Issue 455

Comment

Unless you've been living under a rock this week, you'll know that Apple released a few more details of this year's WWDC. We still don't know specifics, but the press release does mention that "lab schedules" will be shared in June, which is interesting. I'm sticking to my view of don't hold your breath for anything revolutionary, but I'll be happy if I'm proven wrong!

What we do know, and the focus of this week's announcement was the fact that there will still be a scholarship programme (of sorts) this year, which is fantastic news. If you're thinking of applying, you should watch this interview with Esther Hare where she goes into some details of how to make your submission stand out. (Hint: It's the same formula you can use to stand a better chance of getting an app featured in the App Store!)

Predictably, it looks like the Apple Developer app is going to be the "venue" for the conference. I'm not going to echo the overwhelming sentiment of Twitter that the lack of a Mac app is unforgivable. There's plenty of time before the conference, and I fully expect an app update before then, so I hope it comes as part of that update.

Oh and a quick, quiet note to Apple. If you're not planning a Catalyst version, now would be a great time to "click the checkbox". 😂

News

I know I wrote about virtual community events three weeks ago, but things are moving fast, and more are launching every day, so here’s a quick follow-up.

First up, try! Swift World which kicked off on Monday. Next, RW Talks had their first talk on Wednesday. Both of these have full schedules of workshops/talks coming up, so check them out even if you missed their opening sessions.

Then, the virtual conferences start. Next week is App Builders, followed by UIKonf the week after. Both have their schedules and events announced. Then, looking into June, there’s still mDevCamp and Hacking with Swift Live in July. Are there any other virtual conferences I’m missing? I’ll do another round-up as we approach WWDC.

The big Facebook crash of 2020 and the problem of third-party SDK creep

Every dependency in your project has a cost, but some are more expensive than others. Gui Rambo gives us his take on this week's App Store troubles.

Also, oof! 😬

UPDATE: Ethan Huang points out that it's possible to allow Facebook login without their SDK. Although, Hal Lee followed up with information that it might be against their policies, so just be aware of that.

Tools

‎Ayecon

How many times have you had to look up every permutation of how many icon sizes you need, only to then spend time meticulously resizing and renaming the same image over and over again? Yes, this app from Shihab Mehboob isn't going to let you meticulously craft custom representations for different icon sizes, but who does that in these days of "Noun Project + Gradient"? 😬

For full disclosure, Shihab sent me a copy of this app for me to look at.

Code

Point-Free Composable Architecture

From a first look at this new architecture framework from Brandon Williams and Stephen Celis, I like it. I’ve also heard several good things from people who have been beta testing it. It’s too much even to attempt to summarise it here, so the best way to get up to speed is with this walkthrough video or the example apps. It's also worth looking through this post from Alejandro Martinez on it.

That said, I think it’s worth mentioning a couple of points before you jump in with both feet. First of all, this is an opinionated framework, and it’s strict about how you use it. So if you adopt it, don’t try and fight it. Secondly, building your app on top of a third-party architecture framework is a big decision, and it’s usually hard to back out of once an app is in progress. I do thoroughly recommend you check it out though as everything about it is exceptionally well thought out.

Testing SwiftUI Views

In my opinion, testing views is always a bit tricky. You probably don't want to make them too strict where a single pixel difference causes a test to fail, but you should be ensuring that the correct information makes it to the user's screen. Here's Vadim Bulavin's take on the subject.

Natural Language Toolkit Word Counter

This post from Christian Tietze is a great reminder that localisation is almost always more complicated than it first appears.

Design

Creating Sketch Style App Icons

This is such a lovely technique from Charlie Chapman for making a beta version of your app's icon. It's fairly simple to achieve too, so much so that I think I could even have a go at it with my appalling freehand drawing skills. 😅

Books

Developing Inclusive Mobile Apps

The title of this new book from Rob Whitaker is something we should all be doing. 👍 It covers the technical side of things using both UIKit and SwiftUI (as well as some other platform called Android). Inclusivity and accessibility is so much more than just mastering the technology though, and so is this book. You'll also want to check out Rob's recent talk on accessibility in SwiftUI.

For full disclosure, Rob sent me a preview copy of the book before publication.

Jobs

iOS Engineer @ Karbon – Join our dedicated, all-remote agency and help us build amazing iOS apps for amazing clients. We've spent the past 10 years helping companies ship apps to millions of users—join us as we focus on the next 10 years. – Remote, or Portland OR

Senior iOS Engineer @ onX – Are you an iOS developer who loves the outdoors? Bring your iOS skills to onX, where we bring our devotion to the outdoors to work daily with a singular, powerful goal; to inspire others to find their own adventures off the pavement. – Remote, or Montana, USA

It's also worth saying that if you're actively looking for a job, you should sign up for the jobs specific mailing list over at iOS Dev Jobs. It's one email a week, every Monday, and includes more jobs than are featured here.

And finally...

If this week's accepted change to Swift made you a little grumpy (like it did to me!), remember this. 😂

Either that or take the changes to their ultimate conclusion! 🙌

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Issue 455 May 8th 2020