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Swift Around the Web
Avoiding primitive obsession in Swift
Avoiding primitive types such as Strings, Arrays, and Dictionaries in favor of objects and value types is definitely not a new concept. It really helps make your code readable, safe, and self-documenting of its intentions. But I haven't seen many articles introduce this concept in iOS programming, and Swift specifically. So if you're looking for great examples to power-up your architecture skills, make sure to read this and practice, practice, practice! It definitely doesn't feel natural at first.
Code
Xcode Tricks: API Changes
Whoa! Super useful trick I didn't know about: In Xcode, select Help > API Changes. Thx @ericasadun!
Apple News
Swift 3.1 Released!
+1 to this one from @lorentey:
"Favorite Swift 3.1 feature not mentioned in the release notes: you can now define extensions for specific generic arguments 🌱"
Make sure to also check out some great code examples of the new changes here 🤓
Xcode 8.3 is now available
So excited 👏
"Autocompletion in breakpoint conditions!" - @zats
And the Mac no longer sleeps when a build is in progress 🥁 (via @NeoNacho)
But there are also some big bugs to keep in mind 😬
"Radar 31302382: Xcode 8.3 produces binaries 3x larger than Xcode 8.2 due to a 4x increase in bitcode http://www.openradar.me/31302382" - @simjp
"Found a huge Xcode 8.3 bug around entitlements files and variable substitution http://www.openradar.me/31383369" - @SmileyKeith
But by far my favorite feature is Xcode Stories 🤣
Design
Vector Emoji
Super useful for those of you making an app with giant emojis 😜 But kidding aside, this can also serve as a useful template for making things like custom stickers and creating your own slight variation of the standard emoji set. Sketch coming soon!
What Bots Can Do, that websites and apps can’t
Agreed - bots that plan to do everything for everyone are horrible. Love the bot described here - it's something that is useful because it is very specialized for the task at hand. Apps could be made better if the bots built into them are this specialized.
Random Cool Stuff
What is your Ikigai?
A newsletter reader forwarded this to me last week, and for some reason, it really stuck with me as I woke up each morning last week.
"Your ikigai lies at the centre of those interconnecting circles. If you are lacking in one area, you are missing out on your life’s potential. Not only that, but you are missing out on your chance to live a long and happy life."
Videos
Scaling Open Source Communities
Amazing talk from Fastlane creator @KrauseFx on how to scale an open-source project from zero to tens of thousands of active users 😲
Swift's Pointy Bits: Unsafe Swift & Pointer Types
How different Pointer Types work, why they work the way they do, and why they're designed the way they’re designed, and how we can use them in ways that are still safe 💥
For some more on unsafe Swift, make sure to also check out this short ⚡️ talk by @rayfix!
Swift Code
- EFQRCode - A better way to operate two-dimensional code in Swift.
- Magnetic - SpriteKit Floating Bubble Picker (inspired by Apple Music)
- trill - A simple, type safe, compiled language inspired by (and written in) Swift
- Bleu - BLE (Bluetooth LE) for U🎁
- SwiftyBeaver - Convenient logging during development & release in Swift 2 & 3
- SwiftySound - Swifty Sound is a simple library that lets you play sounds with a single line of code.
Other Platforms
Keeping XCTest in sync on Linux
Well, I didn't even think about what it takes to write tests on Linux. Luckily @olebegemann is trailblazing for all of us here!
Swift Thoughts
This week, I'm excited to announce the details for try! Swift NYC 2017 and the inaugural try! Swift India conferences. Use the promotional code SWIFTBIRD for an extra special discount if you purchase a ticket by the end of this week!
try! Swift NYC will take place at New World Stages on September 5th and 6th, with afternoon events happening on September 4th. Speakers include @cocoawithlove, @PaolaNotPaolo, @harlanhaskins, @thedevme and many more 🗽
try! Swift India will take place at MLR Convention Centre in JP Nagar on November 16th and 17th, with Swift workshops happening on November 15th. Speakers include @johnsundell, @tamarshmallows, @mugunthkumar, @KostiaKoval, @vatsal_manot, @catehstn, @sonaal, @codeOfRobin and many more 🇮🇳
More speakers and details will be announced for both events in the next few weeks and months! Follow @tryswiftnyc and @tryswiftindia on Twitter for the latest announcements.
I really hope to see you around the globe 🐥🌎🎉