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News
Swift 5.1 Released
The features in 5.1 probably won't be news, we've been talking about them (and even using some of them) for a few months now, but it's always worth celebrating the official release. 🎉 Here's the launch post from Ted Kremenek, but it's also worth checking out this look at some of the smaller improvements that John Sundell published this week.
swift.org
Apple’s use of Swift in iOS 13
Talking of Swift, it's time for Alexandre Colucci's annual look at how adoption of Swift is going inside Apple. I won't spoil the results, but It's good news. 👍
timac.org
Tools
Overriding status bar display settings in the iOS simulator
I mentioned back in Issue 413 that simctl in Xcode 11 had started supporting customisation of the iOS Simulator's status bar, much like SimulatorStatusMagic did. I didn't give much detail on how to configure it, or address the limitation that changes are not persisted though. So I was happy to see Jesse Squires tackle both those issues in this blog post. 🤓
Xcode 11 Minimap Navigation
What a very useful tip from Alexander Spirichev for that shiny new version of Xcode that's now sitting on your hard drive!
twitter.com
Code
Supporting Low Data Mode in your app
Low Data Mode is new in iOS 13, and when switched on Apple confidently assures users that "Built-in iOS apps" will make all kinds of optimisations. Why should we let the built-in apps have all the fun though? Donny Wals is here to show us how we can do just as a good a job as Apple do with it.
donnywals.com
Let’s Build a Regex Engine
Alexander Grebenyuk with a fantastic series of posts on building a Regex engine. Of course, I'm not linking to this because I think you should use the resulting library, but because it's a fascinating look into how it was built.
github.io
SwiftUI: Animating Timing Curves
I love it when an interesting tweet turns into a blog post, like this one from Chris Eidhof did this week. You probably know about the animation curves, but the SwiftUI code that generates them is worth a look.
objc.io
Design
Photo to video slide transition in the iOS 13 camera app
I agree with Mike Rundle. This is a beautiful, playful interaction in the iOS 13 camera app when running on the new Pro phones. It's not the most obvious interaction, but once you know how to do it, it works great.
twitter.com
Up to Speed
100 Days of SwiftUI
I linked to the 100 days of Swift project back in Issue 404, and now Paul Hudson is following it up with a hundred days of SwiftUI. It started a few days ago, but that doesn't mean you can't still join in. Become a SwiftUI expert before the new year rings in. 🔔
hackingwithswift.com
Jobs
iOS Software Engineer @ Doximity – Doximity, the social network for doctors and healthcare workers, is hiring passionate iOS engineers (remote ok) with 5+ years of experience. You'll get to be part of an amazing product team and work on an app that is used by over 70% of US doctors to help them deliver better patient care. Use your skills (swift, obj-c, FRP) to improve lives and make the world a better place. Apply today! – Remote in the US or Canada
Engineering Manager @ onXmaps – Lead the mobile development team at onX - a Montana based company with the leading off-the-pavement GPS mobile app! As an Engineering Manager, you will manage a team of 10+ fun-loving devs who take pride in empowering our customers to find their way in the wild. Our Engineering team is growing quickly and onX is taking our technology into new outdoor markets… Come join the journey! – Missoula or Bozeman, MT
iOS Developer @ Shape – If you're passionate about making state-of-the-art iOS apps, why not work together with some of the best developers and designers who share this passion? Our office is in Copenhagen - one of the most liveable cities in the world. We offer relocation support and help you get a VISA. We also like to host social events, morning runs, Friday bars, board game nights, LEGO days and much more. – Copenhagen, Denmark
iOS Developer (f/m/x) @ COBI.Bike GmbH – We offer you a great team, great e-bikes you can try out, a beautiful office, newest apple hardware so you can make the magic and happen and the chance to develop your skills further. We're amazing! Join us! – Frankfurt, Germany
Swift Engineer @ WillowTree – At WillowTree, 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
Looking for a new job? Or, for someone to fill an open position at your company? There's a constant stream of new open positions, and people waiting to fill them over at iOS Dev Jobs. 🎉
I didn't think I'd be writing about an alternative App Store this week, let alone one that is open source, operates via a server app installed on your Mac, and doesn't require any kind of jailbreak at all. Here we are though! 😂
The way it works is very clever (the details are in the accompanying blog post) but I can't see any way that this lasts very long before being shut down. I mentioned in a comment a few weeks ago that one thing Apple have been 100% consistent with is that they will fight anything that even looks like it circumvents the App Store. Alt Store doesn't just look like it circumvents it, it flaunts it. Combine that with the fact that this has already had a significant amount of publicity, and that the preview comes with an emulator that runs games from a notoriously litigious company and I predict that there are already meetings happening in Cupertino about how best to deal with it.
I think everything that promotes discussion around the pros and cons of the Apple controlled iOS ecosystem is worthwhile. I'm not personally particularly interested in mechanisms for side-loading apps, but I know a great many people are. This project will certainly fire up those discussions again, and I do wish Riley good luck with it!
That said, I do hope that whatever Apple do to fight this doesn't make our lives as iOS developers any harder. I won't make any predictions on how they'll attempt to counter it, but I'll be amazed if they don't try.
Dave Verwer