iOS development best practices
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Transcript of iOS development best practices
iOS Development Best PracticesTony Collins - Lead iOS developer Jonathan Winger-Lang - iOS developer
“A bad workman blames his tools”
Before you start coding anything, make sure you have the right tools available!
API testing/POST/GETPostman - Is handy when collaborating across a few developers as requests can be exported/saved (including header info). Downside - requires Chrome = Memory Beast
CocoaRestClient - Super lightweight, nativeOSX app. Does most things Postman can. My personal choice.
API testing TCP/HTTP Charles - Really powerful HTTP proxy that allows you to actually see the traffic your app is sending/receiving in real time. Possible to spoof your SSL cert in order to see encrypted traffic. Downside - Costs $50 (worth it though)
Wireshark - Allows you to intercept traffic going to/from your app and analyse the packet contents/HTTP headers etc. Globally recognised as the number 1 opensource app for this job.Downside - Requires a fair amount of set up (which can be a little intimidating)
Automation toolsAutomator - Seriously underused/underrated app packaged with every build of OSX
Great to do batch tasks e.g. Change 100 images to a specific size
Visually build complex shell scripts and mix in AppleScript or whatever you need
Fastlane/deliver - Takes the pain out of uploading metadata and screenshots to iTunes connect
What took days now takes 6 minutes!!
SQLite (Looking at your DB)SQLPro - Native OSX app. Most stable and reliable I have found. Downside - costs $10
SQLiteManager - Browser plug in for FireFox Downside - lacks quality of dedicated app
AGILE (Just a few basics)Create ‘user stories’ from the specification
Be Data driven - Gut feeling will only get you so far!!!!!
Be user driven - What do your users want ?
Be Involved - Don’t be shy, have an opinion, use your knowledge to advance the idea. Spot flaws NOW, not 1 month down the line. You will save yourself time, money and a lot of headaches.
Iterate - Check, Do, Check, Change
Time to start coding (nearly)Get an API spec!
Get the wireframes!!
Get a logic flowchart!!!
Get the designs/assets/brand guidelines!!!!
Research any third party tools!!!!!
Which Design Pattern ?Whilst analysing the wireframes, look for View Controllers that have a common theme.
Spot repeating elements - multiple payment options e.g. Linepay, Alipay, Paypal - can we link them ?
Think long term. This is a project you may have to deal with in 12 months time. Do yourself a favour and make the right decisions now.
Facade pattern Keeps the API’s normalised
Hides complexity behind a simple method
Makes it easier to refactor code
Facade - Example2 API’s which are used when a payment is made - no
matter what the source (PayPal, Linepay etc)
Singleton - Good and BadAsk yourself these questions:
“Does the object need to be referenced by multiple other objects at the same time e.g. needs to be ‘Thread safe’ ?“
“Does the current ‘state’ need to be always up to date when referenced ?”
“Is there a risk that if a duplicate object is created, the calling object might be pointing at the wrong object?”
If yes to all of these - USE A SINGLETON!
Category pattern Very useful for keeping your code DRY
Easy to change a single method than same method multiple times
Delegate vs NotificationsUse a delegate pattern if it is only a single object that cares about the event
Use NSNotifications when you need more then one object to know about the event
Delegates allow you to have more transparent objects as you can specify @required @optional
NSCoding Allows custom objects to be persisted and retrieved later
Can store custom objects in .bin files or to places such as NSUserDefaults
Daily Coding tipsD.R.Y - Dont Repeat Yourself
The patterns mentioned will naturally force you to be D.R.Y
It will become a natural part of your refactoring
Don’t do magic to achieve D.R.Y
Unit Testing
Try and add unit tests from the beginning of a project. Retrofitting unit tests can be painful .
Great new UITesting tools in Xcode 7
Daily Coding tipsComments + Verbose method names
COMMENT YOUR CODE - NO EXCUSES
Saves 1000’s of man hours
Is just common courtesy
Name of method should explain what it does
Add a comment in the .h advising what the class does
Daily Coding tipsPrototype
Great to show stakeholders (Storyboards designed for it)
Can trust implementation without the ‘noise’ of existing code
Can help spot issues earlier
Use continuous integration tools
Apple Bots - preferred as made by Apple although Travis and Jenkins (free) are good
Daily Coding tipsFinal tips…
Keep your project organised
Git - Commit little and often
Dont be an ‘end of the day’ committer
Get into the habit even when working solo
Commit should reflect what was actually done
Do pair programming - Make it 20% of your weekly schedule