It’s great that Apple has opened not only Swift’s code but also its reasoning, ongoing development work, and plans for the future. Here are some interesting things I’ve found:
- There’s a detailed change log that goes back to 2013.
- There’s a paper about the design of Swift 2’s error handling. It seems to have been written before they decided to automatically remove
AndReturnError from the Objective-C method name.
- They are thinking about Rust and avoiding the costs of reference counting.
- They are working on allocating objects on the stack.
- You can now download the iBook as an ePub without using the iBooks app.
- They are open to the idea of built-in regex support.
- Despite the early bluster about not needing macros, a real hygienic macro system has not been ruled out.
E-books iOS Language Design Mac Macros Memory Management NSError Open-source Software Optimization Programming Regular Expression Swift Programming Language
David Heinemeier Hansson:
Fourth, Medium has listened to the concerns of publishers. By offering custom domains, we’re ensured that no permalink ever has to break, even if we leave the platform. By committing to never showing advertisement, unless the publisher consents, we can remain with Basecamp as the sole commercial sponsor of Signal v. Noise. Between these two facts, we feel confident about owning our content and our legacy, regardless of where Medium-The-$82M-VC-Funded-Company goes.
Daniel Jalkut:
So when any new Medium post is linked, it points directly to the “m.signalvnoise.com”, and is handled by Medium. When any older post is linked, it goes directly to “signalvnoise.com” and is handled the same as ever. The one change? When the main page at signalvnoise.com is visited, it redirects with a “302 Found” response to the Medium site, getting a casual visitor on track to viewing only the latest posts.
Medium Web
Joe Rosensteel:
For me, the Apple TV was recognized by the Remote app on my iPhone 6 and I was able to use direction, menu, play/pause, and —most important of all— the iPhone’s virtual keyboard. This does not cover the full range of features that the Siri Remote can handle, and there are interface bits that the 4th generation Apple TV does not support (the options element does nothing).
There was no update at all to the Remote app.
Presumably this is because of customer feedback because Apple previously said that there were no plans to support the Remote app. Then there’s the announcement of a new remote app coming by June 2016, a year after the Apple TV 4’s announcement:.
That is a horse of a different color. Was this never part of the plan for the full product? If it was part of the plan, why was it never mentioned before now? Why mention it half a year from the release of the app instead of at the unveiling?
So much about this product seems confused.
Apple TV iOS iOS App Keyboard
Anick Jesdanun (via Nick Heer):
Apple says its mapping service is now used more than three times as often as its next leading competitor on iPhones and iPads, with more than 5 billion map-related requests each week. Research firm comScore says Apple has a modest lead over Google on iPhones in the US, though comScore measures how many people use a service in a given month rather than how often.
Or, we could look at this as 1 in 4 iOS users going to the trouble to download a third-party app and choosing to use it regularly. You have to be motivated to do this because Apple doesn’t let you change the default maps app that Phone, Calendar, Mail, and Siri take you to. And even if you don’t intend to use Apple’s mapping service, you are voting for it every time you view a calendar item or Find My Friends.
Apple Maps Google Maps iOS iOS 9 Maps
iOS 9.2 unfortunately doesn’t fix the three most annoying iOS 9 issues for me:
- The Shift key doesn’t work the first time when typing the passcode to unlock my iPad mini and iPhone 6s. I have to swipe back to the lock screen and then swipe back to the keyboard first.
- Opening the Camera app pauses audio that’s playing.
- The Camera app doesn’t remember that I always want to use HDR.
I hit all of these multiple times per day.
Camera is one of the most important apps for me, so it’s frustrating that using it is so annoying. The obvious solution would be to try a third-party app, but I have yet to find one that I like. ProCamera (App Store) seems promising, but it’s more complicated than I prefer, and the HDR feature feels very slow. Perhaps this is because it’s not using Apple’s HDR implementation—there does not appear to be an API to access that.
Of course, even if I found a camera app that I liked, I wouldn’t be able to access it from the lock screen or Control Center. iOS doesn’t let you change the default camera app.
Update (2015-12-11): John Gordon:
Neither of my bugs were fixed: audiobook titles, cellular data restrictions.
Kirk McElhearn:
In iOS 9.2, Apple made a subtle change. When you swipe now, one window slides out of the way, but the stream of windows stops on the next one, instead of continuing, potentially past the window you want to tap. It’s as if the windows snap into position as you swipe.
Update (2016-02-18): In iOS 9.3, the audio still pauses when you open the camera, but it resumes when you exit the camera.
Update (2016-03-19): Andrew Abernathy:
The way the Live Photos feature substantially worsened the user experience of non-Live photography makes me hate it.
For me, at least, the camera app certainly shouldn’t kill audio if it’s playing via Bluetooth/AirPlay, or via headphones.
Audio Bug Camera High Dynamic Range (HDR) iOS iOS 9 iOS App iPad mini iPhone 6s Live Photos ProCamera
