NSError
NSError is Cocoa's way to handle errors without exceptions. It tells about failures with a code, domain, and userInfo dictionary.
Development
2013
73 posts
Key-Value Observing
Key-Value Observing (KVO) has an ugly, wordy API, but it is one of Cocoa’s most powerful features.
Development
Monthly update #0281 • September 2013
Monthly update 281 • September 2013 • 2013-09-01 - 2013-09-30
Monthly Updates
The Kill List by Frederick Forsyth
In Frederick Forsyth’s The Kill List, a gripping espionage thriller, a mysterious U.S. agency called TOSA is on a mission to hunt down threats to national security.
Books
Monthly update #0280 • August 2013
Monthly update 280 • August 2013 • 2013-08-01 - 2013-08-31
Monthly Updates
NSHashTable & NSMapTable
NSHashTable acts as a general version of NSSet. It is mutable, holds weak references, can copy items on input, and handles arbitrary pointers using pointer identity for equality and hashing.
Development
Useful macOS defaults: System Preferences
Handy defaults write commands for com.apple.systempreferences, controlling the legacy System Preferences app.
Mac
What are the coredisplay and corestorage processes?
If you see coredisplay or corestorage processes on your Mac, here is what they do.
Mac
What is TrustEvaluationAgent?
If you see TrustEvaluationAgent running on your Mac, here is what this certificate trust process does.
Mac
The Utopia Experiment by Robert Ludlum
In Robert Ludlum’s The Utopia Experiment, co-authored with Kyle Mills, Covert-One's Jon Smith looks into a new brain-computer device that may not be the gift its inventor claims.
Books
Monthly update #0279 • July 2013
Monthly update 279 • July 2013 • 2013-07-01 - 2013-07-31
Monthly Updates
World War Z
World War Z (2013), directed by Marc Forster, shows a fast zombie plague. Brad Pitt plays Gerry Lane, a former UN worker pulled back to help. He flies from city to city. Mireille Enos acts as his wife Karin, who waits at home.
Movies
NSPredicate
NSPredicate is a Foundation class that defines logical conditions to fetch or filter data. Its syntax mixes SQL WHERE clauses with regex for expressive queries on collections.
Development
NSExpression
NSExpression is a class in Cocoa that simplifies complex data tasks. It evaluates mathematical expressions, such as 4 + 5 - 2**3, which gives 1.
Development
What is startupdiskhelper?
If you see startupdiskhelper on your Mac, here is what this boot disk helper process does.
Mac
Monthly update #0278 • June 2013
Monthly update 278 • June 2013 • 2013-06-01 - 2013-06-30
Monthly Updates
NSEnumerator / NSFastEnumeration
Enumeration makes computation powerful by applying logic to collections.
Development
Inferno by Dan Brown
Dan Brown’s Inferno thrusts Harvard symbolist Robert Langdon into a race against time in Florence, waking with amnesia to stop a bioengineered plague linked to Dante’s Inferno.
Books
NSUUID /CFUUIDRef /UIDevice -uniqueIdentifier /-identifierForVendor
Apple stopped letting apps use the unique device identifier, called UDID, from iOS 5 onwards. Apple blocked new apps using it after May 2013.
Development
The Office
The Office is an American comedy series. It aired on NBC from 24 March 2005 to 16 May 2013. Greg Daniels adapted it from the British series by Ricky Gervais and Stephen Merchant. Steve Carell plays Michael Scott, the bumbling but well-meaning regional manager of Dunder Mifflin, a paper company in Scranton, Pennsylvania.
TV Series
What is cloudd?
If you see cloudd running on your Mac or using a lot of CPU, here is what this iCloud process does.
Mac
Monthly update #0277 • May 2013
Monthly update 277 • May 2013 • 2013-05-01 - 2013-05-31
Monthly Updates
What is DataDetectorsSourceAccess?
If you see DataDetectorsSourceAccess running on your Mac, here is what this data detection process does.
Mac
Pentecost
Pentecost continues to shape my adult life. The events of that first Pentecost bring lasting peace.
Christianity
NSCoding / NSKeyedArchiver
Apple gives options like Core Data or NSKeyedArchiver with NSKeyedUnarchiver. These turn objects into data and back again.
Development