Under the Radar

◼   ► welcome to under the radar a show about

◼   ► independent iOS app development I'm

◼   ► Marco Arment and I'm David Smith under

◼   ► the radar is never longer than 30

◼   ► minutes so let's get started today we

◼   ► want to talk about a topic that is near

◼   ► and dear to me it is coming late to

◼   ► things being late bloomers to new

◼   ► technologies and new techniques or new

◼   ► abilities things like interface builder

◼   ► use things like you know if you

◼   ► controller containment you know they

◼   ► basically things that that I either

◼   ► didn't do early on or that I minimally

◼   ► used early on or just never even gave a

◼   ► shot and and that I later and more

◼   ► recently have come to come to realize oh

◼   ► this is actually useful or even maybe

◼   ► now it's useful you know maybe it wasn't

◼   ► that useful in 1.0 but maybe now it has

◼   ► become more useful over time as Apple

◼   ► has made these things better this

◼   ► happens to me all the time my default

◼   ► reaction to new technologies coming

◼   ► coming by is I probably don't need that

◼   ► because much of the time that's true but

◼   ► but that that attitude makes it hard to

◼   ► find those times when it's not true and

◼   ► it often makes me come late to things

◼   ► now the benefit of coming late to things

◼   ► any of the issues that 1.0 brought those

◼   ► have probably been worked out or you

◼   ► will have heard from a bunch of people

◼   ► like this this technology or this thing

◼   ► is not worth using but the ones that are

◼   ► worth using by the time you come late to

◼   ► them yeah you've missed some time of

◼   ► potential improvements and efficiencies

◼   ► and everything but when you get there

◼   ► it's really awesome and easy to use and

◼   ► the tools are better and everything's

◼   ► more stable

◼   ► so it isn't all bad being being a

◼   ► conservative curmudgeon like I am about

◼   ► new technologies are you that way at all

◼   ► yes so I I'm a very strange person in

◼   ► terms of I have like these two different

◼   ► mindsets when it comes to like new

◼   ► technology so you know wEDC

◼   ► Apple announces here's the whole new set

◼   ► of stuff that are nowadays now available

◼   ► for Apple developers and I get really

◼   ► excited and look into and very often

◼   ► start using like totally new

◼   ► technologies you know things that

◼   ► weren't possible before that are now

◼   ► possible and I'll be one of the first

◼   ► people in the world to run down that and

◼   ► try and use it and see we're all it's

◼   ► often it's you know kind of whore half

◼   ► broken and the beta period is really

◼   ► tricky but I like that part of the

◼   ► development cycle and enjoy it

◼   ► whenever Apple introduces something that

◼   ► is a a replacement or extension to

◼   ► something existing you know and so this

◼   ► is a pattern that I think Apple I've

◼   ► seen Apple do many times you know I

◼   ► started developing on iPhone OS 2.2 I

◼   ► think was the first OS version that I

◼   ► was building against Wow it was just way

◼   ► back in the day and you see what it took

◼   ► to build something then and now so much

◼   ► of the stuff that we would write custom

◼   ► you know custom frameworks for or have

◼   ► to do ourselves is now just like built

◼   ► into the system they're all these things

◼   ► that you know a problem that we had to

◼   ► solve manually or directly before and

◼   ► then Apple comes along and says you know

◼   ► enough people are doing this that we

◼   ► should probably create a system method

◼   ► for doing this that'll be more stable

◼   ► and almost certainly more better

◼   ► resilient against iOS changes you know

◼   ► cuz I you know like when iOS 9 goes to

◼   ► iOS 10 Apple's gonna make sure that you

◼   ► know collectionview still works

◼   ► correctly

◼   ► whereas if I've had my own custom

◼   ► collection view class suddenly I'm the

◼   ► one who has to go in and make all the

◼   ► changes to make sure that it works

◼   ► nicely on the new OS and so Apple is

◼   ► rightfully so extending and expanding

◼   ► the universe of things that we can do

◼   ► but I always struggle with the feeling

◼   ► of if I have an existing solution for

◼   ► something that kind of works and that

◼   ► I'm familiar with is a really a hard

◼   ► sell to kind of tear down everything

◼   ► that I built and then replace it with

◼   ► apples thing and especially like you

◼   ► said early on because in that early

◼   ► phase is when there's the most bugs and

◼   ► then you can have the really bad feeling

◼   ► of like regret where it's like oh I

◼   ► should just go back to doing it the way

◼   ► that I used to do it because I knew that

◼   ► I knew at least I knew where all the

◼   ► problems were if there was a bug I could

◼   ► fix it and that was the you know a

◼   ► mindset that's a very easy trap to get

◼   ► into but on the flip side I definitely

◼   ► look at some of these things and I

◼   ► wonder if I'm missing out and history

◼   ► maybe has shown them some ways I'm

◼   ► missing out in some ways I'm not you

◼   ► know obviously the best thing is when

◼   ► you see a technology fly by you don't

◼   ► embrace it and then it ends up dying

◼   ► you know like iCloud core data sync for

◼   ► example like as a technology that when

◼   ► it came out I was like

◼   ► that is interesting like I use core data

◼   ► and I sync data to a server I wonder if

◼   ► this would be cool and I kind of poked

◼   ► my veena poked around a little bit but

◼   ► never really went down their road

◼   ► because I had an existing infrastructure

◼   ► because it turns out that was a great

◼   ► situation right I think that was you

◼   ► know officially killed this last summer

◼   ► and if I had gone all gone all you know

◼   ► all in on that I would have been in a

◼   ► world of hurt but on the flip side here

◼   ► if I had seen cloud kit when it came out

◼   ► and went in on that that's the vastness

◼   ► a technology that seems to be ascendant

◼   ► that seems to be on its way up and so at

◼   ► this point this part it's like huh maybe

◼   ► I should be using that maybe that would

◼   ► be a wise thing for me to be using and

◼   ► having the benefit of time makes that

◼   ► choice a lot easier I think and so you

◼   ► there is certainly a benefit to if a

◼   ► technology is being replaced and/or

◼   ► improved upon that I think you can be

◼   ► more conservative than if it's something

◼   ► totally new

◼   ► you know then just go for it and try it

◼   ► and you know if it doesn't work well

◼   ► yeah what have you lost but that having

◼   ► being a bit more conservative when it's

◼   ► something that is just an extension for

◼   ► me in any way feels like the right

◼   ► approach it also it helps to you know as

◼   ► you mentioned like catching things when

◼   ► they're when they're ascendant that

◼   ► really helps with keeping up with Apple

◼   ► basically keeping up with the new

◼   ► devices that launch new OS capabilities

◼   ► Apple makes it easy on you if you kind

◼   ► of follow their guidelines if you if you

◼   ► kind of like take like the tracks they

◼   ► lay out for you like they pave out a way

◼   ► that they want you to do things whether

◼   ► it's the language choice in this case

◼   ► they do now its Swift whether it's

◼   ► things like using interface builder

◼   ► using storyboards you know using

◼   ► adaptive layouts like all these things

◼   ► like Apple makes things easy to do

◼   ► things their way and then generally

◼   ► speaking if you do things their way you

◼   ► will have less friction or things will

◼   ► be easier for you in the near future as

◼   ► they introduce new technologies new

◼   ► devices things like that and and you

◼   ► don't have to do things their way but if

◼   ► you don't you're generally setting

◼   ► yourself up for more work like for me

◼   ► one of the biggest things about that was

◼   ► was when they brought an adaptive

◼   ► for the iPad like that that changed a

◼   ► lot of things for a lot of people

◼   ► because like if you if you had first of

◼   ► all feel like a separate iPad app and an

◼   ► iPhone app that broke everything because

◼   ► all of a sudden Lee well now your iPad

◼   ► app kind of has a reason to have the

◼   ► entire iPhone app with it so that it can

◼   ► run in skinny mode on the sidebar and if

◼   ► you if you were doing things in a basic

◼   ► way with like a typical you know UI

◼   ► split view controller things like that

◼   ► like then things were easier for you but

◼   ► if you if you were you know away from

◼   ► the Apple way you had more work to do I

◼   ► think - it's an interesting point about

◼   ► how Apple tends to strongly sort of

◼   ► Telegraph where they're going yeah with

◼   ► their announcements that this has been a

◼   ► pattern that we've seen many times where

◼   ► Apple introduces a you know a they solve

◼   ► a problem or they make something easier

◼   ► that you know either you know end of

◼   ► that fall sometimes when it's yeah I

◼   ► remember when you know they first

◼   ► changed the size of the iPhone like that

◼   ► was the year that we got Auto layout if

◼   ► I remember right yep

◼   ► and like they do those kinds of moves

◼   ► where they can because obviously they

◼   ► know what their road map is for the next

◼   ► six months for the next year for the

◼   ► next two years and they can look forward

◼   ► to what that look what that's going to

◼   ► be and start preparing you know pairing

◼   ► the ground for what that's what's going

◼   ► to make development on that platform the

◼   ► best now and so there's definitely a

◼   ► wisdom in looking at what what in order

◼   ► these new technologies and extensions

◼   ► that they're adding to the to the

◼   ► frameworks that what is like asking

◼   ► yourself well what could this mean like

◼   ► they started adding the size classes and

◼   ► there's I always remember there was in

◼   ► the first size class WC session where

◼   ► there's like they have the quadrant of

◼   ► like the compact and wide and so they

◼   ► have like this one is this you know

◼   ► these devices fall in this category this

◼   ► these devices fall in this category

◼   ► these devices fall in this category and

◼   ► this to this category we don't actually

◼   ► have any devices that category yet and

◼   ► obviously like super visual you could

◼   ► say like huh you know that's just the

◼   ► way it fell out it's like no Apple is

◼   ► actually telling us that I think in that

◼   ► case it was the I believe it was the the

◼   ► 6 plus and landscape which which has I

◼   ► believe it has the the normal which is

◼   ► like iPad size or

◼   ► chantal class and the compact vertical

◼   ► class yeah exactly like those types of

◼   ► things like Apple is telling you

◼   ► something there and so being aware of it

◼   ► even if you're not going to adopt the

◼   ► new technology it's probably a good

◼   ► thing to be kind of suspicious when they

◼   ► start changing things to see like what

◼   ► could this mean down the road cuz

◼   ► they're not gonna waste their time just

◼   ► adding you know adding stuff for no

◼   ► reason

◼   ► yeah I mean one of the things for me

◼   ► that so to get into some specific

◼   ► examples here one of the things for me

◼   ► in this area was viewcontroller

◼   ► containment or have having child view

◼   ► controllers basically and implementing

◼   ► your own parent view controllers and you

◼   ► know for I think for most iOS developers

◼   ► you've seen you know kind of view

◼   ► controller bloat disease it is so easy

◼   ► to have tons of code in view controllers

◼   ► because that's kind of just where

◼   ► everything falls and I know there's

◼   ► different models there's like mvvm and

◼   ► stuff I haven't like gotten some any of

◼   ► those yet so I can't really speak to

◼   ► them but every iOS developer has seen

◼   ► the the massive view controller syndrome

◼   ► and one of the things that helps that a

◼   ► lot is by making child view controller

◼   ► so like you know like an overcast you

◼   ► know I'll have like different panels and

◼   ► everything and rather than having like

◼   ► on the nap playing screen they're like

◼   ► the effects panel rather than having

◼   ► that be part of the now playing view

◼   ► controller that is its own view

◼   ► controller that can be presented or

◼   ► stuck in various places you know just

◼   ► using the stock stuff using things like

◼   ► popovers and split views and navigation

◼   ► of course you know all these things page

◼   ► view controllers using all those things

◼   ► can get you very very far but one of the

◼   ► biggest things I've done recently I

◼   ► started making my own parent view

◼   ► controllers also now one of the things I

◼   ► did was I I have replaced UI split view

◼   ► controller with my own custom version of

◼   ► something that does fairly similar

◼   ► things but does them kind of more my way

◼   ► because when I when I was looking at

◼   ► overcast code I have spent so much time

◼   ► and there were so much like hacky weird

◼   ► like configuration and exception code

◼   ► things like in you know intercepting

◼   ► traitcollection changes and weird things

◼   ► like that all to get UI split view

◼   ► controller to do what I wanted the

◼   ► amount of code I have to just bend this

◼   ► existing component to my will is so much

◼   ► and so fragile and and so hacky I can

◼   ► actually make my own split view

◼   ► equivalent controller that just does

◼   ► things the way I want them to want the

◼   ► way I want it to with actually far less

◼   ► code like buy it by a mile

◼   ► because the built-in components they

◼   ► have all these limitations in place that

◼   ► you know Apple thinks they should be

◼   ► designed this way but the reason one of

◼   ► the reasons necessary is because like

◼   ► they have all these different options

◼   ► and how you can configure them if they

◼   ► have to work in all the different ways

◼   ► they have they can't make as many

◼   ► assumptions as you can

◼   ► they can't rule out certain options that

◼   ► you won't use so in their

◼   ► implementations they're never going to

◼   ► accommodate everything but at the same

◼   ► time they have to be like so complex to

◼   ► accommodate all the things they do

◼   ► manage to to encompass when you make one

◼   ► for yourself you can do anything you

◼   ► want and only what you want and that's

◼   ► incredibly powerful and you know writing

◼   ► everything yourself is not always the

◼   ► best solution that's not always a good

◼   ► use of time but in cases like this like

◼   ► I've been fighting with UI splitview

◼   ► controller and and various like adaptive

◼   ► layout things for over a year now and

◼   ► it's just like this I I don't need to do

◼   ► this like why am I doing this when I

◼   ► could just write and so I took one day

◼   ► like let me see if I can write my own in

◼   ► one day and sure enough of course it was

◼   ► it was easier than I ever imagined

◼   ► because the the you know if you control

◼   ► containment stuff is very much here and

◼   ► how it's it's been a wrap for a while I

◼   ► think was ins Iowa it's like five or six

◼   ► it's it's kind of old right six I think

◼   ► yeah yeah so it's been out for a while

◼   ► so all the stuff was very very easy to

◼   ► do I also made a custom UI page view

◼   ► controller it basically didn't I want to

◼   ► do some some custom gesture and view

◼   ► handling that it just was not capable of

◼   ► doing without tons of hacks so I just

◼   ► made my own and my the one I made is not

◼   ► as good as theirs for general purpose

◼   ► use but for my use it's way better and

◼   ► it really is not that much code and it

◼   ► it's more it's more of like basically

◼   ► removing times where you have to really

◼   ► hack with UI kit because you like it's

◼   ► so complex there's so much there that it

◼   ► has to do and so much of my of my time

◼   ► designing interfaces in the past has

◼   ► been fighting UI kit to just try to

◼   ► customize something the way I want it

◼   ► and over time it's become easier but

◼   ► there's still places where you have to

◼   ► do it especially like around new

◼   ► technologies like adaptive UI and stuff

◼   ► like that when those things kind of come

◼   ► out and so to to hit yourself out of the

◼   ► business of hacking UI kit is so freeing

◼   ► and so so good for your overall code

◼   ► health and technical debt I highly

◼   ► recommend it and one of the biggest ways

◼   ► is view controller that you basically

◼   ► use and view controllers properly and

◼   ► not trying to hack the existing ones if

◼   ► they don't fit your needs

◼   ► yeah but I think what you're speaking

◼   ► there is such the strange tension that

◼   ► when you are looking at these new

◼   ► technologies because the base building

◼   ► blocks in iOS are overall I would say

◼   ► really really good like the number of

◼   ► things that you can build was just a

◼   ► scrollview

◼   ► his immense like I mean I was one of my

◼   ► favorite talks wotc I don't know if they

◼   ► did one this last year because I

◼   ► previously had always been like what's

◼   ► new in UI scrollview mmm and they would

◼   ► build these really sophisticated

◼   ► interactions that were just a scrollview

◼   ► at the end of the day and but it's that

◼   ► strange tension where if you use a page

◼   ► controller like it's like you can get

◼   ► that first thing working really quickly

◼   ► but you very cool you'll start to run

◼   ► out of runway and it's a question I

◼   ► suppose of how much control you want to

◼   ► have and how much you want to be

◼   ► responsible for all the weird edge cases

◼   ► all the strange issues that are gonna

◼   ► happen I suppose either way if you use

◼   ► UI page controller like there's just

◼   ► gonna be there's gonna be some issues

◼   ► that you just can't work around and

◼   ► you're just like oh well like it just

◼   ► doesn't work the way I like it to in

◼   ► this particular situation so then you're

◼   ► like okay let me just build my own and

◼   ► now of course you're like the important

◼   ► thing I think maybe is to say is when

◼   ► you do that you are it's good to be sort

◼   ► of cognizant and keep your eyes open for

◼   ► what you're taking on when you do that

◼   ► because you know apples engineering

◼   ► teams are know like they're not they're

◼   ► no slouches like they are really good at

◼   ► what they're doing and it takes a lot of

◼   ► engineering work to build the UI

◼   ► pagecontroller for example like that's

◼   ► not just a simple thing they threw

◼   ► together in a day and so if you're gonna

◼   ► replace it you probably need to be aware

◼   ► that you're it's gonna be a lot more

◼   ► work than you think and there's gonna be

◼   ► weird edges and problems that you're

◼   ► gonna have to run into you like I

◼   ► remember this with activity plus plus

◼   ► where it has this kind of custom

◼   ► animation where you starts off with the

◼   ► Rings and if you tap it like the Rings

◼   ► unfurl and turn into the bar graph which

◼   ► is this kind of cool animation that I

◼   ► thought of and I was like oh I really

◼   ► want to build this and I started to see

◼   ► if I could build this with UI view

◼   ► animation

◼   ► because I would far prefer to do it with

◼   ► some kind of built-in mechanism and in

◼   ► the end I couldn't because just it was

◼   ► just too complicated of a thing to get

◼   ► performant and to get to look right and

◼   ► so I ended up just building it myself

◼   ► using like raw core graphics that I you

◼   ► know I do the animation of each frame of

◼   ► that animation and draw its you know

◼   ► just like I'm just essentially just

◼   ► drawing that to a bit a bitmap and

◼   ► displaying it each frame which is great

◼   ► it looks just how I want it but it means

◼   ► there's all kinds of weird issues and

◼   ► performance problems and compatibility

◼   ► things between different platforms that

◼   ► if I was just using UI view animation

◼   ► just wouldn't happen and so really the

◼   ► trade-off was worth it like I couldn't

◼   ► do it at the other way but I kind of

◼   ► wish that I was able to use do so do it

◼   ► the other way and I think that's

◼   ► something when I don't think of these

◼   ► new technologies that Apple puts out

◼   ► like there's this I definitely always

◼   ► have that tugging sense of aw man I wish

◼   ► I could just use whatever it is I wish I

◼   ► could just use auto layout I wish I

◼   ► could just use size classes but then as

◼   ► soon as I hit that edge I have such this

◼   ► tension it's just saying like oh I'll

◼   ► just throw my hands up and walk away

◼   ► which is perhaps a bit childish well but

◼   ► you know it's you have to always be

◼   ► defensive of your time like when you're

◼   ► when you're trying out something new or

◼   ► when you're thinking about rewriting a

◼   ► system component for your own use like

◼   ► it's very easy to fall into a time hole

◼   ► here and just burn tons of time doing

◼   ► something that actually isn't productive

◼   ► part of the the judgement of when to do

◼   ► that and when not to just comes with

◼   ► doing it wrong for a number of years and

◼   ► eventually gaining that wisdom and part

◼   ► of it is kind of just luck you know a

◼   ► lot of times you can't really tell

◼   ► what's gonna be a good use of your time

◼   ► upfront but you know that's the risk you

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◼   ► sponsoring our show one other thing that

◼   ► I was thinking about with this topic

◼   ► though is it's something that I wrote

◼   ► that I you run into if you are behind

◼   ► the times like I'm very often behind the

◼   ► way you know like Apple has this new

◼   ► technology this new approach that

◼   ► they're recommending and I'm late in

◼   ► adopting it the thing that I always

◼   ► noticed too is that you'll run into that

◼   ► can be really annoying is suddenly all

◼   ► the documentation all the example code

◼   ► all the things that you see on Stack

◼   ► Overflow suddenly don't work for you

◼   ► anymore thank you that you have to not

◼   ► only not only have you built your own

◼   ► approach like you were even if it's not

◼   ► like you're just going down the road

◼   ► it's like doing something custom like if

◼   ► you just have old code then suddenly you

◼   ► have this new thing that Apple has put

◼   ► out there pushing and that's where all

◼   ► their focus is going suddenly that's

◼   ► where all the documentation is written

◼   ► for and the you know the example code

◼   ► they publish will use that new thing and

◼   ► so there's not a lot of great examples

◼   ► and it becomes harder and harder and

◼   ► like the biggest example is probably

◼   ► Swift like I remember sort of you had

◼   ► there was this transition period where

◼   ► all of a sudden all the answers on Stack

◼   ► Overflow for you know questions I had

◼   ► about the new technologies we're all all

◼   ► the example code was just written in

◼   ► Swift or you know people like snippets

◼   ► and that can become really awkward and

◼   ► it's probably a good reason to try and

◼   ► adopt some of these things with some

◼   ► urgency just to not be sort of fall

◼   ► behind to a degree that you just can't

◼   ► work out what to do or perhaps moreover

◼   ► you're wasting time like I remember

◼   ► sitting there wasting time like trying

◼   ► to translate the swift code into

◼   ► objective-c and then trying to work out

◼   ► how to then take that concept and apply

◼   ► it into my own app but I have to do this

◼   ► like level of indirection whereas if it

◼   ► my app wasn't Swift like you like oh I

◼   ► see what they're doing there I can build

◼   ► it you know for myself now and that's

◼   ► something that I think it takes a lot of

◼   ► experience to realize that you're not

◼   ► just running into technical issues

◼   ► you're running into like educational and

◼   ► learning issues as

◼   ► well oh yeah but you know that's just

◼   ► kind of par for the course and it has

◼   ► thing to move on and new things come in

◼   ► you know it's kind of like part of the

◼   ► cost of sticking with old stuff is that

◼   ► everyone else moves on it seems you know

◼   ► and that that isn't actually no it isn't

◼   ► everyone that's how it seems like when

◼   ► you're searching for help or

◼   ► documentation or or looking for where

◼   ► Apple's attention is going like once the

◼   ► new thing comes out all those people

◼   ► move on to it and if you are lagging

◼   ► behind or you string the old thing

◼   ► that's just again it's just part of the

◼   ► cost of doing business you know oh sure

◼   ► but it's it's a weird feeling when

◼   ► you're like it's some ways I love that I

◼   ► have some you know I've apps on the App

◼   ► Store that have been have existed for

◼   ► years and never see this is a it's I

◼   ► took a very classic issue in software

◼   ► engineering of what are you dealing with

◼   ► legacy code that you have things that

◼   ► work they should go back to and I mean

◼   ► it's a crazy feeling when you go back

◼   ► and look at code and run blame and get

◼   ► and you see you know this was code was

◼   ► written back in 2009 or 2010 what was I

◼   ► doing like why did I have this strange

◼   ► exception and so often you run into this

◼   ► situation where like you were coding

◼   ► around an iOS bug in iOS 5 that you no

◼   ► longer need to code around and at some

◼   ► point like you have this weird cycle

◼   ► where you're coding around to prop a bug

◼   ► that then gets resolved and then your

◼   ► code your fix starts to actually be the

◼   ► bug and caused the problem because

◼   ► you're doing stuff that isn't is sort of

◼   ► counter to what the modern approaches

◼   ► and that's probably why it's so hard to

◼   ► be a UI could engineer yeah no I

◼   ► definitely don't envy the you know and

◼   ► envy that team where they do this really

◼   ► cool amazing work but like the number of

◼   ► day having at work across all the

◼   ► different devices and all the different

◼   ► things and having an iOS because that

◼   ► another thing that's kind of crazy is

◼   ► the way they approach with binary

◼   ► compatibility and like you can still run

◼   ► an iOS 4 app on iOS 10 like it'll

◼   ► probably be a little bit broken and

◼   ► janky but like they do a lot of work to

◼   ► keep things forward which is perhaps

◼   ► another year like I was saying earlier

◼   ► but another reason why being like I keep

◼   ► telling myself to be less of a

◼   ► curmudgeon about the new stuff because

◼   ► I'm probably wasting a lot of

◼   ► that you know Apple is paying engineers

◼   ► to do this work and then I'm just like

◼   ► walking past them and saying nope nope

◼   ► I'll do it myself I'll take care of this

◼   ► myself where that's probably an

◼   ► inefficient use of my time yeah all

◼   ► right so let me give a few examples of

◼   ► some of the more recent things that I

◼   ► have that I've been working with in the

◼   ► last few weeks doing overcast 3.0 in the

◼   ► last few versions I've made extensive

◼   ► use of kvo key-value observing and this

◼   ► has been helped tremendously by the

◼   ► Facebook the FB kvo controller it is a

◼   ► fantastic open source component I highly

◼   ► recommend that anybody using kvo or

◼   ► curious about kbo do it with the FB kvo

◼   ► controller don't do worth of raw calls

◼   ► because they're full of bug potential

◼   ► and the Facebook one boys a lot of that

◼   ► is very nice to use generally this is

◼   ► you know this is in very short terms a

◼   ► way to have some code notified whenever

◼   ► a certain value of a different object

◼   ► changes so this is kind of and I think

◼   ► this is what reactive cocoa is all about

◼   ► mostly it's like basically and please

◼   ► forgive me if that's wrong but basically

◼   ► like kind of having having views and

◼   ► controls basically update themselves

◼   ► based on values that changed and also

◼   ► similar to what OS tended with bindings

◼   ► which have never never made its iOS but

◼   ► honestly having used them very briefly

◼   ► and they're kind of cool I know people I

◼   ► know there's potential issues but they

◼   ► can't be pretty cool where I've been

◼   ► moving basically is moving rather than

◼   ► having like a view controller that has a

◼   ► stock UI switch and having the view

◼   ► controller manage the state of that UI

◼   ► switch and be notified when the switch

◼   ► is toggled to go change the value to

◼   ► assign it the value when it's loaded or

◼   ► when the value changes moving all of

◼   ► that into a custom subclass of UI switch

◼   ► or whatever the control is and having

◼   ► the control manage itself and that takes

◼   ► tons of code out of the view controllers

◼   ► and makes way more reusable components

◼   ► way easier if you're in testing it's way

◼   ► easier to test these things also and it

◼   ► really eliminates tons of potential

◼   ► weirdness and bugs and edge cases like

◼   ► one of the screens that I just made

◼   ► uses a table view that has a couple of

◼   ► switches and buttons in it in the old

◼   ► way of me doing these things I'd either

◼   ► not monitor for underlying changes like

◼   ► if a change gets synced over that that

◼   ► would change one of those switches or

◼   ► buttons or

◼   ► I'd monitor from the viewcontroller and

◼   ► if any of those values change I just

◼   ► call table view reload ruler data and

◼   ► just reload the entire table and that

◼   ► sucks like if you can avoid doing that

◼   ► you should and I don't need to reload a

◼   ► whole table to change the value of one

◼   ► switch that there were like the

◼   ► underlying data to happen to change it

◼   ► during during that views presence on

◼   ► screen I can just subclass that switch

◼   ► and just have like rather than having

◼   ► like you know a whole bunch of playing

◼   ► UI switches in the table view the one

◼   ► that has the rotation setting that's now

◼   ► an OC rotation switch and now I can in

◼   ► my table view when I'm making the cell I

◼   ► can just say accessory view equals OC

◼   ► rotation switch and the switch itself in

◼   ► its code man it watches the value it

◼   ► adds itself as a target and has its own

◼   ► target implementation of like here's how

◼   ► I'm going to change this value now and

◼   ► you know and this is basically making

◼   ► these components self-contained and

◼   ► where this really shines not only

◼   ► cleaning up your view controllers and

◼   ► code reuse and testability and

◼   ► everything else where this really is

◼   ► awesome is another bad word that I I

◼   ► didn't use for a long time interface

◼   ► builder I recently started using

◼   ► interface builder to design some of my

◼   ► main screens as well as I started using

◼   ► IB designing and this is this is a thing

◼   ► where you can in a couple of methods and

◼   ► put a couple annotations on your file

◼   ► just look up IB design a ball you can

◼   ► basically make custom controls appear

◼   ► correctly interface builder so if you if

◼   ► you need to draw draw things custom on

◼   ► on a button or style in a certain way or

◼   ► whatever else you can do all that and

◼   ► have that show up interface builder

◼   ► rather than just having a big empty

◼   ► white view or like a none store

◼   ► something like that using that basically

◼   ► I'm trying to get as much as much code

◼   ► as possible out of view controllers

◼   ► because again it's that's kind of like a

◼   ► bad technical debt bug potential kind of

◼   ► written area so just try to make smaller

◼   ► view controllers and a big thing a big

◼   ► thing with that is using interface

◼   ► builder as much as possible and

◼   ► interface builder is not like a panacea

◼   ► but if you if you do my my approach of

◼   ► like having self-contained components

◼   ► that manage themselves and if you take

◼   ► advantage of things like I'd be

◼   ► desirable a lot of things become easier

◼   ► for instance portrait and landscape

◼   ► differences with Auto layout oh again

◼   ► I'm also using auto layout now interface

◼   ► builder

◼   ► that had really I know yeah that's like

◼   ► I thought I'd never do that but I one

◼   ► day I just kind of plaid to them like

◼   ► you know I mean I'm gonna learn how to

◼   ► do it and then I can decide whether I

◼   ► really need to use it or not and it

◼   ► turns out yeah it's not it's not easier

◼   ► intuitive but neither is anything else

◼   ► about interface builder and and once you

◼   ► figure out oh you have to like right

◼   ► drag from itself to itself like weird

◼   ► well these all the little weird things

◼   ► you have to do to make interface builder

◼   ► work correctly there most of us are

◼   ► totally undiscoverable once you figure

◼   ► those out Auto layout Internet face

◼   ► builder really isn't that bad it's not

◼   ► easy but it actually can be more

◼   ► productive in some case depending what

◼   ► you're doing it's what you know basic

◼   ► things like if you're gonna have a

◼   ► difference between a portrait and

◼   ► landscape layout it makes us so much

◼   ► easier to it in fact my one wish for it

◼   ► is that I wish that the size classes

◼   ► were more granular more like CSS like I

◼   ► would love to be able to say if the you

◼   ► know if the width of this view is less

◼   ► than 300 points then change this

◼   ► condition rather than just being like if

◼   ► this is horizontal or vertical compact

◼   ► you know the the size classes that we

◼   ► have now are very coarse and I would

◼   ► like things to be more powerful more

◼   ► like what CSS does with like media

◼   ► queries and stuff but other than that I

◼   ► I have had fantastic luck in in my

◼   ► recent redesign and and cleanup of this

◼   ► code basically using stuff that's new to

◼   ► me that is not new to anybody else in

◼   ► iOS development I'm still not using

◼   ► storyboards but not going crazy no no I

◼   ► I mean that's that would be crazy but I

◼   ► have found it really like these things

◼   ► make so many things easier like like the

◼   ► like as I mentioned where they're

◼   ► self-contained buttons and things that

◼   ► makes it easier implement custom themes

◼   ► because I have all the controls that

◼   ► have a theme Abul property I have them

◼   ► monitor for appearance changes in my

◼   ► appearance manager class and then they

◼   ► can just redraw themselves makes it

◼   ► easier to support dynamic text that way

◼   ► also because I had a little trick in my

◼   ► app where my my appearance did change

◼   ► notification I just mapped it to the

◼   ► system's

◼   ► text category size did change

◼   ► notification so basically all my

◼   ► handling like if you if if you switch

◼   ► into into or out of dark mode and

◼   ► overcast or if you go and change system

◼   ► font size and

◼   ► so all my labels can redraw themselves

◼   ► everything can resize itself I can do

◼   ► this without this kind of technique and

◼   ► without any ologies I for many years I

◼   ► have but it just makes it so much easier

◼   ► and more reliable to do it this way and

◼   ► it makes the code a lot more manageable

◼   ► and and it does make it easier to take

◼   ► advantage of new technologies that Apple

◼   ► introduced it's going forward and so

◼   ► that's that's I think where most of the

◼   ► value is here so you know I guess maybe

◼   ► I'll uh probably try Swift pretty soon

◼   ► but I don't maybe I don't go crazy there

◼   ► either we'll see not yet just you know

◼   ► one step at a time slowly slowly walk

◼   ► down this road yeah exactly

◼   ► all right well we're out of time this

◼   ► week thank you very much everybody for

◼   ► listening and we will talk to you next

◼   ► week bye