App on dev.endevour

Day 47 - Habits App

Thu, 27 Oct 2022 00:00:00 +0000

I’ve been mucking around with the Habits app too long - it’s started to look like procrastination. It already meets the specification , so I’m calling it an MVP and moving on.

This is the first app of mine I’ve loaded onto my phone and started using, and there are a couple of things I’d like to do with it. It currently just lets you specify how many days between an activity repeating - so if you say you should go to the gym every second day, and you complete that activity on Monday, “Gym” will make it’s way to the top of the list on Wednesday. While it’s waiting in the list for Wednesday to come around, it will show the “Due” time as being exactly 48 hours after you last pressed “done” on it. But if the habit you want is to go to the gym after work at 6:00pm that’s when you want it to be due. I’d like that.

Times Tables -Day 35 Challenge

Sat, 01 Oct 2022 00:00:00 +0000

The challenge for Day 35 of 100 Days of Swift UI was to create a simple times tables drilling app. I’ve met all the requirements, so I’ll move on, but I am struck by how ugly it is. Making better looking apps needs to be added to my goals. Especially since this app is intended to appeal to children, and is at the end of a few lessons on animation, this is definitely a weakness of mine at the moment.

Uwrap App

Thu, 25 Aug 2022 00:00:00 +0000

Part of the @twostraws programmatic universe is his Swift learning app, Unwrap that I’ve included in my learning goals . It presents little snippets of learning with a 60 second video, and in a written version, then tests the user to check their understanding. It is slightly gamified - you get points for answers, but it’s not clear to me how that works beyond the satisfying haptics when your score runs up at the end of a section.

Minimum Functionality for App Store

Fri, 15 Jul 2022 00:00:00 +0000

In my post about my first app, EasterDay, I mentioned that it might be too trivial for an App Store submission. I’ve just been reading the App Store Review Guidelines, and there is a section on Minimum Functionality that seems like it might be too pointless for acceptance.

I’ll push on and build it anyway as I still need the rest of the learning experience, but may not submit it. Of course I’ve got other ideas for apps (like everyone who has ever met an iOS developer) but they are outside my expertise for the time being.

Playgrounds

Wed, 06 Jul 2022 00:00:00 +0000

One of the threads that’s led me to learning iOS development is last year’s release of the Swift Playgrounds 4 app. I’ve long had a hankering for a tool to create IOS apps, and a few years ago invested a bit of time in Codea .

Playgrounds possibly started as a little live scratchpad for code in Xcode, but now it’s big news in STEM education for getting kids started on coding. It’s possible to create (and share) Playground “books” that lead users through steps in programming. Playgrounds is supplied with one that covers the beginnings of programing - functions, loops, conditions etc and many more are downloadable. This is actually one of the methods I’m using for picking up Swift basics - I can pick it up in any spare five minutes and solve a puzzle to progress my learning.

App Idea

Tue, 05 Jul 2022 00:00:00 +0000

Here’s a rough plan for a “hello world” that’s simple enough to be achieved in the short term, but hopefully not too trivial to be accepted into the app store.

This is sketched out on GoodNotes 5. I started with the Apple Notes app, but was frustrated by not being able to mix text and drawing. Noteabilty looked great, but the once off purchase for GoodNotes was easier to swallow.