Issue 584

11^th November 2022

Written by Dave Verwer

Comment

I’ve not talked about it in this newsletter yet, but for the last four months, Sven and I have been doing a bi-weekly Twitter Space called “Swift Package Indexing”.

We’ve tried a few different formats, but it has settled on being a casual chat about what’s going on with development on Swift Package Index, a discussion of upcoming features, package recommendations, occasional interviews with package authors, and even a semi-regular quiz.

Twitter Spaces is very convenient, but it’s far from ideal in terms of both recording and consumption. We had a few requests for it to be a more traditional podcast, so we re-launched it this week. We liked the live-listening aspect of Spaces, so we kept that by streaming it to YouTube live, and there’s a podcast feed in the works, too!

I’d love it if you’d give this first re-launch episode a listen/watch on YouTube. We already scheduled the next episode, so set a reminder to listen live. Or, if you prefer to listen to it as a podcast, I’ll have the feed URL for you next week.

We’d love any feedback about the idea, format, or topic suggestions. Hit reply and let me know what you think!

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News

It has been exactly one month since Apple ran the first “Ask Apple” event, and here we go again with another one starting on Monday! I think this answers the question of how often they’ll be. The only remaining question is how long they’ll continue.

I hope this is a plan without an end date. Once a month is an excellent cadence!

It has been a very long time since I first linked to the Swift Evolution proposals site, but it has been consistently updated ever since then. Wouldn’t a better place for it be on the official Swift website instead of on a GitHub Pages site, though? Yes, it would, and now it is!

For disclosure, I’m a member of the Swift Website Workgroup that implemented this change but was not involved in this specific project.

Tools

Here’s an update from Adam Fowler on his continued work on the Swift plugin for Visual Studio Code. In this post, he mainly talks about switching to a local copy of a package dependency for easier development. A great feature!

I have been using this development environment for more and more of my work on “you know what”, and I continue to find it a good experience. I also wrote up some initial thoughts in Issue 569 if you missed them.

Is your SSD feeling a little tight on space after upgrading to Xcode 14? You’ll want to read this note from Craig Hockenberry.

Code

Javier Nigro is back with another update to his excellent SwiftUI companion app. It remains remarkable that he can keep up with all the enhancements and modifications to the framework every year. If you’re writing or learning SwiftUI, this has been an excellent resource for years.

For disclosure, Javier sent me a review code for the original version of this app back when he first released it.

This post from Ole Begemann is (as usual) wonderful. He starts with some basic animations and experiments from there. Find out what works as you might expect, what doesn’t, and why.

For apps that don’t customise their icons for different sizes, the new “single size” icon setting in Xcode seems like an easy win, right? Arnaud Joubay came across some rather strange issues, though, and finished in a rather disappointing place after solving them. This is worth a read.

The title of this post from Natascha Fadeeva says it all, really.

Design

Sahand Nayebaziz has been doing lots of exciting work in his Details Pro iPad app recently, and this newest feature is a great example. Adding a Spotlight-style keyboard command palette enables the complete creation of designs without needing to touch the screen (or trackpad). I’ve not seen any other design tool attempt a keyboard-based workflow, and It’s worth your time to play with this feature even if you don’t need a design tool. I love it.

For disclosure, I have been consulting with Sahand on a paid basis for the past couple of years. What a lot of disclosure there has been in this issue!

Jobs

Senior Swift (iOS) Developer @ Nord Security – iOS developer has an essential role in growing the NordPass product and a lot of freedom to make an impact. There is plenty of space for experiments and constant improvement. You would be a part of a very ambitious and enthusiastic team which gives a lot of support and encouragement every day. – Remote (within European timezones)

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, TCA, Combine) to be an integral part of our growing telemed feature. – Remote (within US timezones)

Native iOS Engineer @ MartianCraft – Are you someone who enjoys collaboratively solving challenging problems? At MartianCraft, we work together to create innovative software for our clients. You’ll always be surrounded by the best and brightest in the industry. – Remote (within US timezones)

R&D OSS Engineer @ DockYard – DockYard is a digital product consultancy, solving complex problems for enterprise clients like Netflix and Apple. We are an active OSS contributor currently working on a new naitve app framework. We’re seeking to hire a SwiftUI Engineer to work within our R&D department to build out the libraries. – Remote (within US timezones)

Senior iOS Developer @ Shape Games – Join a team of talented developers who are passionate about working with Swift. We offer visa and relocation support if you want to join us in lovely Copenhagen. We are also open for fully remote team members. – Remote (within European timezones)

iOS SDK Developer @ Stream – Do you want to work on an open-source chat SDK used by hundreds of high-profile companies and startups that impact billions of users? If you are a product-minded engineer and care about software quality, apply on the link below. – Remote (within European timezones) or on-site (Netherlands)

Freelance Interview Engineer @ Karat – We’re dedicated to improving access in tech. If you are too, join us as a Karat Interview Engineer. As such, you’ll conduct technical interviews of developers like you on behalf of our hiring clients (including Duolingo, Indeed, and more) using the Karat Platform and its data-tested questions. – Remote (within US timezones)

We live in turbulent times in the tech job market, but companies still need to hire. There are more than 25 open positions listed on iOS Dev Jobs, and I’d love it if you checked them out.

And finally...

I just heard a rumour that Xcode 15 will include an $8/month “Xcode Blue” subscription that changes the colour of your Xcode icon to a slightly different shade of blue and gives you the signing keys for any company you’d like to sign apps as.

I can’t wait! 😂