Issue 558

Comment

I want to start this week with the story of the first Apple product I owned, a third-generation iPod. This week, Apple finally retired the product line, and my thoughts went back to my first few minutes of owning it.

I was very much in the Microsoft/Windows camp at the time, and I remember being very sceptical and critical of Apple. I also remember the Phillips MP3 player I used before I bought my iPod, though, and how truly awful it was. It was clear Apple had something special, and I started to look at it longingly.

I had travelled to the US on a business trip for the company I worked for at the time. I was in State College, PA, which at the time was the coldest place I had ever visited. I remember looking at a weather display in the hotel lobby and thinking, “Oh, -3º, that’s chilly!” before realising the readout was in Fahrenheit! 😬 Anyway, we ended up at a Best Buy store during the trip, and I handed over my hard-earned $400 to own my first Apple product.

I remember opening the box of my new device vividly, especially one part of it. The box that held the iPod split in two and folded out, and I saw those famous words for the first time, “Designed by Apple in California”. It was the first time I had seen such attention paid to packaging, and even though it was years before anyone would say the word “unboxing”, 😂 it made a big impression.

I loved that iPod and used it for many years, and I suspect that decision is why I’m writing these words today. I’m not sure I’d have bought my first MacBook Pro in 2006 without the experience of owning that iPod.

I’m glad I bought it.

News

Swift Website Work Group

It’s been a few weeks since the Swift project’s website became open-source. In that announcement, Tom Doron said that one of the first steps would be establishing a working group, and here he is again announcing the formation of that working group!

What’s that? Why is my name on that list? Yes, I applied to the group, and I’m delighted to say that I will be a part of the workgroup. I hope to contribute what I can to improve the site over the next couple of years!

Tools

Copy Images from Storyboards and XIBs

Thanks to Martin Pilkington for tweeting this handy Xcode tip! I just tried it, and ... 🤯

Note: This only works with Storyboards and XIB files. It's not possible to copy from the SwiftUI preview... yet? 🤞

Code

Runestone

This new package from Simon Støvring looks really great. It's a TextKit 2 text editor with syntax highlighting support. For a good idea of what it looks like in use, download his new app, Runestone, where he uses it in a full-featured text editor for iOS. 🚀

STTextView

Talking of TextKit 2, in this post, Christian Tietze talks about Marcin Krzyzanowski’s syntax highlighting text editor control for macOS, STTextView. It’s also built on top of the new TextKit APIs and comes from his upcoming Swift Studio app that I linked to a while ago.

I’ve said this before, but it always makes me happy when I see someone blog about another person’s project like this. I had no idea that Marcin’s library existed until I read Christian’s post this morning.

Modelling errors in Swift

I agree with what Majid Jabrayilov says in the conclusion of this post, “Error handling is a complex topic“. He does an excellent job of taking us through the basics and then into a couple of other things to consider.

The SwiftUI render loop

Would you like to end your week by diving deep behind the scenes of SwiftUI? If so, Rens Breur has just the thing for you.

Business and Marketing

When to remove your iOS app from the App Store

This post from Benoit Pasquier is honest, humble, and refreshing to read. He talks about the realities of working on multiple projects and might give you a new perspective on some of your apps or side projects.

Jobs

iOS Engineer @ Karbon – Karbon has spent the past 12 years building amazing apps for the best clients in the world. We’re a fully remote yet closely-knit team of iOS and Android engineers with an obsessive attention to detail. We value quality over quantity and focus on only a few key projects per year. – Remote (within US timezones)

Mobile Full Stack Engineer @ Expensify – Join our passionate team of top-notch engineers to solve a real-world problem, and help people spend less time managing expenses and more time pursuing their real goals. – Remote (Anywhere) with some on-site work (Australia, United Kingdom, or United States in CA, MI, NY, or OR)

Senior iOS Engineer @ Doximity – Doximity, the medical network used by over 80% of US clinicians, is hiring passionate iOS engineers (fully remote!). Come be part of an amazing product team + work on an app that is constantly evolving. Use your skills (Swift, MVVM, FRP) to be an integral part of our newly launched telemed feature. – Remote (within US timezones)

Senior iOS Engineer @ onX – Are you a Software Engineer that loves the outdoors? onX is hiring iOS Engineers. If you’re passionate about building great software, love playing outside, and believe in protecting access to public lands - then join onX, where we empower millions of outdoor enthusiasts to explore the unknown! – Remote (within US timezones) or on-site (United States in MT)

Senior iOS Developer @ Chariot Solutions – Chariot Solutions is a Philly based consulting company that strives to create a product company culture. We work hard to win exciting projects with some of the top companies in the world, while helping our employees maintain a great work life balance. – Remote (within US timezones)

Senior iOS Engineer @ Sendwave – We currently have a 4.6-star rating on Trustpilot — people put their faith in us to deliver their money quickly, securely, and affordably. And we’re pretty darn proud of that. – Remote (within US or European timezones)

And finally...

Why not end this week with a trip back to being an Apple developer in the 90s?

Issue 558 May 13th 2022