickleJar update. On hold due to schedules and holidays. 

- What is prototyping?

    - Dynamic

    - UI Transitions

    - Degrees of Prototyping

- Wireframing vs Prototyping

    - Wireframes are mostly static layouts, may be low fidelity or high

    - Prototypes are interactive, often on device

- Traditional Tools vs. SwiftUI

    - Traditional tools link static screens together

        - WWDC14 - Prototyping: Fake It Till You Make It

            - https://developer.apple.com/videos/play/wwdc2014/223/

    -  SwiftUI feels more like an actual app in your hands

- Prototyping IRL

    - Independent consultant with a client

    - Big Co Team

    - One-man-band developer

- Advice for New Developers

- Pushing the Boundaries of Prototyping

- Game Jams As Prep For App Prototyping

- Favorite Prototyping Tools & Techniques 

    - SwiftUI Introspect

        - https://github.com/siteline/SwiftUI-Introspect

    - Iterate the prototype and ask “How do I make this better?”

    - Persona 5 Transitions In the Metaverse?

        - https://youtu.be/DxOGkhLfPf8

    - Focus on how it feels

    - Screen recording and screenshots for demos

    - Don’t be precious with your code

Intro music: "When I Hit the Floor", © 2021 Lorne Behrman. Used with permission of the artist.

Aaron's out this week, so the inmates are running the asylum! Steve is embarking on some greenfield app work at the day job and asks, "What is a modern app?" Since Kotaro has a lot of recent experience with all the newest Apple frameworks and features, an interesting discussion ensues about both how you can expand beyond the in-app experience and why you should or should not. Plus, the entire pod goes off the rails for a while when Kotaro goes into significant detail about an infamous Side Project Saturday "bad app idea" for a next generation fart app! It's both an informative and pretty funny episode.

Topics Discussed:

- PickleJarTodo app update

- There's an app for that!

- Expanding beyond the in-app experience  

    - Push notifications

    - App Library and getting engagement

    - Widgets & Product Owners

    - Live Activities & Dynamic Island

    - Siri Integration

    - CarPlay Integration

    - WatchKit app

    - iMessage stickers

    - App Clips

    - Shortcuts

- What experiences are relevant to your app?

- Don’t ask why, ask why not?

- Don’t be evil.

- Fart App: The Next Generation

- So, in the end, what is an app?

Intro music: "When I Hit the Floor", © 2021 Lorne Behrman. Used with permission of the artist.

This week, we have actual PickleJarTodo updates! Plus, Kotaro gets up on his soapbox to rant about testing, but is coaxed down and a more nuanced discussion ensues. Plus, we have some thoughts on the recent Mohammad Azam article about SwiftUI architecture and the NSSpain presentation about rewriting SoundCloud in SwiftUI. Finally, Steve remembers some sage advice he read on the early Web in the 1990s...RTFM!

Topics Discussed:

- PickleJarTodo Update

    - Lots of UI Components! (Kotaro)

    - Basic Image Picker Support (Steve)

- Testing Discussion

    - TDD

    - UI Testing

    - Testing time vs Development Time

    - It Depends  

- SwiftUI Architecture Discussion

    - SwiftUI Architecture — A Complete Guide to the MV Pattern Approach

- https://betterprogramming.pub/swiftui-architecture-a-complete-guide-to-mv-pattern-approach-5f411eaaaf9e

    - Lessons Learnt Rewriting SoundCloud in SwiftUI

        - https://vimeo.com/751534042/f1ae29434e

    - Programmers as Craftsmen

    - Environment

    - PreferenceKeys

- RTFM!

    - Building a Budget App Using SwiftUI and Core Data Part 1 (Mohammad Azam)

        - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Mfp2l59JKKo

Intro music: "When I Hit the Floor", © 2021 Lorne Behrman. Used with permission of the artist.

On this week's episode, the trio is totally focused and not at all awkward in their transitions as Steve recounts his recent FogBugz drama and Kotaro discusses a recent foray into building a straight-up macOS app in SwiftUI! Steve wonders if the culture of building your own tools has changed in the mobile world and a brief update on the PickleJarTodo app leads into a plug for Mike Zornek's blog, which you should totally read!

Topics Discussed:

- Follow-up: FogBugz Drama

- Kotaro’s Experimental SwiftUI Mac App Development

    - Platform Expectations 

- Building Your Own Tools From Scratch

- PickleJarTodo Update

    - Images in Core Data

    - UI Component “Lego Bricks”

    - Stealing moments to work on the app 

        - https://mikezornek.com/posts/2022/9/side-project-tiny-tickets/

Intro music: "When I Hit the Floor", © 2021 Lorne Behrman. Used with permission of the artist.

The trio is back this week with some follow-up to Kotaro's solo episode and some spicy takes on The Verge's re-design. Steve tells the tale of how he was stymied by an obvious bug until Aaron fixed it and this leads into some discussion about the challenge in learning new mental models and the importance of having someone else read your code when you are stuck. Meanwhile, Kotaro promises he is working on the UI layouts and the big news since last episode was the new Dynamic Island feature in the iPhone 14 Pro models! We discuss in our infinite ignorance how this feature works and how we might use it for fun; Steve mentions something called "Super Sayan Aaron Mode!?"

## Topics Discussed:

- Follow-Up: Kotaro’s Solo Episode

- The Verge vs Craigslist

- RSS Never Died

- PickleJarTodo Update

    - Steve’s Core Data refactor works after Aaron fixed a bug!

    - SwiftUI mental models

    - Kotaro is building layouts

- Dynamic Island Discussion

    - Live Activities API

    - Super Sayan Aaron Mode

    - Dynamic Island and Recent App Design Trends

    - How Can Our App Visit the Island?

- Storing Images in Core Data

Intro music: "When I Hit the Floor", © 2021 Lorne Behrman. Used with permission of the artist.

Due to scheduling conflicts, this week is a special solo episode featuring Kotaro! People often ask us in PhillyCocoa how to become an iOS developer. Listen as Kotaro gives his recommendations on how to start your Apple Developer journey whether you are a complete novice or an experienced developer in another speciality. Also hear about Kotaro's own journey into iOS development back when Objective-C was still a thing! This episode features 100% less Steve and Aaron, but is full of useful advice and fun Kotaro anecdotes. Don't worry, the trio will be back in action next time! 

## Topics Discussed:

- A Developer's Journey

- Foundations of Apple Development

- Learning Materials

    - https://www.raywenderlich.com

    - YouTube

- Kotaro's Apple Developer Journey

- Building Skills With Side Projects

- Reading Others' Code

- Asking For Help

- Apple Development is Not For Everyone

- It's About the Journey, Not the Destination

Intro music: "When I Hit the Floor", © 2021 Lorne Behrman. Used with permission of the artist.

This week the trio review the PickleJarTodo journey so far before discussing the trials and tribulations of macOS betas, bringing back tasteful skeuomorphism in our app, adding playfulness via animation, and why copy is important. Aaron describes his solution to our NavigationSplitView dilemma, Steve discusses some Core Data architecture patterns, and Old Man Kotaro Story Time and a project management tools discussion result in some entertaining hot takes and rants.

## Topics Discussed:

- PickleJarTodo Update

    - The journey so far

    - The trials and tribulations of macOS betas

    - NavigationSplitView

    - Skeuomorphism, Martin Style!

        - Digital paper notebook

        - The Martin System inspiration

            - SPS #17: Fingerpicking Good

                - http://phillycocoa.org/podcast/sps-17/

            - Thomas Frank Video 

                - https://youtu.be/0bxIg3M_MHY

            - “Martin System” Article

                - https://collegeinfogeek.com/paper-habit-tracker/

    - Adding playfulness via animation

    - Side Project Saturday Design Feedback

        - Copy is important

    - NavigationSplitView & Tab Bars

        - Make a new layout based on device size

            - TabBar for iPhone

            - NavigationSplitView for iPad (2-pane) 

    - Core Data architecture patterns in SwiftUI

        - Practical Core Data Book

            - https://practicalcoredata.com

    - Old Man Kotaro Story Time: The Objective-C Days

        - retain/release, provision hell, and the “bad old days” of Apple Dev.

- Game Plan:

    - Kotaro: Flesh out core UI experiences (e.g. card view)

    - Steve: Core Data & Log View

    - Aaron: Onboarding View

    - September 7 Apple Event - Release candidate imminent

- Project Management Tool Hot Takes

    - GitHub Projects 

    - Trello

    - Microsoft Planner

    - Jira

    - RIP FogBugz

        - Bitsplitting.org: Dump FogBugz

            - https://bitsplitting.org/2022/07/20/dump-fogbugz/

    - Basecamp

    - Microsoft Teams

Intro music: "When I Hit the Floor", © 2021 Lorne Behrman. Used with permission of the artist.

In this episode, Kotaro has some more thoughts about respecting the platform and we get into an interesting discussion about the how, when, and why of using SwiftUI as a prototyping tool. Then, Kotaro reveals his UI epiphany for the iPhone version of PickleJar. Finally, Steve inadvertently creates a Not a Sponsor segment and the productivity app world is introduced to the idea of "Aaron Mode."

## Topics Discussed:

- Follow-Up: Respecting the Platform

- Using SwiftUI as a Prototyping Tool

- Sketch Is an Exemplary “Mac” App

- Collaborative Prototyping With SwiftUI

- Mockup/Prototyping Tools

    - https://sketch.com

    - https://figma.com

    - https://balsamiq.com

    - https://www.adobe.com/products/xd.html

- Kotaro’s UI Epiphany & Discussion

    - The “Martin System”

        -  https://collegeinfogeek.com/paper-habit-tracker/

- Side Project Saturday: Suburban Edition, Aug 20

- Next Steps

- Not a Sponsor: Practical Core Data

    - https://practicalcoredata.com

    - Donny Wals: Using Core Data in a Modern SwiftUI Application

        - https://youtu.be/P8rqjs_CNsk

Intro music: "When I Hit the Floor", © 2021 Lorne Behrman. Used with permission of the artist.

This week, the trio is back from our first IRL meetup in two years! We provide an update on PickleJar including CoreData refactoring, architecture patterns, new UI sketches, a possible Radar-worthy bug, and we ask the big question, has Apple decided that Hamburger Menus are cool again? In the second half of the episode, we discuss the latest native vs web technology debate sparked by a Paul Hudson tweet about Notion switching to native views in their iOS app. It's quite an interesting conversation full of Kotaro anecdotes! Who doesn't love them? That's a rhetorical question, they're awesome!

## Topics Discussed:

- Side Project Saturday Suburban Edition (IRL) was a success!

- PickleJar app status

    - CoreData Refactoring Continues!

    - Architecture Patterns Discussion

    - Kotaro’s SwiftUI Sketches

    - Hamburger Menus are cool again?

    - SplitView Bug Fix on iOS

    - Implementing UI Sketches

- Notion Native Code Drama

    - https://twitter.com/twostraws/status/1550077375643361280

    - The “Sweet Solution”?

    - Kotaro’s Epic Mac Word Rant

    - Respecting the platform

    - Speed is a feature 

    - What’s the business value?

    - Ultimately, it depends

- Wrap-Up

Intro music: "When I Hit the Floor", © 2021 Lorne Behrman. Used with permission of the artist.