Video: Using Fixtures and Test Assets in Swift Unit Tests (9m)
Use fixtures in your Swift unit tests to quickly build business objects and validate scenarios.
Posts tagged “ios”
40 posts.
Migrating JSON File Schema Changes in Swift
A demonstration of how you could save your Swift app's storage as a simple JSON file and then migrate the file schema changes over time. This is particularly useful when you have users generating data and documents in …
On the Topic of Mac OS X Sheets (Video 4m)
A short video that talks about Mac OS X and sheets.
How Much Does It Cost to Build an iOS App?
Most quality iOS apps cost between $100,000 to $1,000,000 to build. Some apps will be less and some more. If you're looking for an app built with great design, superior development, and clever marketing though, it will …
Swift UInt vs Int
I’m giving major consideration to utilizing Swift’s UInt type for function returns and calculated properties in the future. Yes this does burden the user of my code or SDK to do the occasional type …
Code Consistency with SwiftLint
This article is part of a series, Professional iOS Projects. Have you ever opened a source file and knew instantly it was written by a specific member of the team because of all the curious syntax choices they made? …
Designing a Modern Swift Network Stack, Video and Slides
UPDATE 1.16: Fixed some slide typos (didn’t bother to edit video). If you spot anymore, let me know. Thanks! I had a great time doing this networking design talk for the local Philly CocoaHeads. If you watch the …
New Series: Professional iOS Projects
One of the lessons learned from The Pragmatic Programmer by Andrew Hunt and David Thomas is to learn a new language every year. Different languages solve the same problems in different ways. By learning several different …
Network Design Talk at Philly CocoaHeads
I’m going to be giving a talk at the local CocoaHeads next week. If you are in Philly area you should stop by. Thursday, January 10, 2019 6:30 PM to 9:00 PM IndyHall 399 Market Street, Suite 360 Meetup RSVP …
Ugly Swift Syntax for Checking Errors
A common code pattern I see a lot in iOS code is: service.execute(request) { (response, error) in if let error = error { handleError(error) return } // work with response... } I don’t like that if statement. I’d much …
Swift Style: Dequeuing and Populating Cells From UITableView
Everyone has an opinion when it comes to Swift code style, and here is mine when it comes to dequeuing and populating cells from UITableView. First you should know Apple maintains two methods for dequeuing cells from …
I'm Teaching a Half Day iOS Refactoring Workshop in July
When I re-entered the self-employed world last March and launched Zorn Labs LLC one of my main goals was to find a way to continue my education work. The first output of this effort has been workshops, specifically one …
Video: UIKit is Dead, Long Live UIKit!
Philly CocoaHeads held a joint meetup with our Android friends for Philly Tech Week. At said meetup there were a bunch of lightning talks, and I did one. UIKit is Dead, Long Live UIKit! With the introduction of Swift and …
Accessibility
At the Apple event a few weeks ago they began with a short video on accessibility. I’ve learned a lot about accessibility on iOS over the last few years. Apple’s products are some of the most accessible in the world and …
Documentation for NSViewController init(nibName:bundle:) is incorrect
Radar: #28802828 Documentation for NSViewController init(nibName:bundle:) is incorrect from Mike Zornek on Vimeo. I say the wrong thing a few times in this spontaneous recording but hopefully there is enough here to …
Isolating Mac Application Menu Behaviors
A Place for Everything, and Everything in It’s Place My side project is a Mac app and last week I was working on a small story about sending feedback. Send Feedback under Help Menu As a user, I want to be able to Submit …
Regarding Knight Rider and Delegation
One of the saddest aspects of being a Big Nerd Ranch instructor in 2016 is that students these days do not appreciate the Michael Knight is to Delegation, as RoboCop is to Subclassing discussion of yesteryear. From Cocoa …
The World Needs a Better Core Data
Lots of WWDC predictions out there this week. Here’s a dream of mine. Sadly one that I’ve given up on, at least from Apple. A Better Core Data. Tracking state is 1970s thinking. We should be tracking changes over time …
Xcode Shortcut: Quick Open in Assistant
This answer / revelation caused a bit of a stir in the Philly CocoaHeads Slack so I figured I’d share it here as well. Lots of people know and live by Xcode’s Quick Open Menu. You hit Command-Shift-O and start typing the …
Video: Consuming JSON in Swift
I gave a talk at Philly CocoaHeads last week reviewing various ways to consume JSON using Swift, including a preview a new open source project we have coming out soon™ from Big Nerd Ranch called Freddy. Update April 27, …
iOS Mobile Design with Sketch at Big Nerd Ranch
I’ve wanted to get better at using Sketch for a while now and it looks like I might get my wish! At work we’ve revamped our mobile design class and it now includes learning Sketch alongside mobile design fundamentals. …
Sweating the Little Details of UI Copy
While user interface design is not a core responsibility at my current job I do believe it is an important skill in my field and I try to improve all the time. A large aspect of user interface design is choosing the …
How To Play WWDC Sessions at 2x Speed
Now that all the new bits of iOS 9 and OS X 10.11 are in the wild you might find yourself wanting to get up to speed on some of the changes. One great resource to help you get started is Apple’s WWDC videos. The WWDC …
Quick Launching for Cocoa Unit Tests
I was doing some proofreading and research today regarding the latest testing features in Xcode 7. In the process I ended up rereading this article from Mark Dalrymple on code coverage. It’s a great article but it also …
Code Patterns Talk, Video Now Available
We’ve been trying to a better job of capturing our main talks at Philly CocoaHeads. You can find and subscribe to our small but growing collection of videos on Vimeo: https://vimeo.com/phillycocoa. I did a talk last …
Swift and Cocoa: The Odd Couple
Swift and Cocoa are like The Odd Couple. Two people, with drastically different personalities who are joined by fate to live with each other. The Odd Couple Theme Song One prefers things very explicit and will check and …
Girl Develop It: Introduction to iOS Development
The Introduction to iOS Development class I’m teaching for Girl Develop It is open and tickets are for sale. This class will provide attendees an introduction into iOS development through a mix of lecture-style …
An “App Architecture” Kata
At the last Side Project Saturday CocoaHeads event I ran a special little exercise. Here was how I described it. I’d like to run a little event, (maybe after lunch?) for anyone who wants to participate. Should take like …
Designing & Planning Your iOS App Workshop Recap
Workshops are a new effort from the Philly CocoaHeads group. Basic idea is: one workshop every other month, the workshop is a one day 5-6 hour event, that covers a single topic. Our first one was on Intermediate …
7 Minute Workout Featured on Apple.com
One of the apps I worked on, 7 Minute Workout, has been featured by Apple again. This time it’s part of the Strength TV ad which features a bunch of great fitness apps on iOS. In related new the DmgCtrl and Tonic merger …
Video: Getting Started with iOS Development
Through my position with the Philadelphia CocoaHeads chapter I am often approached by people who are interested in learning how to program for iOS. The follow presentation serves as a collection of helpful information …
iOS Development: Things to Like; Things to Hate
Things I like about iOS Development I like writing code in the Objective-C language. I like Apple’s provided frameworks and tools. They are, on the whole, very good. I like the iOS community’s enthusiasm for great …
Enums and Switches
If you are one to use enum to define modes or types in your models or controllers, consider using switch statements to help branch the different behaviors. If you do so, the complier will help you when you have forgotten …
Setup Bots Status as a Screensaver
It’s time to turn off that family photo screensaver and switch to something that’s important, CI status screens! First up you’ll need this screensaver (or something similar), which can be configured to load a single or …
Xcode Bots and Branches
Just a little quick tip tonight. If you create a Bot from within Xcode 5 it will assume that the branch you want this Bot to run on is the branch you are currently on. To change this, use the Xcode Bot Web interface. …
IBOutletCollection
Did a short show and tell at the last CocoaHeads meeting demoing something I learned at work and hadn’t known about before, that being IBOutletCollections. For seasoned Cocoa developers we all know that an IBAction is …
Updating Homebrew’s “httpListenAddress” Default for Jenkins
I’ve setup some Jenkins servers in the past for Ruby on Rails apps but these days we are trying to get things running for iOS deployment and testing at work. To experiment with some plugins and such I have my own Mac …
Video: Introduction to Objective-C Categories
I’m hoping to do some formal screencasting, educational videos for iOS and Rails, in the future so for practice I hacked together this little Introduction to Objective-C Categories to try some stuff out. It’s not the …
Xcode Documentation Downloads
Rather that use the Mac App Store and re-download Xcode each time I need to install it on a new Mac, I take advantage of developer downloads directory and grab the Xcode DMG file so I can put on my USB disk and move …
Focused Testing in Xcode
I’ve set a very informal goal to produce content for this blog on a daily basis. We’re not there yet, but before the night is lost, here is a quick Xcode tip I fell into today. So I’m using RestKit in a client project. …