WWDC 10 Update

Well, we're well into the support generation next to WWDC and it is, as until the end of time, amazing, exhilarating, exhausting and, for the most part of all, fun.

Unfortunately, there's not a heck of a lot in life to facilitate I can inform on. Other than the keynote yesteryear, which was heftily covered by both liveblogs and technical media. The iPhone 4 looks amazing. I haven't seen it myself, but I've talked to several fill with who own and exclusive of exception they truly jet larger than the it, especially the screen.

Announcing OpenGL ES 2.0 for iOS 4

Okay, it's to finish stage representing me to announce Super Secret Project B, which is a modern hardback I'm script on OpenGL ES 2.0 representing iPhone, iPad, and iPod stroke.

Yes, I know I held I wouldn't be script several books in 2010, but the pleasant people next to the Pragmatic Programmers approached me in the same way as I made to facilitate statement with an economically feasible way representing me to put pen to paper a hardback this day. I couldn't say rejection.

Grand Slam!

Apple has set a new record for WWDC video avialability this year, getting them out not even a week after the event ended. Amazing.

WWDC 2010 Post Mortem

WWDC. The Dubdub.

If you've followed this blog for any length of time, you know Apple's annual developer conference is my absolute favorite week of the year, and it just seems to get better every year. For the days leading up to leaving for San Francisco, I'm like a kid on Christmas eve. I can't sleep from excitement and the time passes way too slowly.

Code As If…

Sorry for how slow things have been here lately; I'm still suffering from WWDC work backlog, plus I've been spending a lot of time on the new book. This is the first book I've tried to write while also doing full-time client work and it's taking a bit of a toll on me.

I've had a blog post floating around my head since writing Beginning iPhone Development that has never become completely formed. It's about how the process of writing about code has changed the way I write code. I think the thoughts are finally ready to congeal into solid form. So, here goes.

Modern ABI & No More @Synthesize

I haven't talked about one of my favorite new features of Xcode 4 and LLVM, because I wasn't sure of the NDA status. However, the cat's out of the bag now, so I feel like it's safe to mention. The iPhone Simulator in Xcode 4 now uses the Modern ABI (yet it's still correctly uses 32-bit datatypes!), so we can use synthesized instance variables in our iPhone applications and use the simulator. On top of that, if you choose to use LLVM instead of GCC, one of the (many) benefits you'll get is that @synthesize declaration is now assumed. If you don't need to specify anything on the @synthesize declaration (like a different setter or getter name) and your property isn't @dynamic, you can justleave it off. This feature isn't turned on by default (yet), but see Pilky's blog post for instructions on enabling this feature.

Synthesize by Default

So, in my previous post, I told you I was excited about the "synthesize by default" functionality that's now available in LLVM 1.5. And I am, very much so. But it turns out there's a caveat that tempers my excitement at the moment.

With synthesized iVars, we've had direct access to the underlying synthesized variable for a while now, so if you created a class like this:

Pressure Sensitive iPad

One thing that I've wished the iPad had from the beginning was the ability to detect different levels of pressure, similar to a Wacom tablet. That would make it much more useful for things like sketching. I've heard from a few people that the hardware supports it, but I've been skeptical of those claims. How could a capacitative touch device detect pressure? But a few people I talked to at WWDC insisted it was possible with the hardware.

Thumb

I thought I had done a post on this at some point, but after Googling around, I guess I never did. There were a couple of Twitter discussions about the subject in the past few days, so I thought it was worth mentioning. You can get more in-depth detail about this subject by watching the two OpenGL ES videos from the 2009 Tech Talk World Tour Videos (iTunes link, requires logging in with iPhone SDK account).

OpenGL ES 2.0 Book Teaser

I've been making really respectable progress on the OpenGL ES 2.0 hardback representing Prags, and I'm really content with come again? I've complete so far. The hardback isn't quite as hand-holding as Beginning iPhone 3 Development was, but it's probably more hand-holding than several graphics encoding hardback I've still read. If you've got earlier experience with graphics encoding, you may well comprehend frustrated with the pace of the hardback. I'm working on Chapter 8 promptly, and I haven't even gotten to lighting yet.

On the iPhone 4 Reception Issue…

Until at the moment, I've held in reserve pretty much settle down on the iPhone 4 reception matter. Part of to facilitate was simply to facilitate I didn't own a phone until a week previously what time my pre-ordered phone to finish here. Part of it was truly to facilitate I'm crazy heads-down on the hardback and responsibility client handiwork justification promptly. And part of it is to facilitate I'm having breakdown deciding exactly come again? I feel around it. It feels to me like the matter is being overstated, but I doubt to facilitate fill with who are brutally impacted feel to facilitate way.

iPhone 4 Press Conference

Well, the iPhone 4 press league truly ended, and I notion I'd type up my judgment quickly or diving back into handiwork. Overall, the top effect is exactly come again? I notion they'd look after: Open luggage and refunds representing persons who would like them. Seems very like a trade event response to me.

On Swords, Perspective, and Spin…

Although I thought Apple started off a little too defensive yesterday, when you boil it down, I thought they did the right thing. If you're having a problem and a case can fix it, here, have a free case. If you already bought a case, they'll refund the money you paid for that case. If you bought an iPhone 4 and the problem keeps you from being able to use or enjoy your phone, they'll take it back, no restocking fee, no questions asked.

Those Were the Days…

The Computer History Museum has recently posted the original source code for MacPaint and QuickDraw! Apple has given them permission to publish them both, and they're well worth taking a look at if for no other reason than to realize just how good we programmers have it today.

Turncoat Dev Diary: Touch Controls are Hard… Let's go Shopping!

I haven't been making my "every week" blog post commitment for the last couple weeks. I apologize for that. There are few reasons on top of the ordinary work life busy-ness that have caused it.

First… well, touch controls are hard. I've got a partially written post exploring the use of touch controls for stealth games, but I haven't been able to hone in on something I'm 100% happy with. I've got something that I like better than any stealth-based iOS game I've found, but it's still nowhere near being shipworthy. Part of that is because this type of game grew up in the console world, where you have controllers like this:

Turncoat Dev Diary: Help! I'm Falling and I Can't Stand Up…

Just as I started trying to figure out how the game's touch controls should work, I  began to be really bothered by a couple of problems in the basic movement of my character. One of those things, I've mentioned before, is the funky camera accordioning in the arc right and arc left animations. Turns out, those issues were more than cosmetic; the stuttering camera combined with the fact that stopping isn't instantaneous made it virtually impossible to line up the character precisely as you stopped moving.