Issue 444

21^st February 2020

Written by Dave Verwer

Comment

I’ve wanted to run a really thorough survey of iOS developer opinion for a long time.

Some people were surprised by what I considered comprehensive. 😬 Despite that, I decided to go ahead with it anyway, and I’m glad I did because 2,290 of you found time to fill in the 109 question survey. 😍 That’s a remarkable set of data, and I’ve spent the last few weeks putting together a view of those results.

This first version of the site I just published has the raw survey results and a few analysis articles written by me. However, the analysis is far from complete, and that’s intentional. It wouldn’t be a community survey if the analysis only represented my opinion. So, more analysis is coming but there’s easily enough there to make for fascinating reading already.

So without further ado… Take a look at the results of the first ever iOS Developer Community Survey!

Dave Verwer

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News

I linked to the pitch for this back in July last year, and it popped it’s head up again this week on the official Swift blog.

The preview package provides access to functionality that has been accepted into the Swift standard library through the Swift Evolution process, but has not yet shipped as part of an official Swift release. This will allow us to incorporate feedback informed by real-world usage and remove many of the technical obstacles to contributing to the standard library.

I liked the idea then, and I still like it now. Also, Federico Zanetello’s article on it is worth a read.

Are you taking advantage of any of the new iOS 13.4 features? Or Swift 5.2? You’ll be pleased to know you can get your app updates on TestFlight right now. I guess this means we’ll see a final release in a couple of weeks.

Tools

One of the best new features of Xcode 11.4 is that the new simulator can easily test remote push notifications. Here’s Antoine van der Lee talking about how to get it working and announcing a new tool for making it even easier, Poes.

Is App Store Connect down? Are push notifications sending? Is the world ending? What I like about this new app from Gui Rambo is that issues are persisted a little longer than they are on the official system status pages. It’s nice to know that even if something is fixed now, that it’s had issues recently. 👍

Code

There was lots of discussion around this article when Rony Fadel first published it earlier this week. He’s updated the post since then to incorporate some of the points raised in the discussion, and it’s worth a read.

I really enjoyed this article from Peter Ringset on using a simple state machine (no library needed, just an enum) with SwiftUI. It’s a great match, and makes perfect sense to me. 👍

It’s not every day a library as popular as Alamofire gets a full major version release. The last one was in 2016, more than three years ago. What’s new? There are full details here. It’s been a long time since a dedicated networking library was necessary, but if you want to use one, then Alamofire is still king.

As well as everything else, there’s a huge set of XCTest improvements changes in Xcode 11.4 beta. Here’s Keith Harrison to tell us all about them. I especially like the feature to dynamically skip tests, although I think you should use it sparingly!

Jobs

Project Manager @ Coradine Aviation – Create inspired systems for passionate global customers with a tight-knit talented team by orchestrating and driving our iOS, macOS, and web-based projects forward in a transparent and flexible work environment! – Portland OR

Engineering Manager @ WillowTree – As an Engineering Manager you’ll mentor a team of all levels to help them achieve their personal and professional goals. Your partnership and coaching skills will impact our teams, clients, and company! You’ll have clear oversight of how engineering runs day-to-day and you’ll influence project outcomes and team happiness. – Charlottesville VA, or Durham NC

Senior iOS Developer @ Alarm.com – Collaborate with outstanding people; Make an immediate impact; Gain well-rounded experience; Work with the latest technologies; Focus on fun! – Tysons VA

Senior Project Manager @ WillowTree – As a Senior Project Manager, you’ll partner with Fortune 500 clients to create a product vision while advising and managing scope, risk, and new product opportunities. You’ll have the unique opportunity to build and grow a team as the Virtual CEO of your project! – Charlottesville, VA

iOS Developer @ freenet – Join our app development team to build mail, cloud and mobile communication apps for over 1 million users in the German market. If you like to write clean code with maintainable tests and work with a modern tech stack like Swift, SwiftUI, MVVM & REST/GraphQL, apply now! – Remote, or Hamburg Germany

Intermediate iOS Developer @ Dr. Bill – Dr. Bill saves time for Canadian doctors by making medical billing delightful (OK… at least suck less). Join us as we accelerate our growth to dominate medical billing in Canada! – Remote, or Vancouver Canada

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

Is your company hiring? I’d love it if you let your recruiting/HR department know that they can post job listings for free, right here

And finally...

I love this story. 😍 Also, this and this are even stronger evidence.