Issue 332

22^nd December 2017

Written by Dave Verwer

Comment

You’ve almost certainly seen the rumour this week about a potential cross-platform AppKit replacement code named Marzipan. It all started with this article by Mark Gurman and while he’s had great success with predictions the past, let’s just keep in mind that everything that is being written on this subject this week is based on one article which is nothing more than a rumour.

That said, the rumour does fit well with my thoughts on the future of macOS. I’ve talked several times here about how I believe we’ll eventually see iOS in some form on a device with a form factor more like a traditional laptop/desktop, and if true, this is a step towards that potential future.

If the default development environment for tomorrow’s macOS uses iOS compatible frameworks, then it opens the doors to an eventual retiring of macOS without having to abandon all of the amazing software on the platform. What happens to AppKit if we get to that point? It’s probably going to go the same way as Carbon, but don’t worry too much about that because if that happens (and it’s still a huge if) it’ll be many, many years away. Will any transition be a lot of work for macOS developers? Absolutely. Will it be worth it? I’m not sure that can be answered yet but I think there’s a very bright future for Mac software that becomes possible in a future where this happens.

My main disappointment this week though has been the hugely negative reaction to this on Twitter. Most complaints focus on sustainability of macOS software with fears of customers being conditioned by universal iPhone/iPad apps to then have an expectation of getting the macOS app bundled in with their $0.99 purchase. Sustainability for small software businesses is a huge issue, but when we have been bemoaning the lack of attention that the Mac has been getting for so long, to immediately treat something like this (which, if true, shows an unbelievable commitment to macOS software) so negatively seems crazy. Are we ever happy?

I’m personally excited about the possibility of this rumour being true and for the future of the Mac if it is.

As usual, iOS Dev Weekly will be taking its annual break next week for the holidays. I hope you all also manage to take some time away from your computers to spend some time with friends and family and I’d like to thank you all for continuing to read what we publish here every week! Happy Holidays and here’s to a great 2018! 🎅

Dave Verwer

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News

Discussion around open source projects is often managed with Mailman, and Swift is no exception. Unfortunately mailing lists provide a pretty horrible experience by modern standards so I’m very happy to see that Swift is going to be switching to a forum based approach using Discourse! The switch isn’t happening until the new year but you can check out a beta for how it’s going to look. 🎉

After last week’s news where the review guidelines were changed to disallow templated apps, there has been a slight amendment this week to re-allow them, but only when submitted by the small business themselves rather than by some parent company that creates and distributes all of the apps centrally. This feels like a much more sensible solution to the problem and will still cut down on people who are trying to use templating as a way to spam the store.

Tools

All iOS developers are probably aware of build configurations in as much as they know about the default set of Debug and Release configs, but have you ever gone further than those defaults? Can they be used to save time during a release process? Pablo Villar gives us some options.

A tool for converting Swift code to Kotlin. I’d be surprised if anyone is going to get much use out of this directly but it’s probably a good way to see how things are different if you’re learning Kotlin.

Code

Did you know about iOS 11’s smart colour inverting accessibility option? Did you know that you can support it better if you code metadata about how it gets applied to your app? I didn’t know either of these things before I read this article by Daniel Duan, but I’m glad I know them now!

This library has been around for a few months now but I just came across it this week. At first glance I almost dismissed it as just another set of layout classes for UICollectionView but actually it’s a ground up reimagining of a collection view from Luke Zhao. Interesting.

I’m not in the US so I’ve not yet seen the Apple Pay Cash card that this library sets out to emulate. No matter how closely it does get to the authentic effect though, Lasha Efremidze has created something beautiful.

How big is that emoji? Let me count the ways to count 😬

Design

Holly Marie Gibbs on the trend of full width buttons on mobile. I’ve noticed this trend too but unfortunately it’s much harder to make this look good at the bottom of the iPhone X due to the curved corners of the screen.

Great article by Sebastiaan de With on designing for a device which may not even exist. I really love the way that Halide uses the “ears” too. Great post.

Videos

Interesting take on Kotlin from Hector Matos at KotlinConf 2017. There’s also loads more talks if you’re interested.

And finally...

Just imagine, if this week’s rumour turns out to be true we could end up controlling Photoshop like this one day! 😂