RSpec-like Nested Contexts for XCTest
There is a lot to like about the enhancements to the unit testing workflow in Xcode 5, in particular the ability to see in the gutter of a test suite which tests are passing and which are not, and to re-run a single test. Unfortunately, I am also a fan of Kiwi, Specta and their RSpec-like syntax, which doesn’t play well with the test navigator. One of the best ways to organize specs with those tools are nested contexts.
Xcode “Hard Mode”
In 2009, Peter Hosey wrote Warnings I turn on, and why. It remains an excellent explanation of why certain warnings, off by default, are a good idea to use. In it, he mentions the use of “treat warnings as errors” and calls it “hardass mode.”
DTrace
Mark Dalrymple, a co-founder of CocoaHeads, regular CocoaConf speaker and Big Nerd, recently wrote a series of posts about DTrace:
Use a RAM Disk for DerivedData
Here’s a tip I picked up last night at our local Cocoaheads meeting: if you have a lot of RAM in your machine and a decent chunk of it is not currently in use, create a RAM disk and mount it at ~/Library/Developer/Xcode/DerivedData.
CocoaConf Columbus 2012
CocoaConf is returning to Columbus August 9-11, 2012. They have a great line-up of speakers again this year and Light Year Software is proud to be a sponsor of this year’s conference.
It is common for conferences to offer a full-day beginner’s tutorial the day before the full conference begins, but being a beginner’s tutorial, there isn’t anything to draw in the more experienced developers. CocoaConf is trying something new this year. Chris Adamson, the author of Learning Core Audio, is doing a full-day deep-dive on Core Audio.
I’m returning to do a pair of talks on networking, expanding on last year’s single session. The first will cover NSURLConnection and other basic networking APIs, plus a discussion of tips you can use to make the best use of the network and keep your app feeling fast and responsive. The second session will cover more advanced material, including how to use raw TCP and UDP sockets with Cocoa and discover services on the network with Bonjour and GameKit.
Syncing Core Data with iCloud
If you’re considering syncing Core Data to iCloud in your app, Drew McCormack of The Mental Faculty has a terrific series of articles discussing the difficulties he encountered while adding support for it to Mental Case.
PaintCode
I am not an artist, but a fact of life when creating apps in 2012 is that Apple’s standard Cocoa controls don’t provide everything. PaintCode is perfect for those times when I need a relatively simple icon that can be composed from shapes and I don’t have the budget to hire a designer.
Non-Rectangular Buttons on iOS
One of the projects I worked on last year was the iOS SDK for Yahoo! Connected TV. Along with the SDK, Yahoo! wanted to ship an example app that demonstrated use of the SDK. Take a look at the screenshot to the right. See anything a little out of the ordinary?
Several of the buttons, especially the colored ones along the bottom half of the directional pad, are not rectangular.