Blog

Development

Swift 5.8 Released!

Swift 5.8 introduces features to prepare for Swift 6, including the hasFeature directive and conditional attributes for incremental adoption, alongside enhancements like concise magic file names and regex literals.

Development

Getting an entitlement for Family Controls (Distribution)

In February I wanted to release an update for Quiet. There is a big update to the iOS app. Quiet can hide apps according to the rules active in Quiet. For example if you block TikTok in Quiet, the TikTok app will disappear from your iOS device.

Gems

Bicycle

Today we’re building another world-changing technology, machine intelligence. We know that it will affect the world in profound ways, change how the economy works, and have knock-on effects we can’t predict.

Development

Case against the cloud

Cloud computing has swept the business world, with many companies rushing to migrate their operations to cloud-based solutions or building new projects entirely in the cloud.

    Development

    Introducing Swift Certificates and Swift ASN.1

    Apple has released two new open-source Swift packages, swift-certificates and swift-asn1, to provide a faster, safer implementation of X.509 certificates for TLS security.

    Development

    What We're Working On: March 2023

    The Vapor team has launched a monthly blog series to share updates on their work, increase transparency, and outline future plans for the framework.

    Monthly Updates

    Monthly update #0394 • February 2023

    Monthly update 394 • February 2023 • 2023-02-01 - 2023-02-28

      Gems

      Steve Jobs: Take a closer look

      Leslie Berlin, from the Steve Jobs Archive, shares a favourite photo from 1984. It shows Steve Jobs, aged almost 29, bent over to watch a stranger use a Macintosh through a shop window in New Orleans.

      Essays

      Social Media is a Major Cause of the Mental Illness Epidemic

      Social media has changed how we connect, but new research shows it hurts mental health, especially for teen girls. Studies prove platforms like Instagram cause poor mental health, not just relate to it.

      Development

      The Swift Programming Language book now published with DocC

      The Swift Programming Language book (TSPL) is now published using Swift-DocC starting with Swift 5.8, enabling content contributions under the Swift Documentation Workgroup’s guidance.

      Development

      Onboarding Tutorials vs. Contextual Help

      Tutorials interrupt users, don’t necessarily improve task performance, and are quickly forgotten. Contextual help signals can avoid these pitfalls but require unintrusive ways to activate.

      Monthly Updates

      Monthly update #0393 • January 2023

      Monthly update 393 • January 2023 • 2023-01-01 - 2023-01-31

        Projects

        Quiet 4.0 and a commitment

        TLDR: Quiet 4.0 is a restart of Quiet and a commitment to support it for a while.

        Gems

        The Cab Ride I'll Never Forget

        We were like strangers on a train, the passengers and I, hurtling through the night, revealing intimacies we would never have dreamed of sharing during the brighter light of day.

        Essays

        Your own personal website

        Owning a corner of the internet gives you control. A personal website lets you build something lasting. Here is why you should create one, how to start, and what to include.

          Gems

          The Strangely Beautiful Experience of Google Reviews

          I slept under the overpass that night, and in the morning, I wrote a review: “Reasonably good bridge. A little loud for sleeping.” I gave it four stars. After I set off on my bike, I couldn’t stop thinking about it.

          Mac

          20 years of Safari

          Safari was introduced in Mac OS X Panther on January 7, 2003. It was also included with the first generation iPhone, which was released in 2007.

            Development

            New Year, New Me

            The Vapor team has launched a new design for their blog, marking the initial step in updating all Vapor websites to reflect the framework’s maturity and provide a consistent, modern look.

            Essays

            Using RSS feeds

            RSS, or Really Simple Syndication, offers a clean, efficient way to stay updated with your favourite websites without the distractions of modern web browsing.

              Books

              Build by Tony Fadell

              Tony Fadell’s Build: An Unorthodox Guide to Making Things Worth Making distills lessons from his 30-year career in Silicon Valley, where he led teams creating the iPod, iPhone, and Nest Learning Thermostat.

              Monthly Updates

              Monthly update #0392 • December 2022

              Monthly update 392 • December 2022 • 2022-12-01 - 2022-12-31

                Journal

                Goals of 2023

                This year’s theme is being more positive. I am pessimistic.

                Gems

                What is a Wildcard Person?

                You know that person on your team who seems to be good at everything? I mean the literal definition of the word good. Not master. Good. When a problem comes up that nobody else has any experience with, this person volunteers to jump in head-first.

                Books

                Man's Search for Meaning by Viktor E. Frankl

                Viktor E. Frankl’s Man's Search for Meaning recounts his survival in Nazi concentration camps during World War II and introduces his psychological theory, logotherapy.

                Development

                The Future of Foundation

                Apple announced a new open-source Foundation project, rewritten in Swift to eliminate C code wrapping, improve performance, and simplify contributions.