Steve is still recovering from some bad laryngitis and we should be back to our regular schedule next podcast. In the meantime, Kotaro provides some quick updates about the pod, the app, and his personal goals for the new year. Stay to the end to hear examples of what our future robot overlords consider developer "jokes." Welcome to 2023! We hope you build some cool stuff this year. ## Topics Discussed: - Podcast update - PickleJar update - Personal developer goals for the new year - Better unde...
Jan 16, 2023•11 min•Ep. 33
It's the final episode of 2022! This week, Steve is solo as he puts on his best "podcast voice" to talk about his personal journey to embracing SwiftUI over the last year. See you in 2023! ## Topics Discussed: - Steve's journey to embracing SwiftUI - WWDC22 turning point - Integrating SwiftUI and UIKit - Living the SwiftUI Preview lifestyle - Greenfield app prototyping with SwiftUI - Better cross-platform collaboration with SwiftUI - Feeling re-invigorated about Apple app development Intro music...
Dec 19, 2022•28 min
The trio is taking a break over the holidays and so this is the first of a few special, short, solo episodes we are releasing until we get back to our regular routine in the new year. This week, Kotaro provides his retrospectives on our journey so far with this podcast and Side Project Saturday, plus lays out some goals for PhillyCocoa projects in the new year. Happy Holidays from Philly CocoaHeads! ## Topics Discussed: - Podcast retrospective - PhillyCocoa Community retrospective - SPS goals fo...
Dec 05, 2022•8 min
This week, the trio finally remembers we passed our 1-year Podiversity before very skillfully transitioning into an in depth conversation on the topic of prototyping! What is it? How does it work? What are the tools and techniques? How is it practiced at a BigCo vs an Indie shop? The conversation is varied and interesting. Please note, this will be the last "regular" episode of 2022, but more content shall flow into your feed in the form of some special, shorter, episodes, so stay subscribed! To...
Nov 21, 2022•50 min•Ep. 30
Aaron's out this week, so the inmates are running the asylum! Steve is embarking on some greenfield app work at the day job and asks, "What is a modern app?" Since Kotaro has a lot of recent experience with all the newest Apple frameworks and features, an interesting discussion ensues about both how you can expand beyond the in-app experience and why you should or should not. Plus, the entire pod goes off the rails for a while when Kotaro goes into significant detail about an infamous Side Proje...
Nov 07, 2022•50 min•Ep. 29
This week, we have actual PickleJarTodo updates! Plus, Kotaro gets up on his soapbox to rant about testing, but is coaxed down and a more nuanced discussion ensues. Plus, we have some thoughts on the recent Mohammad Azam article about SwiftUI architecture and the NSSpain presentation about rewriting SoundCloud in SwiftUI. Finally, Steve remembers some sage advice he read on the early Web in the 1990s...RTFM! Topics Discussed: - PickleJarTodo Update - Lots of UI Components! (Kotaro) - Basic Image...
Oct 24, 2022•1 hr 1 min•Ep. 28
On this week's episode, the trio is totally focused and not at all awkward in their transitions as Steve recounts his recent FogBugz drama and Kotaro discusses a recent foray into building a straight-up macOS app in SwiftUI! Steve wonders if the culture of building your own tools has changed in the mobile world and a brief update on the PickleJarTodo app leads into a plug for Mike Zornek's blog, which you should totally read! Topics Discussed: - Follow-up: FogBugz Drama - Kotaro’s Experimental S...
Oct 10, 2022•51 min•Ep. 27
The trio is back this week with some follow-up to Kotaro's solo episode and some spicy takes on The Verge's re-design. Steve tells the tale of how he was stymied by an obvious bug until Aaron fixed it and this leads into some discussion about the challenge in learning new mental models and the importance of having someone else read your code when you are stuck. Meanwhile, Kotaro promises he is working on the UI layouts and the big news since last episode was the new Dynamic Island feature in the...
Sep 26, 2022•58 min•Ep. 26
Due to scheduling conflicts, this week is a special solo episode featuring Kotaro! People often ask us in PhillyCocoa how to become an iOS developer. Listen as Kotaro gives his recommendations on how to start your Apple Developer journey whether you are a complete novice or an experienced developer in another speciality. Also hear about Kotaro's own journey into iOS development back when Objective-C was still a thing! This episode features 100% less Steve and Aaron, but is full of useful advice ...
Sep 12, 2022•17 min•Ep. 25
This week the trio review the PickleJarTodo journey so far before discussing the trials and tribulations of macOS betas, bringing back tasteful skeuomorphism in our app, adding playfulness via animation, and why copy is important. Aaron describes his solution to our NavigationSplitView dilemma, Steve discusses some Core Data architecture patterns, and Old Man Kotaro Story Time and a project management tools discussion result in some entertaining hot takes and rants. ## Topics Discussed: - Pickle...
Aug 29, 2022•1 hr 10 min•Ep. 24
In this episode, Kotaro has some more thoughts about respecting the platform and we get into an interesting discussion about the how, when, and why of using SwiftUI as a prototyping tool. Then, Kotaro reveals his UI epiphany for the iPhone version of PickleJar. Finally, Steve inadvertently creates a Not a Sponsor segment and the productivity app world is introduced to the idea of "Aaron Mode." ## Topics Discussed: - Follow-Up: Respecting the Platform - Using SwiftUI as a Prototyping Tool - Sketc...
Aug 15, 2022•1 hr 12 min•Ep. 23
This week, the trio is back from our first IRL meetup in two years! We provide an update on PickleJar including CoreData refactoring, architecture patterns, new UI sketches, a possible Radar-worthy bug, and we ask the big question, has Apple decided that Hamburger Menus are cool again? In the second half of the episode, we discuss the latest native vs web technology debate sparked by a Paul Hudson tweet about Notion switching to native views in their iOS app. It's quite an interesting conversati...
Aug 01, 2022•56 min•Ep. 22
This week, Kotaro's struggles with UI block leads into a discussion about the primary views that need to be updated, some priorities for the UX, and because this is a side project, we dream big about extra features before we've even gotten the core done, including A-Hole mode, the perfect way to motivate yourself when positive reinforcement fails. Considering our slow progress, maybe we should implement that feature first! In the end, Kotaro is back on track with his UI design tasks while Aaron ...
Jul 18, 2022•55 min•Ep. 21
Progress has been made on the app and as we move beyond simple prototyping into trying to make a functional MVP for other people to eventually use, how we structure our code becomes more important. This week, we discuss the MVVM architecture pattern and how well it does and doesn't get along with Core Data. Then, Kotaro leads us on a UI/UX design discussion, partially inspired by "the most satisfying checkbox." ## Topics Discussed: - PickleJar Update - Testing iCloud Sync - Multiple simulators s...
Jul 04, 2022•1 hr 3 min•Ep. 20
WWDC22 has come and gone and boy was it full of developer goodies this year! This week, the trio first survey some of their favorite announcements from WWDC22 before diving into a discussion about how to pivot the todo app development in light of the upcoming OS changes. Be sure to check out this week's Not a Sponsor and Apple Design Award Winner: Slopes Topics Discussed: - WWDC22 - SwiftUI is The Way - App Intents - WeatherKit - Passkey - AR/Metal - CarPlay - Lock Screen Widgets - Xcode Live Pr...
Jun 20, 2022•1 hr•Ep. 19
Just in time for the weekend plane ride to Cupertino, it's our WWDC22 speculation episode! We talk about some of things we hope to see at this year's WWDC including new hardware, iOS 16 features, and dev tool improvements. Plus, Kotaro provides a bonus tip about how you can glimpse the future by subscribing to the Swift Evolution mailing list. If you'd like to join us at our virtual keynote watch party, RSVP and join our Slack! Details are on our website at http://phillycocoa.org or at https://w...
Jun 03, 2022•57 min•Ep. 18
This week, we return to our Todo App project. Coding has stalled because we didn't have a specific enough idea of exactly WHAT the app is supposed to be all about. Problem definition is hard and this week Steve presents his thoughts on how to move forward based on his research into some existing digital and paper habit tracking systems. Then we sketch some specific app feature requirements where we coalesce around the idea of tracking something akin to "epics," provide positive reinforcement via...
May 23, 2022•48 min
The app is making slow progress and we will have more to say about that soon, but we couldn't pass up the opportunity to talk with our special guest this week, Mohammad Faani. Mohammad is an active member of PhillyCocoa and joins us to discuss his journey to becoming an iOS developer as well as how both Stack Overflow and his new TIL blog help him focus and shape his own developer journey. Topics Discussed: - Introducing Mohammad Faani - Mohammad’s origin story - Mohammad’s background - Online c...
May 09, 2022•54 min•Ep. 16
This week we finally reveal our idea for our second app on this podcast and it's a macOS todo app! I know, very original! Listen in to our unscripted discussion as we talk about why we chose this concept for the app, some theories around todo systems, and eventually coalesce around some broad goals for features as well as a timeline for a Test Flight prototype. ## Topics Discussed: - Introducing our next side project: a macOS Todo app! - How do we do todos? - Steve: Omnifocus, Todo, Calendar - A...
Apr 25, 2022•59 min•Ep. 15
After we recorded this week's podcast, we did decide on our next side project and it's not what you might expect. It has to do with pickles. Stay tuned for info about that next time! This week, we delve into the side project "failure" bin to talk about overcoming the many challenges to completing side projects and how even when we move on from one, it was still worth doing. ## Topics Discussed: - Pre-Show: - Stocks and studio displays - The Death of Kotaro’s Side Project Dividend Calc - KanjiLov...
Apr 11, 2022•43 min•Ep. 14
We have another special guest this week! Sean Najera , Senior Mobile Developer at Nuuly, joins the Pod to talk about his experiences using Flutter before discussing his new SwiftUI Navigator library that fixes a big missing feature in Apple's framework. There is also some love for C#, a look at the waves of Android development over the years, the evolution of languages like Dart and Swift, and new this week, a special post-show where Steve asks the question that only Aaron can answer, "What is a...
Mar 28, 2022•1 hr 6 min•Ep. 13
With all of us getting busy with work, we are using this opportunity to experiment with the podcast format and bring a spotlight to other developers in the community. Our first guest to the POD is Arpit Mathur, creator of GroceryTimer.app. This app was our Not a Sponsor last time and since it was recently released, we thought it would be fun to discuss the how's and why's of its creation. Arpit is always a pleasure to converse with and we delve into several interesting aspects of the app's creat...
Mar 14, 2022•1 hr 1 min•Ep. 12
Ok, we are really spinning our wheels now getting a new app idea pinned down, but the upshot is there are a lot of interesting subjects touched upon this week, including the "confirmation" of RealityOS, how people occlusion works in ARKit, a tangent about the history of Web API technologies, and much more. Plus, our Not a Sponsor this week could help you keep your food from spoiling! ## Topics Discussed: - RealityOS is Real! - How ARKit People Occlusion Works - What makes a good AR experience, a...
Feb 28, 2022•52 min
Continuing our incremental progress exploring the AR app space, this week, Aaron shows off our first baby steps with a working prototype! Steve discusses his month long side project making movies, which prompts a discussion of how AR could be used in filmmaking. Then, Kotaro and Steve go on a tangent exploring nightmare AR/VR dystopia possibilities before getting back on track with this week's "Not a Sponsor" segment. Finally, the trio settles on a handful of feature paths to explore for next ti...
Feb 14, 2022•49 min•Ep. 10
We decided that we want to work on an AR app, but we still can't figure out what to build. The space is still very new, hardware from Apple doesn't exist yet, and life really got in our way last sprint, so we didn't get much prototype exploration done. This week, we continue our search for an AR app idea, perhaps come up with a germ of an idea by the end, and in the middle, Kotaro expounds on game jams and creative cheats from his own past. It's a diamond in the rough kind of episode, but someti...
Jan 31, 2022•51 min•Ep. 9
After a brief retrospective about our last app, Kanji Love, and a shout out to the recently departed Release Notes podcast, the team starts a discussion about our next project, which looks like it'll be focused on Augmented Reality. First, we ask ourselves, what is the relationship between AR, VR, and the "Metaverse" concept? Then we read the tea leaves of Apple's APIs to make an educated guess about future hardware and types of applications that would be useful to build. Finally, we spend time ...
Jan 17, 2022•1 hr 8 min•Season 2Ep. 8
It's release day! Kanji Love is in the App Store! In this season finale episode, we discuss the story behind the app's name as well as some of the final bug fixes and tasks we had to complete. Then, you can listen in to the moment we made the app live in the store! Finally, we discuss some ideas for next season. Don't worry, Side Project Spotlight WILL RETURN! - Download the app! - Check out the website ! ## Topics Discussed: - Story behind the app name: Kanji Love - cocoalove.org - Fracture Pri...
Jan 03, 2022•56 min•Season 1Ep. 7
We are in the endgame now! Kotaro has refined the UI while Aaron has updated our Core Data stack and Steve got Notifications working! All the pieces are together and we basically have a feature complete 1.0 app! Now we are entering into the final stress test, debugging, and polishing stages. In this episode we discuss the promise and current limitations of Xcode Cloud, provide an overview of the App Store submission process and steps we need to complete, and worry out loud about whether Swift UI...
Dec 20, 2021•58 min•Season 1Ep. 6
Sprint 4 is over and we are entering the home stretch. Kotaro got the swipe mechanic working, Aaron got so much done, he started adding features, and Steve ran into issues trying to build a Notifications UI. The trio discuss Git branches and merging strategies and then spend the bulk of the episode diving into SwiftUI architecture in general and specifically regarding the app. Finally, in a segment that is the nightmare of project managers everywhere, new features are discussed! This is a long o...
Dec 06, 2021•1 hr 21 min•Season 1Ep. 5
Sprint 3 is over and Kotaro has made progress on the UI with a complete app skeleton now linked together, but is still working on the core swipe animation. Meanwhile, Steve found notifications a little harder to setup in a SwiftUI environment than expected, but got the basic plumbing working when he wasn't editing the podcast. Aaron is the Sprint MVP as he updated the data managers so that Kanji can be retrieved from the database with ease and user stats saved on demand. All together, this means...
Nov 22, 2021•56 min•Season 1Ep. 4
