This Week in Mobile: Dealing With The Evolution of Swift

Last week brought about the 2.3 release of Android Studio, with improvements in the instant run Constraint Layout support, as well as a new App Link Assistant.

iOS 

In Swift Changes Considered Harmful, Craig Hockenberry discusses the negative impact of Swift’s fast changing syntax. Have you also been caught out with sample code from Apple that is no longer applicable because of syntax changes?  

To get a real handle on iOS programming, you need to understand completion handlers. Bob Lee has written an excellent introduction to Completion Handlers in Swift that you should read if you’re struggling with the concept. 

The iMessage App Store was big news at the launch of iOS 10, but has it lived up to the hype? Adam Howell investigates in Is the iMessage App Story Dying or Already Dead?

Want to use RxSwift in your app? Free up some time and Learn & Master the Basics of RxSwift in 10 Minutes.

Here’s a really useful tip on how to Copy Xib to Storyboard.

Some projects to check out: 

• ios-twitter-image-pipeline: Twitter Image Pipeline is a robust and performant image loading and caching framework for iOS clients.
• Guitar: A cross-platform String library written in Swift.
• Paparazzo: An iOS component for picking and editing photos.
• set-simulator-location: CLI for setting a location in the iOS simulator.

Android 

Making your code open source sounds easy, but there’s a lot more to consider when creating libraries for others to use. Learn about some of these in Things I Wish I Knew When I Started Building Android SDK/Libraries 

Most apps rely on good internet connections to serve their content. Inconsistent connections lead to big problems, so you need to have an Offline First strategy.  Read how one app achieved this in Offline Support: “Try Again, Later” no more.

map() or flatMap(), creating Observables the right way, and how to handle Backpressure: here are Five Not So Obvious Things About RxJava. 

Some projects to check out: 

• vlayout: vlayout is a powerful LayoutManager extension for RecyclerView, that provides a group of layouts for RecyclerView. Make it able to handle a complicated situation when in a grid, list, and other layouts in the same recyclerview.
• AppIconNameChanger: A library to change Android launcher App Icon and App Name programmatically!
• Daily: Daily is a content collection Android client, base on Material Design + MVP + RxJava + Retrofit.
• Pinview: A pinview library for Android.

General 

Some useful advice for managers and team leaders here: Your team doesn’t work for you, you work for them. If you’re the type of leader who is prone to micro-management, then this might change your mind. 

Here are four excellent examples of brand designing from 2017 so far, including Mozilla and Subway’s brand redesigns.

Here’s a great story about how one developer found a way to make $240K+ on the saturated App Store.