Keeping Up with Swift and iOS
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Man, kids, amirite?
This last week I had one get sick, one wake me up during the night three times and then my oldest (come on - my oldest, and easiest kiddo!?) decided to pick a fight every night this week about what blanket his brother could sleep with.
All that to say, I’m a little tired these days. The blog posts floweth slower, the side projects dust up a bit - you basically have enough juice in ya to go to your job and keep your kids alive. And yet, the call of the ol’ blog remains strong.
So, all that to say, I ended up here: I wanted to write something, but something short (for once!) and helpful. Which reminded me about a Twitter D.M. I had received earlier in the week. It read, in part:
But one thing I’ve been wondering is, what’s the best way to keep up? There’s visionOS, SwiftUI was recent. I feel like it’s hard to know where to focus or at least see what’s happening.
Fantastic question! Let’s answer it then. The age old question of “How do you keep up with Swift and iOS: The Abbreviated Version Because I’m Tired” - rolls of the tongue, no?
The answer for me? Less is more. We’ve got 1,001 ways to consume iOS content - a wonderful place to be, no doubt - so I just hone in on a few and roll with it.
My approach is not novel. I simply have all of these bookmarked, and I start the week checking them out.
iOS At Large
- Apple Developer News: This is my first stop. Mission critical information seems to hit here first. For example, did you know that we all get 25 hours of compute time for free now using Xcode Cloud? You would if you kept your eyeballs locked here.
- New Technologies from WWDC: This one is great. Each year, they have a page like this that simply shows you the TL;DR of what’s new. The heavy hitters. Along those lines…
- All WWDC Code Samples: Did you know that Apple puts all of the current year’s WWDC code samples in one place? Once you watch a session and want to dig in, this is the spot you’ll want to go.
- Tech Notes: I was happy to see that Apple has recently revived its tech notes formats. It’s an absolute goldmine, written by Apple’s finest.
- The Developer App: Of course, most of this is housed within the Apple Developer App. Formerly known as the WWWDC app, it was a time-honored tradition to update this annually and see the new icon for that year’s conference. Today, it’s simply used year-round. Check out their News tab every week to see important stuff from Cupertino & Friends™️.
Honing Skills
- App Store Articles: This is a fun resource. I check this out every few months, if nothing for inspiration. It’s updated frequently, too. There’s tips on how to get featured, use nascent features such as custom product pages and more.
- iOS Dev Weekly: This is my go-to newsletter for finding interesting articles written by the community throughout the week. There are so many smart people writing valuable stuff, it’s hard to keep up. Dave does it all for you, though. It’s a must-read and a Friday tradition for me at this point.
- Framework Updates: This may be my favorite link out of all of them. If I had to recommend one to keep up with, it’s this one. Apple puts all of the important framework changes right in here.
Swift
- Swiftly: Look, I am probably not as great at writing code as you think. I am good at looking at references, and then making code work, though! This is one such reference that “unstucks” me when I forget how to do something seemingly simple in Swift.
- The Official Swift Blog: You’d be surprised at how many folks aren’t aware that there is an official Swift blog. It’s fantastic! Everything from language features to proposals are discussed there.
Bonus
The Human Interface team has absolutely slayed it with their web presence recently. The HIG is required reading, but more than that - they even have changelogs for it now. Further, Apple recently started a newsletter giving you the best parts of the links above, “Hello Developer”, it’s great! I think if you’re in the developer program, you automatically get enrolled in it.
And that’s how I do it. Ten basic links that I visit often. Of course, this is nothing to say of the wonderful world of writers, YouTubers and bloggers out there putting out wonderful work. Find what clicks with you, and keep at it. But, if you’re curious how I’ve done it, this is it.
Anyways, I’m going to ask my kids to let me sleep now.
Until next time ✌️.