Jumping off from one of our topics last episode, this week we are tackling the idea of working a 9 to 5 with a side project. What are the challenges? How do you maintain motivation? What time management strategies work? Are there any tools that can help you stay organized? Steve has some concrete tips based on his recent experience trying to juggle side projects and a day job while maintaining a healthy lifestyle. Kotaro and Aaron provide the perspective of developers working a traditional in-of...
Apr 08, 2024•1 hr 12 min•Ep. 63
Kotaro has been doing the 9 to 5 thing for a while now and he's been thinking about his days as a consultant and what it means in 2024 to "go indie." The trio discuss some of the options they see in the present day including consulting or SaaS, making educational content, traditional app or game development, whether the Vision Pro gold rush might be the most attractive option and more. Plus, Aaron finally tries a Vision Pro and Kotaro waxes nostalgic for his former indie app, "Dividend Calc." Th...
Mar 25, 2024•1 hr 3 min•Ep. 62
On the day the huge iOS 17.4 update drops, the Trio come together to talk about apps we love from budgeting software to productivity to 3D design and even fitness. The Apple ecosystem is full of amazing apps. Sometimes it's good to take a break, smell the roses, and gain some inspiration. ## Topics Discussed: - Introductions - Breaking News - iOS 17.4 - Xcode 15.3 - Other platforms are still in RC - https://developer.apple.com/documentation/financekit - Jon Prosser’s Vision Pro Review - https://...
Mar 11, 2024•1 hr 2 min•Ep. 61
This week the Trio follow-up on some visionOS ideas before delving into Kotaro's experience learning Flutter with an assist from Github Copilot. We round out the show discussing some rumors of new "AI" tools coming at the next WWDC. Not a Sponsor: https://azamsharp.school/workshops ## Topics Discussed: - Follow-up: Exploring visionOS Ideas - Kotaro’s Github Copilot experience - app.quicktype.io - Learning Flutter with Github Copilot - https://docs.flutter.dev/data-and-backend/state-mgmt/options ...
Feb 26, 2024•1 hr 1 min•Ep. 60
We have experienced the Apple Vision Pro for ourselves, well Kotaro and Steve have, and we have thoughts! Tune in to hear about Steve's Apple Store demo experience, what was impressive and what was surprisingly not. Then a digression about the dystopian nightmare this Brave New "Spatial Computing" world may be about to unleash upon us and our children before a discussion about trying to build software now that hardware is available. Finally, will we actually be buying our own Vision Pros to beco...
Feb 12, 2024•1 hr 16 min•Ep. 59
The long awaited launch of Vision Pro is here and the Trio are in a festive mood. In this episode, we have a fun time reviewing some of the hands-on impressions and speculate about the kinds of apps we will see in this first generation of "spatial computing." Most launch apps will probably be iPad apps and there have been some salty takes on the InterWebs about streaming platforms not supporting the device on day one, but we think they probably have some good reasons to be cautious. Kotaro bring...
Jan 29, 2024•1 hr 6 min•Ep. 58
The trio has returned from their holiday break to talk about 2024 developer resolutions! Aaron wants to build an "AI" model and interact with hardware. Steve is looking at backend stuff for a change of pace. Kotaro is talking himself into building a visionOS game. There is also some good discussion of some "AI" application ideas and tools we've been using. With the Vision Pro on the immediate horizon, we also discuss how much we should invest in the platform if we aren't buying one of the launch...
Jan 15, 2024•1 hr 9 min•Ep. 57
In this final episode of 2023, the trio dive into the topic of dependencies! What kinds are there? How do you manage them? What are some examples? This episode is jam packed with great advice and a ton of useful links (see below!) to help you think about the tradeoffs of different kinds of dependencies as well as concrete advice on how to write cleaner code that your future self will appreciate. Have a great holiday season and a happy new year as you embark on your own developer journey into 202...
Dec 04, 2023•1 hr 6 min•Ep. 56
The trio convene for the penultimate episode of 2023 to discuss the latest presentations by OpenAI and Github and the way generative "AI" tools may be enabling the dream of a "universal" UI for computing (for both end-users and developers) that is more natural and contextual than ever before. Stay until the very end for a short after show on the strange, but super useful, ContentUnavailableView. As always, check the show notes for all the links! ## Topics Discussed: - Introductions - Exploring S...
Nov 20, 2023•1 hr 2 min•Ep. 55
The trio are riding a sugar high from Halloween and ready to discuss Apple's "Scary Fast" event. Online controversy erupted over the "Shot on iPhone" tag at the end. The incorporation of an iPhone into a legitimate "professional" workflow and the resulting hoopla got us thinking about what other opportunities are afforded developers and creatives on Apple platforms in this new Apple Silicon/USB-C/Soon to be VisionOS era! From filmmaking to game development to "AI" model training and more, we loo...
Nov 06, 2023•49 min•Ep. 54
This week the Trio revisit the topic of "AI" by discussing some of the tools and workflows they have tried out lately. There is some follow-up to last episode's topic of The Composable Architecture, including Steve talking about a side project idea that he may use TCA to implement. Plus, talk of the job market, concurrency in Swift, and Meta Glassholes! It's a long episode, but we think it's pretty interesting. Enjoy! ## Topics Discussed: - Introductions - Follow-up - The Composable Architecture...
Oct 23, 2023•1 hr 21 min•Ep. 53
The trio are together once more! This week, Steve and Kotaro discuss Steve's most recent HTTP API Client design, some of which was inspired by Rob Napier's "Generic Swift" talk from several years ago. Then, Steve almost loses his voice trying to poorly explain The Composable Architecture (TCA), but does go into some depth on the pieces and ideas he has applied to real world projects. It's mostly Steve talking this week, but it's pretty interesting stuff. Be sure to check the show notes for links...
Oct 09, 2023•1 hr•Ep. 52
Kotaro hosts solo one more time this week to briefly talk about "secret sauces." No, not the kind you use on nuggets! It's that ineffable quality of an app that makes you love it vs those annoying anti-patterns often prevalent in apps created just to catch the wave of a hype cycle. Kotaro wants to make apps he loves and that you might love, too! This is a short, but practical and personal essay celebrating some apps that found their "secret sauce." ## Topics Discussed: - Introductions - iOS 17 i...
Sep 25, 2023•14 min•Ep. 51
Kotaro is solo this episode due to scheduling issues around the end of summer holiday festivities. But, fear not, this episode is short, but jam packed with advice about opportunities for your next big app as we move into the iOS 17/visionOS world. Widgets, AI, visionOS, Macros, and more! There are so many cool new features in this next generation of updates that can lead to brand new opportunities for success in your developer journey...if you read the tea leaves. ## Topics Discussed: - Introdu...
Sep 11, 2023•16 min•Ep. 50
The trio gather to hear about Steve's Baltimore e-scooter adventure and the app experience. Then, a brief discussion of Xcode Beta 7 before diving into inspiring visionOS demos found on social media. Multiple bad app ideas are entertained this week, including one based on a classic Kids in the Hall sketch. Kotaro goes into some detail on how hand gesture recognition works today and how it might work in the future while Aaron describes our dystopian nightmare future of inescapable avalanches of a...
Aug 28, 2023•1 hr 1 min•Ep. 49
The trio continue exploring visionOS despite ongoing beta challenges. Steve updates his experiment with a little more functionality while Kotaro scans a "mutant peach" into a 3D object, and Aaron is stymied in his physics experiments due to inadequate Simulator support. Kotaro provides some insights into what game developers may find familiar and frustrating if they decide to venture into visionOS development before discussing some "hot shader action" coming to SwiftUI in iOS 17. Finally, Bad Ap...
Aug 14, 2023•1 hr•Ep. 48
The trio continue to suffer the Beta Blues, but Steve did do his pod homework this round and made a very janky visionOS prototype that lets you apply a pixelation filter to a photo! This leads into some good discussion of photo app features that would be appropriate on visionOS interspersed with some "bad app ideas," a digression about Share Play, and Kotaro & Aaron decide they want to build Cerebro! It's an easy-breezy episode, perfect for these hot summer days. ## Topics Discussed: - visio...
Jul 31, 2023•58 min•Ep. 47
The trio are trying to run the visionOS sample apps, but broken Xcode betas are getting in the way! Undeterred, Kotaro leads a discussion on what you can learn via the four visionOS demo apps (if you get them running). Then, the trio speculates about the forthcoming dev kits, Steve brings up the movie Hackers (because it's awesome!), and we end the show with some truly "bad app ideas." We are taking baby steps into our spacial computing developer journeys! ## Topics Discussed: - Beta cycle break...
Jul 17, 2023•1 hr 3 min•Ep. 46
The trio have had some initial hands-on time with the visionOS SDK and are ready to dive into a new development adventure. That's right, it's time to pivot! We think visionOS is a rare opportunity that should not be missed by Apple developers. Maybe it's a big nothing burger, maybe it'll be a new App Store gold rush, maybe somewhere in between, but the time to start exploring this new platform is now! In this episode, we talk about what we have already learned from the visionOS SDK before discus...
Jul 03, 2023•1 hr 3 min•Ep. 45
The trio are joined by developer and educator, Mohammad Azam to discuss some of the big announcements from WWDC23. Topics include Swift Macros, SwiftData, app architecture patterns, server-side swift, and more! There are ton of great links in the show notes this episode, so be sure to check them out! When you are done, follow some of the links to Azam's courses and content. We have found his work to be very helpful in our own developer journeys and maybe you will, too! ## Topics Discussed: - Wel...
Jun 19, 2023•1 hr 12 min•Ep. 44
Twas the pod before WWDC and the trio decided to enjoy themselves with a little speculation about what gifts Apple will bestow on June 5, 2023. Most of the discussion centers on speculation about the "mythical goggles" rumored to be released along with a brief tangent on widgets, some thoughts on whether Apple will even utter the acronym, "AI," during the conference, and we end with a nerdy grab bag wishlist of features we hope to see added to Apple's platforms this year. Don't miss the Not a Sp...
Jun 02, 2023•1 hr 14 min•Ep. 43
This week, the trio is joined by our good friend and Philly CocoaHeads alum, Joe Cieplinski. Joe is an accomplished designer who transitioned into iOS development and has built multiple apps for iPhone and iPad. With the recent announcement of Final Cut and Logic on iPad, it feels like a new era of pro iPad apps may be on the horizon and there is no one better to talk to about iPad apps than Joe. In this wide-ranging discussion, we touch on Joe's journey from teacher to designer to developer of ...
May 22, 2023•1 hr 22 min•Ep. 42
This week, the trio celebrates their podcast mid-life crisis by discussing a concept coined by Daniel Steinberg in a 2022 talk, "Packaged Oriented Programming." How do you organize your app using Swift Package Manager packages? What are the benefits and costs? There is also some discussion on dealing with JSON API changes, using Codable vs DTOs, and strategies for caching external package dependencies for the longterm. Be sure to stay until the end where Kotaro engages in some live "prompt engin...
May 08, 2023•1 hr
This week, Steve engages in a little "proompt engineering" with Bing, we bring back our Not a Sponsor segment to share how impressed we are with Clip Dish, and then we discuss the topic that all Apple dev podcasts must tackle at least once, "going indie." We focus on some of the logistics like whether you should use a company App Store account, how important it is to get an accountant, and ideas on revenue models, the special challenges of being an indie game dev, and end with some advice on get...
Apr 24, 2023•1 hr 4 min•Ep. 40
The trio is back from The State of the Mobile Union event where fun was had by all and minds were expanded about the possibilities of mobile development! Plus, the Comcast Technology Center is cool! We continue to slowly build PickleJarTodo with Kotaro putting into practice the ideas he espoused at his talk for our UI. In our newly restored Not a Sponsor segment, we check-in with the current state of Arpit's GroceryTimer app, which might just be what Steve needs to avoid rotten strawberries. Plu...
Apr 10, 2023•1 hr 23 min•Ep. 39
This week, the trio wonder about the nature of a “sprint” and Steve takes his first tentative steps into whatever circle of Hell is reserved for Jira. The three amigos then revisit the topic of “AI” tools since this space is moving at warp speed. Kotaro and Steve talk about their experiences with ChatGPT and Bing before discussing some of the machine learning tools already available from Apple. Kotaro talks about diffusion model image workflows and the concerns of visual artists. Then Aaron tell...
Mar 27, 2023•1 hr 13 min•Ep. 38
This week, Steve makes progress building a log screen, but not without encountering obstacles. Then the trio dives into a discussion about how we learn. What works for us, what doesn't, what are good resources? It's a content-rich episode full of tips, some possibly questionable anecdotes, a dash of philosophy, and so, so many links. It's a little haphazardly presented, but that's just our charm! Topics Discussed: - PickleJarTodo Update - https://getslopes.com - How to Learn - Books vs Articles ...
Mar 13, 2023•1 hr 10 min•Ep. 37
On this exciting episode, incremental progress has been made with PickleJarTodo! I know, you're in awe at our productivity. But, the bulk of the episode is a semi-literate discussion about the latest crop of "AI" tools and their potential impact on our discipline of software development. From the current crop of tools like ChatGPT and CoPilot to potential uses in designer/developer collaboration and even full app generation, this discussion is preliminary, but interesting, and we will surely rev...
Feb 27, 2023•1 hr 10 min•Ep. 36
Steve's voice is back...like 95%! Tune in this week for an update about PickleJarTodo where, as usual, we quickly go off the rails into a classic Kotaro rant about JIRA! We also have some discussion about the perennial SwiftUI issue, integrating Core Data. Plus, some pros and cons we have found trying to use GitHub Projects and we end by setting some semi-realistic goals for next time! Topics Discussed: - PickleJarTodo Update - Side Projects Can Help Day Job Projects - GitHub Projects Tickets - ...
Feb 13, 2023•42 min
Steve lives! The trio is back this week and while Steve still sounds like a frog has taken up residence in his throat, the show must go on! In this episode, we discuss the plan for the next few months, make some goals, assign some tasks, and go off on tangents about Apple backends, Disney World weirdness, and the awesomeness of the Ren Faire. New year, new plan! Let's gooooooo! ## Topics Discussed: - Steve lives! - Plan to finish PickleJar MVP - Why the PickleJar name? - Time management with a 9...
Jan 30, 2023•47 min
