Swift

Playgrounds…they aren’t just for kids

Posted on by manitobaninja

When Apple announced Swift back in the summer of ’14 they also made quite the fuss about Xcode’s new playground feature. This was going to be a live coding environment where you could work through simple expressions and functions and see the results in real-time. It was charming, and you could see this being a great tool for beginners, but I had a hard time seeing how a developer working on a project would gain much value from it.

Fast forward a year and a half later and now I get it. Today I find myself using playgrounds in my projects, not just for testing out quick little code blocks, but for organizing and keeping a detailed reference of code and other assets relevant to the project. It can actually be a valuable tool for managing your work and being more efficient!

Because playgrounds don’t get much attention I wanted to put together a quick post that highlighted as many of the best resources that I could find to help beginners, and people of all levels for that matter, get an idea of what playgrounds can do. I end the article with some examples of how I have starting using playgrounds in my own workflow, hopefully sparking some people to think about how playgrounds could work for them. It is not a big time investment so this is an ideal subject for a quiet weekend, or over the course of a few evenings. Read More

Swift socks!

Posted on by manitobaninja

Do you love Swift? Do you love socks? On March 1st you will be able to order a pair of these fashionable, yet still subtly nerdy orange and white socks by clicking here to go to the Knitout.com campaign. The campaign will end on March 14, 2016 and you won’t be charged until the goal has been reached.
swiftsocks

Whether for yourself or the coder in your life you won’t want to miss out on these!

More Than Just Code (MTJC): A lo-fi Apple development podcast worth listening to

Posted on by manitobaninja

With every passing week it seems that someone is starting up yet another tech podcast. And why not? You can do it cheaply, and you are probably talking with your friends about this stuff already, so why not record it and see what happens. But how can all these podcasts be that different from each other? Well the answer is most are not. The mainstream podcasts that focus on Apple and its hardware, software, and culture, are much like a new suburban development where the houses are technically different from each other, but the overall landscape possesses a harsh sameness to it. And out of this environment has grown a clique of Apple-centric podcasters that get stronger everyday where these “cool kids” continue to come up with new hosting combinations of themselves that can be spun-off into yet one more podcast. Are they entertaining? Maybe, that all depends on what you would consider to be entertaining. Do they offer some value or insight to a new or up and coming indie developer? Nope, not at all.

Enter the More Than Just Code Podcast (MTJC). On the surface it has a lot of things going against it, but while some might perceive these quirks as flaws they are in fact the reason why it works so well.  Read More

Swift books for your reading enjoyment

Posted on by manitobaninja

Despite all the great videos and tutorials you have easy access too thanks to the magic of the internet,  books are still hard to beat when it comes to learning. In the early days Swift books were tough to find, mostly because it took time for people to learn the language well enough too then write a book on it! Now this is changing quickly and each week it seems like there is a new book, be it beginner or advanced, being released on Swift.

The ones I have picked below are either based on my experience using them, overwhelming regard for it by the Swift community, the authors reputation and previous experience, or a combination of all three. So without further ado here they are.

Swift Programming: The Big Nerd Ranch Guide by Matthew Mathias and John Gallagher

Big Nerd Ranch is a bit of a juggernaut when it comes to books on helping you learn iOS, Swift, Cocoa for OSX and probably much more that I haven’t even seen yet. While I did not read this book, it consistently gets great reviews and feedback from those who have, and is a constant top recommendation by people of all experience levels. So if you liked any other Big Nerd Ranch books, or just want to pick something that is a safe bet and a good price then you probably won’t go wrong with this book. Read More

Resources for learning Swift

Posted on by manitobaninja

One of the challenges someone wanting to learn Swift faces right out of the gate is knowing where to start in terms of learning resources. Because Swift is still a young, new, and evolving language it has not yet built up the knowledge base you would find with other languages and because it continues to evolve it is key that the information you are getting is up to date as well!

This is the launch page for the collection of Swift learning resources I have put together. It will not remain static. New resources will be added as they are released, and ones that are no longer relevant will be removed. I am not listing every resource I have ever come across either. The only things I am listing are material that I have used, or taken a really good look at, and found to be genuinely helpful. If you have something that you think is worth adding to any of the lists then let me know. You can leave a comment below or send me a message on Twitter @ManitobaNinja or @Third_beach Read More

The Winnipeg Swift group!

Posted on by manitobaninja

In my travels around the internet I have yet to come across a group for people in Winnipeg, or anywhere in Manitoba for that matter, who are programming in Swift, or just starting to learn it, and want to meet up to share tips, collaborate and have some fun. Naturally there should be some place online to converse and interact in addition to the occasional meet up.

If this is something you are interested in then you can message me on Twitter @ManitobaNinja or @Third_beach, or leave a comment below. I have also set up a Slack channel, swiftwinnipeg.slack.com , so you can stop by there and say hi as well! If there is enough interest then we can set up shop online somewhere and go from there!

A collection of Swift tutorials.

Posted on by manitobaninja

With Swift into it’s second year of life in the public there are more and more tutorials appearing on the internet everyday which is a boon to new and experienced programmers alike. Of course there is a lot of rubbish out there to sort through. many just rip off other peoples work, some don’t get into enough detail to be helpful, and others are just not well written. I have compiled a list of what I think are some of the best tutorials currently out there on the interwebs.

A couple things to note. I did not include anything that was behind a pay wall, I just wanted to focus on what was free in this instance. This is also not an overly long list because I wanted to focus on collections and resources that are really worth while. And if anyone has any they think should be on the list then let me know and I will definitely take a look! So without further ado let’s get started.

Hacking with Swift

Though most of this list is not in any particular order this site really should be at the top. There are currently 37 individual tutorials online! And there is a full range of topics covered so you can pick and choose the ones that are most interesting and most relevant to you. They are structured in a logical, easy to follow way with good explanations on what is being done and why. The tutorials are free but if you find that you’ve really gained a lot from them you can donate as a way of saying thank you (and I would encourage it to help make sure this resource keeps going and continues to be updated with each update to Swift as well). Read More