Latest Posts

What Is Stopping You From Shipping

Last month, I wrote about building and shipping something, putting something into people's hands. I understand that life gets in the way from time to time, but I am genuinely wondering if you are creating something.

in Opinion

Core Data Relationships and Delete Rules

From the moment you start working with relationships, it becomes evident that Core Data is not a database. It is much more than that. Delete rules are a fine example of the framework's strength and flexibility. They are one of the conveniences that make working with Core Data enjoyable.

in Core Data

Never Stop Learning

The mobile space is still very young, relatively speaking, and it evolves at an incredible pace. With Apple and Google heavily investing in their platforms, the speed with which mobile platforms evolve requires developers to focus and learn non-stop.

in Opinion

Add Sections to Table View With NSFetchedResultsController and Swift

Core Data With NSFetchedResultsController and Swift

In this tutorial, we add sections to the table view of quotes. Each section contains the quotes of a particular author. If you want to follow along, download the source files of this tutorial at the bottom of the tutorial.

in Core Data

Respond to Updates Using the NSFetchedResultsControllerDelegate Protocol

Core Data With NSFetchedResultsController and Swift

In this tutorial, we add the ability to update quotes. Not only do we want the table view to reflect the changes we make to a quote, we also want to make sure the sort order of the quotes is updated when a quote is modified. You guessed it. The NSFetchedResultsController class and the NSFetchedResultsControllerDelegate protocol make this almost trivial.

in Core Data

Implement the NSFetchedResultsControllerDelegate Protocol With Swift

Core Data With NSFetchedResultsController and Swift

In yesterday's tutorial, we populated a table view with quotes using the NSFetchedResultsController class. But the table view is currently empty since we haven't added the ability to add quotes yet.

in Core Data

Populate a Table View With NSFetchedResultsController and Swift

Core Data With NSFetchedResultsController and Swift

Even though you don't need to use the NSFetchedResultsController class to populate a table view, I find myself using it quite a bit in Core Data applications. Swift 3 has substantially improved support for Core Data and the NSFetchedResultsController class also benefits from these optimizations.

in Core Data

Five In-App Purchase Mistakes to Avoid

The StoreKit framework has been around for many years and I actually enjoy working with it. As with many other frameworks, such as Core Data, you need to understand the ins and outs of the framework to avoid common mistakes. In this tutorial, I focus on five common mistakes developers make when using the StoreKit framework in a Cocoa project.

in StoreKit

Actionable Notifications With the User Notifications Framework

An Introduction to the User Notifications Framework

In the previous tutorial, you learned how to schedule local notifications using the User Notifications framework. As I mentioned, the UILocalNotification class is deprecated as of iOS 10 and scheduling local notifications is a bit different if you use the User Notifications framework. And this also applies to notification actions. The result, however, is a transparent, flexible API that I am sure you are going to appreciate.

in iOS

Drawing Shapes In Swift With PaintCode

PaintCode is a great macOS application for drawing shapes and converting them to code. I have been using PaintCode for several years and it has saved me countless hours and a lot of frustration. The buttons in Samsara, for example, shown in the screenshot below, are drawn in code using PaintCode.

in Tools

Local Notifications With the User Notifications Framework

An Introduction to the User Notifications Framework

As of iOS 10, UILocalNotification is deprecated. Scheduling and handling local notifications is now the responsibility of the User Notifications framework, a brand new framework that is much more capable than the UILocalNotification class.

in iOS

How to Use dispatch_after in Swift 3

If you have already made the jump to Swift 3, you have probably noticed that the API of several libraries and frameworks has changed ... a lot. The API of Grand Central Dispatch, for example, underwent a dramatic makeover. Using Grand Central Dispatch in Swift 3 is elegant, concise, and more intuitive.

in Swift