I'm working on some new blog posts

I know it’s been a while since I last published something on my blog. In fact, this year I have only published three posts while my initial plan was to have roughly 8-10 posts so far.

There are several reasons why I didn’t publish a new post every week but the most important one is that none of the drafts I have felt like they were something I wanted to get out there.

When I satrted writing weekly in 2019 I had plenty of ideas in my head. I had many things to say, and I felt like a lot of this content was relevant to many developers.

And of course, as I published these posts it became harder and harder to come up with the next one; there are only so many things I have to say that fits a weekly blog post format.

That’s why I’ve spent a lot of time on figuring out what I want to publish next, and how I can make sure I regularly publish content on my blog, and I think I have a good idea of what I want to do.

I’m currently working on a series of posts about Swift’s Codable protocol.

I think Codable is something a lot of us are familiar with but not many of have really mastered it. It’s a powerful protocol (or rather a union of two protocols) that’s easy to get started with while also providing powerful customization points.

Depending on how this goes, I might try and publish more of these series. I think a series of posts is a nice way to help folks grow from a beginner or intermediate level for a given technology all the way to an advanced level. It’s almost like a mini-book where every chapter is a post.

I’m not entirely sure how I’ll roll this series out just yet. I’ll probably publish one or two articles a day or maybe one every couple of days once I’ve drafted all the posts.

This will mean that posts won’t be published on a given day every week. Instead, I’ll be rolling now content out in bursts.

I look forward to seeing how this pans out, and I’d love to know what you think of this idea!

Cheers, Donny

Practical Core Data

Practical Core Data helps you learn Apple's Core Data framework without requiring any prior knowledge. You'll learn how to integrate Core Data in UIKit and SwiftUI applications. The book also covers data modeling, synchronizing your store with a custom backend or CloudKit, profiling and improving performance in a Core Data app, and using Core Data in unit tests.

By the end of the book, you'll know exactly how you can start using Core Data in modern applications.

Practical Combine

Practical Combine is a book that will help you learn Combine from scratch. You will learn about all aspects of Combine in a natural flow where you're eased into functional reactive programming with simple examples, and the difficulty gradually builds up to complicated integrations in later chapters.

🎶 Currently on repeat 🎶

If you follow me on Twitter you probably know that I play guitar. I'm a huge music lover and want to share this with you. In this section I will share a new album that I've been enjoying a lot every week.

Jett Rebel - Venus & Mars For the past few weeks we’ve had fantastic weather in The Netherlands so I figured I’d share one of my favorite good-mood records with you this week. Jett Rebel is a Dutch rock ’n roll artist whose incredibly talented at writing great music. Definitely worth a listen (or several listtens). Listen on Spotify Listen on Apple Music

Other content that I really want to share with you

Book Promo: Being a lead software developer (pre-order)

My friend Jeroen Leenarts is currently working on his first book. It’s called “Being a lead software developer” and is intended to help you be a (better) lead software developer. He covers topic like coaching, pair programming, onboarding new teammembers, scheduling, and much more. The book is currently in pre-order phase and I’ve only skimmed through parts of a preview he’s sent me but it’s looking good so far! Definitely worth checking this one out of you’re looking to become a lead developer, or if you’re looking to sharpen your skills a bit.

An article by Jeroen Leenarts

Exploiting String Interpolation For Fun And For Profit

When Dave DeLong writes, I read. Simple as that. This week, Dave published an interested exploration of Swift’s string interpolation. It’s fun to see how Dave went on an adventure to find some cool interpolation features that he used to solve an imaginary problem. One of the fun parts of being a developer is that you get to spend time on discovering interesting things, even if you don’t always really need them to solve any problem you have. This post is a perfect example of that.

An article by Dave DeLong