Swift Insights: Articles on iOS Development

Phantom types let you tuck extra meaning into Swift’s type system without changing anything at runtime. They live in a generic parameter purely for compile-time checks, which means you can stop category mistakes (mixing meters with feet or safe SQL with raw text) while keeping zero overhead. If you are new to Swift’s type system, think of phantom types as labels the compiler reads, not values your app carries around.

Getting a new Mac is always exciting, but the first few hours are usually spent setting things up just the way you like them. Here’s a collection of my favorite customizations, terminal tweaks, and productivity hacks that I always apply on a fresh macOS installation.

In Swift, zombie objects is a debugging term for use-after-free bugs: your code tries to access an instance that has already been deallocated. Swift’s Automatic Reference Counting (ARC) frees objects when their strong reference count reaches zero, but mistakes like using unowned when the object might die first, misusing unsafe pointers/Unmanaged, or racy deallocation on another thread can leave you with a dangling reference.

As Apple’s Silicon processors have gained significant attention in the tech community, many users have reported significant stability and network performance issues. These problems are particularly noticeable when using Wi-Fi on the 2.4 GHz band or connecting via a USB dongle for LAN.

The term test doubles draws inspiration from stunt doubles in the movie industry, where a stunt double steps in to perform dangerous or complex tasks, allowing the actor to focus on their role. Similarly, in software testing, test doubles step in to replace real components, making testing simpler, faster, and more reliable.

iOS accessibility is a vital aspect of app development that focuses on creating applications that are usable and inclusive for individuals with disabilities. This encompasses a comprehensive set of tools, technologies, and guidelines provided by Apple, designed to empower developers to build apps that cater to a diverse range of users.

In SwiftUI, views are fundamentally designed as value types rather than traditional objects. This design approach is a key aspect of SwiftUI’s declarative programming model and aligns with the Swift language’s emphasis on value semantics.

Almost anyone who uses Xcode can quickly notice that it lacks many essential Git features, which is acceptable in some way since it’s primarily a development environment rather than a dedicated source control application.