Issue 411

5^th July 2019

Written by Dave Verwer

Comment

I broke my hand this week, so I hope you’ll forgive me if I keep my comment to an absolute minimum and get straight to the links.

I even seriously considered upgrading my Mac to Catalina for Voice Control as a result of this injury. It just goes to show how important accessibility is, even for a temporary disability. I did use Mojave’s dictation support to write most of this week’s issue, so please excuse any typos that I missed!

Dave Verwer

Sponsored Link

With new essays, more code, extended content and full support for Swift 5.0, the latest Swift Algorithms Book blends modern code, illustrations and computer science to help you pass an interview or build your next app. Perfect for the classroom or the office, the book takes a fresh approach to explain concepts that power search engines, databases and social networks. For a limited time, use discount code “SWIFTLY” at checkout to receive 20% off!

News

Are there any bugs in the App Store right now? This site aims to answer that question, and of course the answer is Yes. It lists any ongoing issues, and has a history of resolved ones too, all without resorting to sensationalism. What a great resource from Ilia Kukharev. 👍

Tools

I first linked to WTF Auto Layout back in August 2017. In this short video and accompanying blog post, Zev Eisenberg takes the tool to the next level by automating the opening of it on every constraint error. This is wonderful!

Wouldn’t it be great if we could render SVG assets natively in our apps? Yes, the new hotness is SF Symbols, but if you can’t deal with the compromises that brings then SVGs rendered to PNGs are a better way to go. Enter Speculid, a way to automate the pipeline of SVG to PNG rendering as part of your build process with simple JSON files.

Code

As predicted by Craig Hockenberry in the week that SwiftUI was announced, here comes Helge Heß with a proof of concept of what SwiftUI on the web would look like. 🌎

If you’ve ever sent a URL using iMessage then you’ve seen Apple’s link presentation views in action. Well, new to iOS 13 is the LinkPresentation framework, and here’s Jordan Morgan to show us how it works.

The new features keep dropping in the beta releases, this time it’s Image I/O getting support for loading animated GIFs and PNGs. I love it when the more mundane APIs continue to get useful features alongside the new big ticket headlines.

Finally with a welcome break from SwiftUI hot takes is this tutorial series from Nick Lockwood on how to implement a Wolfenstein 3D style game engine. 😍 You almost certainly won’t use this in your day to day work, but that doesn’t mean it’s not worth reading!

Design

I really loved this in-depth look at the icons used in Apple Maps from Rusty Mitchell. If you have even a passing interest in iconography, you’ll definitely learn something here.

Business and Marketing

There’s a lot of words written about app store optimisation, but what I liked about this article from Matthew Parry is that it’s a fairly practical guide to the steps that can improve your search rankings. There are some good tips in here.

Videos

I’m not sure this is every session video from this year’s AltConf, but it’s certainly enough to get you started. There’s 29 sessions already uploaded at the time of writing. 📺

Jobs

iOS Developer @ TransferWise – As an iOS Engineer at TransferWise, you’ll get the chance to build a product that is changing the lives of millions of people around the world and saving them £1bn in transaction fees every year. You’ll work in highly autonomous teams in close collaboration with Designers, Product Managers and fellow engineers as we change the way money moves in an increasingly borderless world! – London, UK

iOS Developer @ Transit – Bright, light-hearted coworkers. The cutest rooftop in Montreal. We’re a team of app-wielding urbanists creating the vaccine to eradicate car ownership: Transit. We bring better real-time data (and smarter trip plans) to hundreds of cities, spanning public transport, bikeshare, scooters, and other shared modes. We keep millions of cars off the road — and lure more people to sustainable options. – Montreal, Canada

iOS Developers, All Levels @ Rightpoint – Rightpoint is hiring mobile engineers! We are an award-winning customer experience agency with technology at its core. Rightpoint cares about crafting quality products and great user experiences. Our clients include a wide range of well-known brands and innovative startups and have offices across the US. – Chicago, IL, Boston, MA, Atlanta, GA, Detroit, MI, Denver, CO, and Oakland, CA

iOS/macOS Software Engineer @ Astropad – Sherlocked by Apple, Luna Display strikes back! – Remote within North American timezones

iOS Engineer @ onXmaps – onX is hiring for iOS Engineer with a love for the outdoors. If you’re passionate about writing great software, love playing outside, believe in protecting access to public lands and want to dominate the off-pavement mobile GPS market – apply today! – Montana, USA

Sr. Software Engineer (macOS) @ Embodied Inc. – Embodied, Inc. is an industry leading robotics and AI company creating state-of-the-art companion robots to revolutionize human-centric care and wellness by enhancing quality of life for individuals and families. We are creating a new product category from the ground up that values and caters to the full diversity of our consumers. Come join us and make an impact of people’s lives! – Pasadena, CA

iOS Engineer @ Quizlet – The Subscriptions team is the powerhouse of Quizlet that drives exponential growth for the company. Come help us scale one of the fastest growing and highest quality consumer learning brands, as we develop innovative simple-to-use study tools that help students everywhere. – San Francisco, CA

iOS Developer @ CARFAX – Having a creative and innovative environment where our developers can collaborate, learn and grow is something CARFAX is passionate about! We have an entire floor dedicated to our techies, designed specifically to enable teams to dream big and produce the best. CARFAX is also casual and dog-friendly each and every day! – Centreville, VA

Swift Engineer @ WillowTree – At WillowTree, Senior Swift Engineers have the freedom to create products people love. You’ll collaborate with a cross-disciplinary team to build large-scale products for well-known brands. We look for team members who advocate for software engineering best practices and inspire their team to continuously learn and improve. – Charlottesville, VA

Whether you’re looking for a job, or looking to hire, head over to iOS Dev Jobs right now.

And finally...

Can’t wait to see what features Xcode 12 brings… 😂