After a very busy period of Infrastructure and refresh projects for clients I have emerged back into the light of day and spent some time in the company of SwiftUI. This is Apple’s latest approach to designing apps. By allowing us to be declarative (saying what we want the UI to do) rather than the previously imperative method used for IOS apps – this could be one of the biggest changes in direction for Apple’s mobile and other device development.
I hadn’t specifically intended going down the route of learning SwiftUI but when the opportunity arose – I thought of Ray Wenderlich and his/their tremendous books and training materials. I’d used them for a project previously and was impressed by the overall quality and breadth of coverage. So far I have found the materials to be well paced, frequently updated and spot on topic for a developer who is not coming from a long term IOS development background.
A shout out also goes to Hacking with Swift. Specifically their Swift in Sixty Seconds which are bite sized morsels about the Swift language. These allow you to get an understanding about which areas you understand and those that need more investigation. I definitely think I will be back to them for more materials and ideas.
With SwiftUI being such a recent additional to the developer’s tool set – there have been a lot of last minute changes and updates. It can feel a little like the “Wild West” in terms of getting the definitive view of whats current and whats taken a hit. Overall I have found the experience intriguing if a little frustrating but so far so good.
I have no doubt that I will be returning to this subject over the coming months but for now lets move swiftly on …