iOS Dev Weekly - iOS Dev Weekly - Issue 617

Is visionOS the first iOS-based platform where Xcode might make sense? šŸ„½
 

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ISSUE 617  July 7th 2023

 
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Iā€™ve never been very excited about the prospect of Xcode on iPadĀ¹. I donā€™t think many people would get much done with it without attaching a hardware keyboard, and with one, it feels like the very best it could be would be a slightly worse version of using Xcode on a MacBook.

You may have to give me a minute to explain myself after reading what Iā€™m about to speculate on, but is visionOS where we will see the first iOS-based version of Xcode? From everything weā€™ve seen of Appleā€™s new platform, itā€™s clear this is a project with a long-term vision, and I think a version of Xcode could make sense.

The biggest iPad screen is smaller than the smallest in a MacBook, but on Vision Pro, your ā€œscreenā€ can be larger than an XDR display. Multitasking on both iPad and Mac is limited compared to the possibilities introduced by having multiple windows floating in space around you. Itā€™s not as newsworthy as dinosaurs stepping out from movie screens or butterflies landing on your finger, but these ideas are much more interesting to me.

Imagine having a main Xcode window in front of you with the file youā€™re working on, documentation open to your left with your git client above it, and maybe a couple of other source files open to your right. Itā€™d be a very different way of working, but if the headset (or a future one) is comfortable enough to wear for longer periods, I can see this being compelling.

Deploying to devices would be interesting too. Hit āŒ˜+R on your physical keyboard thatā€™s wirelessly connected to the headset thatā€™s rendering your virtual Xcode windows, and pick up your iPhone from your desk to test the app that you wirelessly deployed to it. Thereā€™s a lot going on in that scenario, but itā€™s all within reach, both literally and metaphorically! You might even one day deploy a macOS app from Xcode on a visionOS device to a physical Mac for testing. Thatā€™s a wild thought.

Rather than scaling Xcode down to smaller devices, visionOS would let it expand, and thatā€™s not possible on any other Apple platform. The Vision Pro and visionOS are a bet on a potential future, and there are a multitude of ways they could fail. However, the idea of a user interface like this gives me a glimpse of how it might succeed, and this helps explain why I am so excited about visionOS.


Ā¹ Swift Playgrounds on iPad is a great app and deserves to exist. It has even grown into something that can produce full apps, but itā€™s not and isnā€™t intended to be Xcode.

Dave Verwer  Permalink

 
 

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waldo.com  Permalink

 
 
 

  News  

 

What were the original 500 App Store apps?

Did you have an app in the App Store on day one? Can you help Craig Grannell assemble a definitive list of debut apps? Even this partial list so far has already brought back so many memories. ā¤ļø

mastodon.social  Permalink

 
 

  Code  

 

SwiftUI Data Flow in 2023

Iā€™ve seen several articles over the last few weeks covering the clean-up and enhancements to the SwiftUI state management APIs, but this one from Sarah Reichelt is the best by far. If you use SwiftUI, put this at the very top of your reading list.

troz.net  Permalink

 

Create an Interactive Widget Using App Intents

I think one of the biggest surprises of this yearā€™s conference outside of the ā€œone more thingā€ was interactive widgets. I thought Apple had gone as far as they would go with that feature, and while I was still hoping for 1x1, 1x2, and 2x1-sized widgets, we got interactive ones instead! Jordan Morgan gives us a quick run-through of how to build a simple one.

swiftjectivec.com  Permalink

 

SwiftData Suprises

Understanding new frameworks is always important, but understanding new data storage frameworks is especially important!

What stands out to me is that it sure feels like SwiftData classes are your own classes. But theyā€™re not.

Thanks to Jared Sorge for writing this up!

jsorge.net  Permalink

 
 

  Business and Marketing  

 

What do users see when you drop support for an iOS version?

David Olesch answers a question that will have been on your mind if youā€™ve ever dropped support for an older operating system version in a shipping app. What do users that donā€™t upgrade see? Itā€™s great to have this written down somewhere!

getonthestore.com  Permalink

 
 

  Videos  

 

Build an app using SwiftData

Itā€™s a measure of how many new things were announced this year at WWDC that weā€™re now three weeks past WWDC, and Iā€™ve not linked to anything covering SwiftData yet. šŸ«Ø

Letā€™s fix that. Iā€™ve been following along with Tunde Adegoroyeā€™s series of videos on building a ToDo app using SwiftData, and while there are several more videos to come, what he has put together already is worth watching.

youtube.com  Permalink

 
 

  Books  

 

macOS Apprentice

Any new book covering macOS development is worth linking to, and that goes double when the bookā€™s author is Sarah Reichelt. Starting with SwiftUI and adding AppKit in places where it makes sense later is a great way to write a modern Mac app, and thatā€™s what this book teaches.

For full disclosure, I had access to a complimentary review copy of this book.

troz.net  Permalink

 
 

  Jobs  

 

iPad Software Engineer @ Liquid Instruments ā€“ Liquid Instruments is a startup creating a range of modern test and measurement devices using reconfigurable FPGA hardware. We're looking for someone to help develop the beautiful iPad user interface that drives it all. ā€“ On-site (Australia)

 Permalink

 

You know what I will write here by now, so Iā€™ll just leave you this link. If your company is hiring, please click it. ā¤ļø

 Permalink

 
 

  And finally...  

 

Do any of you have an old Apple Watch lying around? āŒš

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