18 | MACFORMAT | SEPTEMBER 2019
if it will “help iOS app prices rise to
sustainable levels or devalue Mac apps.”
WWDC scholar Will Bishop, a 17-year-old
Apple Watch app developer in Adelaide,
thinks Catalyst is a great step forward, and is
hoping to see “some of my favourite iOS apps
on macOS”. Though he did express concern
that “developers will check the ‘Mac’ box
without creating a Mac-like app.”
Apple’s Craig Federighi was keen to point
out, during the keynote, that where Apple had
been accused of this with its own Marzipan
apps, it was due to design decisions rather
than the framework.
Tweeting after WWDC, Jose Reyes was
more optimistic: “Catalyst apps are going to
be better than AppKit apps.”
But we found developers even more
energised by SwiftUI, unexpectedly demoed
by Josh Shaffer, who heads Apple’s iOS UI
frameworks team. “I’ve been waiting for the
other shoe to drop since 2014, when Swift was
announced,” said Ish Shabazz. SwiftUI was it,
and thought it “completely stole the show.”
With UIKit, coders design the graphics
that appear on screen and how they respond
to the user. SwiftUI is declarative, meaning
the code simply says which components to
display. They automatically work in default
ways, which can be modified as necessary.
As Kyle Lee explained, this means much
less code that’s easier to read.Multi-platform
“SwiftUI, and the broader movement towards
declarative programming, is the biggest shift
in iOS development” since Apple opened the
platform to apps in 2008, said Jose Reyes.
Dylan McKee, co-founder of Nebula Labs
in Newcastle upon Tyne, found SwiftUI
“a super-exciting advancement”.
Ish ShaBazz believes “For those who
adopt it, it will change the workf low as
we create apps and dramatically lower
the barrier of entry for folks who are just
learning.” He went on to say it should be
“far more conceivable for an independent
developer” to release an app on multiple
Apple platforms.
James Thomson, in Glasgow, is the
developer of PCalc, the calculator app
available for all Apple OSes. “SwiftUI pretty“ I’ve been waiting
for the other shoe
to drop since 2014,
when Swift was
announced”
Mac Pro >
Apple’s new high-end Mac was
a little out of place at WWDC,
aimed neither at coders nor the
general public, but drew generally
positive reactions.
WWDC scholar Julian Schiavo
appreciated “Apple trying to create
a computer that’s been requested
for years.”
Henry Capper at Moof IT, who’s
provided support to Macs across
industry sectors for over a decade,
reckoned the Mac Pro was “what
every designer will want to be seen
working with.” He felt that clients
frustrated by limited options and
asking about PCs would now get
their wallets out. “It’s a super-
smart move,” he concluded.
Developer Ish ShaBazz spoke
for many with a more ambivalent
view: “The Mac Pro is just
ridiculous. I mean that as a
compliment. For me it’s like the
2020 Tesla Roadster: a lot of fun,
but I don’t see myself owning one.”Software chief Craig Federighi
previews macOS 10.15 Catalina.Ish Shabazz
DeveloperImage credit: Ish Shabazz