Author: patmcg

Software Dev

Playbook

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Developing features for a large, established app, I often run get slowed down trying to throw together a new screen. You have to find the right spot in the code to update, build the whole app (not just what you changed), log in, and drill down to the right spot to try out your creation. Something’s off? Do it all over again.

Which is why I love the idea of the Playbook library, which is “a library that provides a sandbox for building UI components without having to worry about application-specific dependencies.” Yass! 🤟

👉 Playbook on GitHub

Supports both SwiftUI and UIKit.

playbook

Via iOS Dev Weekly.

You

Improv Class and Uncharted Territory

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A few months ago, I took an improv class. You might think I did it to learn to be funnier. I mean, it did help a little. But mostly it helped my attitude, just being open and ridiculous. I do still have a stockpile of ready-made dad jokes, though.

Improv is not only about laughs. It’s about facing uncharted territory with curiosity, enthusiasm, and fearlessness.

The post below perfectly captures the real reason that I took improv, which is mainly dealing with fears and ambiguity when you can’t sit and think about it for more than, say, two seconds. I’m naturally a sit-and-think-about-it kind of person, so I needed some help on that. 🤷🏻‍♂️

👉 Improv as a Crisis Management Tool: Tackling Uncharted Territory

Cheat sheet from the article… improv helps with:

  • Helping people build out their ideas even if you don’t agree with or understand them
  • Learning how to make decisions on a shoestring
  • Fearlessness, bravery and getting comfortable with mistakes

I quit after the first “improv 101” course, though. I got what I needed out of improv for now. And you will never see work up to musical improv. You’re welcome. 😉

Software Dev

Apple Thread Utils

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Apple has a really nice utility straightforwardly called the Main Thread Checker. It detect uses of APIs on a background thread that really should be on the main thread.

Updating UI on a thread other than the main thread is a common mistake that can result in missed UI updates, visual defects, data corruptions, and crashes.

And someone has put together a page documenting how to configure the Main Thread Checker for your own specific needs. It’s straightforwardly called Configuring the Main Thread Checker.

👉 Configuring the Main Thread Checker

Enjoy getting rid of some flakey code in your app! Via iOS Dev Weekly.

P.S. There’s another utility from Apple called Thread Sanitizer, to “Audit threading issues in your code”. 🤷🏻‍♂️

The Scheme Editor's Arguments Tab
Austin

Local and Online During the Shutdown

patmcgLeave a comment

Yeah, the Hideout Theater and basically everywhere else is closed right now. Looking for something new to do with your Saturday night besides watch Tiger King 🙄?

Maybe try the Parallelogramophonograph virtual improv show. It live. It’s spontaneous. It’s real. It’s not Tiger King.

👉 PGRAPH VIRTUAL SHOW

And unlike normal Hideout Theater shows, you don’t have to find parking downtown. 🤷🏻‍♂️

Another local options Ground Floor Theater’s “Covid Canon” online series of live play readings. 👉 KUT Story