2019

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89 posts

Useful macOS defaults: App Store

Handy defaults write commands for com.apple.appstore, controlling App Store behaviour.

Mac

Evolving Swift On Apple Platforms After ABI Stability

Swift 5.0 achieves ABI stability on Apple platforms, allowing apps to use the OS-provided Swift runtime instead of bundling it, which reduces download sizes and enables better performance through deeper integration.

Development

ABI Stability and More

Swift 5 achieves ABI stability on Apple platforms, ensuring binary compatibility for apps and libraries across future Swift versions without needing to embed the Swift runtime in app bundles.

Development

Introducing the sourcekitd Stress Tester

Sourcekitd powers essential editor features like code completion and refactoring in Xcode and SourceKit-LSP, handling both syntactic and semantic requests for Swift files.

Development

Maps of Meaning 02: Marionettes & Individuals (Part 1)

This lecture is the second in the 2017 Maps of Meaning series. Peterson reviews ideas from the first lecture. He stresses that humans see the world through stories. These stories help solve the problem of how to act across time in social groups.

Gems

Swift 5 Exclusivity Enforcement

Swift 5 turns on runtime checks for exclusive access to memory by default in release builds.

Development

Monthly update #0345 • January 2019

Monthly update 345 • January 2019 • 2019-01-01 - 2019-01-31

Monthly Updates

What are nand.aspcarry and nand_task_scheduler?

If you see nand.aspcarry or nand_task_scheduler running on your Mac, here is what these storage maintenance processes do.

Mac

Maps of Meaning 01: Context and Background

Jordan Peterson opens this lecture with personal stories from the 1980s. He describes his fear of nuclear war during the Cold War. He recounts a visit to a decommissioned missile silo.

Gems

What is accessoryd?

If you see accessoryd running on your Mac, here is what this accessory management process does.

Mac

What are the diagnosticextensions helpers?

If you see diagnosticextensions.osx.spotlight.helper or diagnosticextensions.osx.timemachine.helper on your Mac, here is what they do.

Mac

Dictionary Services

The article explores dictionary-related APIs in Swift across Unix, macOS, and iOS, highlighting their role in features like spell check and semantic analysis.

Development

Monthly update #0344 • December 2018

Monthly update 344 • December 2018 • 2018-12-01 - 2018-12-31

Monthly Updates

Exposing Floating Point

Despite everyday use, floating point numbers are often understood in a hand-wavy manner and their behavior raises many eyebrows.

Gems