Philly CocoaHeads

#57: 2024 Developer Resolutions

Mon, 15 Jan 2024 00:09:00 -0400

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 devices. It’s a nice easy introduction to 2024 with lots more to come. Here’s to a new year in our developer journeys! Now, let’s get to work!

#56: Diving Into Dependencies

Mon, 04 Dec 2023 00:09:00 -0400

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 2024! The trio will return in January!

#55: The "Universal" UI

Mon, 20 Nov 2023 00:09:00 -0400

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!

#54: Scary Fast Opportunities

Mon, 06 Nov 2023 00:09:00 -0400

The trio are riding a sugar high from Halloween and ready to discuss Apple’s “Scary Fast” event. Online controversy erupted over the “Filmed 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 look at some of the things you can do now that you couldn’t do, or do nearly as well, a few short years ago. Plus, amazing programmer dad jokes and Steve and Kotaro propose Aaron tackle the question: “Hotdog or sausage?” It’s a fun episode with a lot to digest. Give us your thoughts about opportunities on the PhillyCocoa Slack!

#53: Kotaro's Vanilla Proompting

Mon, 23 Oct 2023 00:09:00 -0400

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!

#52: The Composable Architecture, Poorly Explained

Mon, 09 Oct 2023 00:09:00 -0400

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 so you can dive deep into these topics yourself!

#51: Secret Sauce

Mon, 25 Sep 2023 00:09:00 -0400

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.”

#50: Reading the Tea Leaves 2: Electric Boogaloo

Mon, 11 Sep 2023 00:09:00 -0400

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.

#49: An Avalanche of Ads

Mon, 28 Aug 2023 00:09:00 -0400

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 ads in immersive environments. Ending on a positive note, the Trio wonder if “spatial computing” could usher in a new era of developer experiences. One More Thing…GetClipDish.com!

#48: Hot Shader Action

Mon, 14 Aug 2023 00:09:00 -0400

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 App Ideas returns, revisiting “Portal Pigeons,” and we give a shout-out in our “Not a Sponsor” segment to Happy Scale!

#47: Long Stare & Pixelate the World

Mon, 31 Jul 2023 00:09:00 -0400

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.

#46: visionOS Baby Steps

Mon, 17 Jul 2023 00:09:00 -0400

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!

#45: The Most Complicated Fax Machine Ever

Mon, 03 Jul 2023 00:09:00 -0400

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 discussing some very rough prototyping ideas we want to use to start exploring this brave new Spatial Computing world.

#44: WWDC23 With Mohammad Azam

Mon, 19 Jun 2023 00:09:00 -0400

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!

#43: WWDC23 Speculation

Fri, 02 Jun 2023 00:09:00 -0400

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 Sponsor segment this week as Steve demonstrates that the Clip Dish devs’ prompt engineering is second to none!

#42: Championing the iPad With Joe Cieplinski

Mon, 22 May 2023 00:12:00 -0400

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 awesome iOS apps, his former podcast and sometimes current conference, Release Notes, plus a whole lotta iPad talk. What makes iPad a unique computing device? What kind of apps thrive? Has Apple lost its way navigating the path between simplicity and power with iPadOS? What do we hope to see at WWDC this year? All that and much more is covered in this very fun conversation between old friends. Enjoy!

#41: Package Oriented Programming

Mon, 08 May 2023 00:12:00 -0400

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 engineering” with Chat GPT that generates some impressively bad jokes.

#40: "Going Indie"

Mon, 24 Apr 2023 00:12:00 -0400

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 getting started consulting. This is a perennial topic in PhillyCocoa and we only scratch the surface of the areas of discussion, but hopefully you’ll get some utility from what we do discuss, especially if you are thinking of starting an indie app business or consultancy for the first time yourself.

#39: The Spirit of Skeuomorphism

Mon, 10 Apr 2023 00:12:00 -0400

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. Plus, the trio discuss some thoughts on the much rumored Apple AR/VR Goggles, what the heck we might be able to do with it, and some thoughts on what might be coming (or we hope is coming) at WWDC23 this year. It’s a jam-packed episode. I hope you have a long walk planned for today, Zorn!

#38: AI Part Duex

Mon, 27 Mar 2023 00:12:00 -0400

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 tells us to wrap things up after some final discussion about generative art and how to adapt to this brave new world taking shape around us.

#37: How to Learn

Mon, 13 Mar 2023 00:12:00 -0400

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!

#36: 1,000 Tablespoons of Salt

Mon, 27 Feb 2023 00:12:00 -0400

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 revisit the topic in the future as we gain knowledge and experience in the space.

#35: A Hot Mess of Jank

Mon, 13 Feb 2023 00:12:00 -0400

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
  - Kotaro Rants About JIRA Slowness. 🤣
  - GitHub Projects Discussion
- Core Data is Our Nemesis
- Core Data design patterns in SwiftUI
Next:
- Kotaro: Wire up UI components
- Steve: Core Data Model layer CRUD
- Aaron: Layout review sections/settings

#34: New Plan

Mon, 30 Jan 2023 00:12:00 -0400

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!

#33: A New Year

Mon, 16 Jan 2023 00:12:00 -0400

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 understand how to build Mac apps.
- Improve my skills at shaders.
- Get into Godot more.
ChatGPT “Jokes”

#32: A Developer's Journey to Embracing SwiftUI

Mon, 19 Dec 2022 00:12:00 -0400

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

#31: A Developer's Retro

Mon, 05 Dec 2022 00:12:00 -0400

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!

#30: Prototyping

Mon, 21 Nov 2022 00:12:00 -0400

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!

#29: What Is an App?

Mon, 07 Nov 2022 00:12:00 -0400

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 Project Saturday “bad app idea” for a next generation fart app! It’s both an informative and pretty funny episode.

#28: A Bad Relationship With Testing

Mon, 24 Oct 2022 00:12:00 -0400

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 Picker Support (Steve)
Testing Discussion
- TDD
- UI Testing
- Testing time vs Development Time
- It Depends
SwiftUI Architecture Discussion
- SwiftUI Architecture — A Complete Guide to the MV Pattern Approach
- https://betterprogramming.pub/swiftui-architecture-a-complete-guide-to-mv-pattern-approach-5f411eaaaf9e
- Lessons Learnt Rewriting SoundCloud in SwiftUI
  - https://vimeo.com/751534042/f1ae29434e
- Programmers as Craftsmen
- Environment
- PreferenceKeys
RTFM!
- Building a Budget App Using SwiftUI and Core Data Part 1 (Mohammad Azam)
  - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Mfp2l59JKKo

#27: Awkward Transitions

Mon, 10 Oct 2022 00:12:00 -0400

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!

#26: Gilligan's Dynamic Island

Mon, 26 Sep 2022 00:12:00 -0400

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 iPhone 14 Pro models! We discuss in our infinite ignorance how this feature works and how we might use it for fun; Steve mentions something called “Super Sayan Aaron Mode!?”

#25: A Developer's Journey

Mon, 12 Sep 2022 00:12:00 -0400

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 and fun Kotaro anecdotes. Don’t worry, the trio will be back in action next time!

#24: Jira Is Trying to Kill You!

Mon, 29 Aug 2022 00:12:00 -0400

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.

#23: It's A Trap!

Mon, 15 Aug 2022 00:12:00 -0400

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
Sketch Is an Exemplary “Mac” App
Collaborative Prototyping With SwiftUI
Mockup/Prototyping Tools
Kotaro’s UI Epiphany & Discussion
- The “Martin System”
  - https://collegeinfogeek.com/paper-habit-tracker/
Side Project Saturday: Suburban Edition, Aug 20
Next Steps
Not a Sponsor: Practical Core Data
- https://practicalcoredata.com
- Donny Wals: Using Core Data in a Modern SwiftUI Application
  - https://youtu.be/P8rqjs_CNsk

#22: Respecting The Platform

Mon, 01 Aug 2022 00:12:00 -0400

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 conversation full of Kotaro anecdotes! Who doesn’t love them? That’s a rhetorical question, they’re awesome!

#21: A-Hole Mode

Mon, 18 Jul 2022 00:12:00 -0400

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 and Steve continue architecting the Core Data + MVVM of it all. PRs were being pushed right after this recording!

#20: MVVM + Core Data

Mon, 04 Jul 2022 00:12:00 -0400

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.”

#19: SwiftUI Is "The Way"

Mon, 20 Jun 2022 00:12:00 -0400

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 Previews
- Swift Charts
- Swift Regex
- SwiftUI Navigation
- Losing Platform Distinction?
Side Project WWDC Pivot
- All-in on iOS 16/iPadOS 16/macOS 13
- Installing Beta macOS
- Timeline Discussion
  - June: Finalize layout
  - July: Implement Prototype
  - August: Revisions
  - September: iOS/iPadOS release. Mac Revisions.
  - October: macOS release
Not A Sponsor: Slopes
- ADA Award Winner!

#18: WWDC22 Speculation!

Fri, 03 Jun 2022 00:12:00 -0400

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://www.meetup.com/PhillyCocoaHeads/.

#17: Fingerpicking Good

Mon, 23 May 2022 00:12:00 -0400

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 widgets, and support Siri Intents for use in the Shortcuts app.

#16: TIL With Mohammad Faani

Mon, 09 May 2022 00:12:00 -0400

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.

#15: Learning How to Mac

Mon, 25 Apr 2022 00:12:00 -0400

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
- Aaron: Calendar
- Kotaro: Reminders, 3-4 core things to do that day in notes app
Theory Discussion
- Pickle Jar Theory
- Kotaro’s Theory
Broad App Goals
- What would make this app useful for us?
- Kotaro
  - Lightweight
  - Pattern reporting (task completion)
  - iOS version for quick task check-off
  - Recurring tasks you want to do every day
  - CloudKit/Core Data sync
  - iPad app?
  - One-offs
  - Siri Intent
- Steve
  - Habit tracker
  - Historical trends
- Aaron
  - Fitness training goals
    - e.g. Training Peaks app
  - Goal tracking
Feature Summary Discussion
- Record when you did the task or assume you did it at the time of checking off?
- Epics vs Tasks
- Notifications are not annoying (summary info, for example)
- Widgets
- Default view is stuff we already did.
- Bucket List app, checking off towards a goal and get summaries
Timeline for MVP
- Release before WWDC: 1.5 month project
- Aaron’s Scope Suggestion: Help us prioritize WWDC work
How do we break this up?
- We already created an app, Trello, GitHub repo, icon
- 4 sprints of 2 weeks
  - Strong prototype by 4th sprint at least
  - Test Flight
- First Sprint:
  - Basic Todo Task UI
  - Basic Core Data data model
  - CloudKit sync
  - Mac to iOS syncing
Not a Sponsor: FinTimer.com
Kotaro’s New Outro!

#14: Side Project Challenges

Mon, 11 Apr 2022 00:12:00 -0400

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.

#13: An Infinite Closet with Sean Najera

Mon, 28 Mar 2022 00:12:00 -0400

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 SwifUI 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 table?” This was a fun one.

#12: GroceryTimer.app with Arpit Mathur

Mon, 14 Mar 2022 00:12:00 -0400

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 creation, design, and technologies as well as how Arpit is experimenting with the Virtual Meetup format of Philly’s Google Developer Group using tools like Twitter Spaces. It’s a fascinating and entertaining conversation. We hope you enjoy it as much as we did.

#11: Spinning our Wheels

Mon, 28 Feb 2022 00:12:00 -0400

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, according to Apple
AR Goggles Pricing and Design
A Tangent on XML, JSON, gRPC, and Web APIs
Ray casting and ray tracing
Not a Sponsor: GroceryTimer.app

#10: Orange Balls

Mon, 14 Feb 2022 00:12:00 -0400

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 time.

#9: Reading the Tea Leaves

Mon, 31 Jan 2022 00:12:00 -0400

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 sometimes that’s how it goes when you are trying to start down an unexplored path.

#8: Into the Metaverse

Mon, 17 Jan 2022 00:12:00 -0400

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 talking about some specific app ideas and end the episode with some bonus talk about recognizing hand gestures. Next time, we will decide what app we will build for season 2!

#7: Kanji Love

Mon, 03 Jan 2022 00:12:00 -0400

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 Prints FTW!
Sprint Retrospective
- Kotaro: Website & Metadata
  - Aaron: Minor Bug Fixes
  - Steve: Launch From Notification Discussion
Using GitHub Pages for your App Website
- https://abilenky.github.io/kanjilove/
PUSH THE BUTTON!
- Releasing the app LIVE!
What’s Next?
- Bug Fixes
- Complications improvements
- App Store Marketing Team Submission
Next Season on SPS
- AR + CoreML?
- Explore ideas more than develop projects?
- Playgrounds App Projects?
- The Podcast will continue!

#6: Feature Complete

Mon, 20 Dec 2021 00:12:00 -0400

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 conditionals are a good idea or not. App Submission Day is rapidly approaching. Will we make it?

#5: Feature Creep

Mon, 06 Dec 2021 00:12:00 -0400

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 one, but with a lot of great technical discussion. Bonus! It’s edited more gently than the last episode. You’re welcome, Zorn!

#4: Welcome to My Objective-C TED Talk

Mon, 22 Nov 2021 00:12:00 -0400

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 we are getting close to a working app! Plus, a discussion comparing Objective-C and Swift and the struggle to switch mental modes when you are learning new things.

#3: We Have Data!

Mon, 08 Nov 2021 00:12:00 -0400

Sprint 2 is done and we have data! In this episode, we check-in on our goals for the sprint and discuss what got done, what didn’t, and some interesting issues that came up along the way. Now that we have Kanji data in the Core Data database, we can shift focus to building the UI for the app and notifications for next time.

Follow-up from last sprint:

Wireframes and prototype UI
Kanji database parsed into JSON
Core Data stack setup
Everyone get the app built and run on their watches
Look into how notifications might work
Get a podcast website setup

Steve

Got podcast website done
No notifications

Aaron

Got subset of data parsed into Core Data (3,000 kanji!)

Kotaro

Started skeleton layout of all views
Hasn’t hooked up UI to Core Data, yet.

Topics Discussed:

Hugo as an option for building your podcast or app website
PRs for collaboration on GitHub
Analysis Paralysis and comic book artists
Core Data array magic with the transformable attribute
UI mechanics
What are the stats we are saving?
Extensions on CoreData models (like Kotaro’s Fav10)

Next Time:

Working prototype swipe UI and save user stats (Kotaro)
Working notifications (Steve)
Public interface to the Kanji database (Aaron)

#2: Data Structures & UI Considerations

Mon, 25 Oct 2021 00:12:00 -0400

Our first sprint encountered some hiccups and we are off to a slow start, but progress has been made! This week, we have some follow-up about changes to our initial App Store Connect environment, describe how we setup the podcast, and spend the majority of the meeting talking about data sources, structures, and UI.

Topics include:

Switching to an App Store Connect Team account for development
Podcast infrastructure setup with Anchor.fm and Podcast Connect

#1: Kanji Flash Card App Kickoff

Sat, 09 Oct 2021 00:12:00 -0400

For our inaugural season, we (Kotaro, Steve, and Aaron) are building a watchOS Kanji flashcard app and documenting our journey. This week, we tackle the initial project infrastructure setup and talk next steps.

Topics include:

Github project setup and .gitignore
App Store Connect Users
New up a Xcode Project from a template
What is this app all about?
Initial wireframes
Kanji database options
SwiftUI vs Storyboards
How to use Github Projects

About

Mon, 01 Jan 0001 00:00:00 +0000

About

Philly CocoaHeads is the Philadelphia area Mac and iOS programming group, a chapter of the worldwide CocoaHeads organization.

Our mission is to help local developers learn and master Apple developer technologies through social events and community. All skill levels are welcome.

All members, attending any of our events or otherwise participating in our community should adhere to our code of conduct.

If you are interesting in supporting our group, consider sponsoring us.

Code of Conduct

Mon, 01 Jan 0001 00:00:00 +0000

We value the participation of each member of the community and want everyone to have an enjoyable and fulfilling experience. Accordingly, all members are expected to show respect and courtesy to other members and the community at large.

To make clear what is expected, all members, organizers and volunteers associated with the Philly CocoaHeads community are required to conform to the following Code of Conduct.

Code of Conduct

The Philly CocoaHeads community is dedicated to providing a harassment-free experience for everyone, regardless of gender, sexual orientation, disability, physical appearance, body size, race, or religion. We do not tolerate harassment of participants in any form.

Events

Mon, 01 Jan 0001 00:00:00 +0000

Events

Main Meeting

Next Main Meeting

Thursday, May 14, 2026 5:45pm to 8:00pm

Vanguard
2300 Chestnut St, Philadelphia, PA 19103

RSVP @ Luma

Our next Main Meeting is Beyond the Simulator: Perspectives on Modern App Development, hosted by Vanguard at 2300 Chestnut St in Philadelphia. We will have talks from fellow developers and designers on topics ranging from UI design to AI integration, including Metal shaders and using Claude Code with Xcode.

June Meeting Agenda

Mon, 01 Jan 0001 00:00:00 +0000

June Meeting Agenda

The next Philly CocoaHeads meeting will be virtual on Thursday, June 13th. Join us online for a virtual social hour, from 7:00-8:00PM (bring your own pizza). We’re resuming monthly meetings virtually for the time being in a more casual format, akin to the social hour that kicks off our in-person meetings.

We’ll be meeting via Zoom (link will be on Meetup after you RSVP). Please RSVP via Meetup http://www.meetup.com/PhillyCocoaHeads/.

Slack

Mon, 01 Jan 0001 00:00:00 +0000

Slack

Slack is a group messaging system we use to keep in touch outside of events.

You can download the Slack client for Mac, iOS or use the website version.

To get an invite to the Philly CocoaHead Slack use this form:

Philly CocoaHead Slack

If you have any other questions or concerns, let us know.

Sponsorship

Mon, 01 Jan 0001 00:00:00 +0000

Sponsorship

Philly CocoaHeads has always tried to have a very low barrier of entry for participation. Consequently, we do not have any formal membership dues or event fees. We do however have real running costs (from pizza to hosting services) and welcome sponsorship from companies that benefit from our presence in the community and who are looking to reach out to Apple developers.

Sponsorship is offered per month for $200. Should you decide to sponsor you’ll get:

Videos

Mon, 01 Jan 0001 00:00:00 +0000

Videos

We record and publish many of our talks from our monthly meetings on YouTube.