WWDC 2024 has come and gone, which appears to occur faster and faster annually, and in its wake are a number of movies to take a look at. There have been so many movies this 12 months, Apple began releasing them Monday night time after the Platform State of the Union, so that you knew it was going to be a packed week. It will be unattainable to cowl all the brand new materials in a single article. Nevertheless, between the Keynote, the Platform State of the Union, and a few choose movies, listed below are some belongings you undoubtedly want to take a look at. These are in no explicit order, however all are must-watches should you’re an Apple developer.
Swift
Swift 6 is the massive change this 12 months, though you may fortunately undertake the brand new protected data-race security conformance at your personal tempo, module by module, due to compiler’s Swift 6 language mode choices. Along with utilizing Swift on embedded units, improved C++ interoperability, and non-copyable sorts, two actually cool gadgets stood out.
Absolutely Static Linux SDK for Swift
Now you can cross-compile your apps for Swift on Linux and embody the Swift libraries as a totally static part of your app. This implies the vacation spot doesn’t must have Swift put in. This may be nice for deploying issues like internet service apps over to a Linux system.
Typed Throws
Now you can used typed throws to get higher suggestions on precisely what error is caught. For instance:
enum MyError: Error {
misTyped, whatWasIThinking
}
func foo(string: String) throws(MyError) -> String {
//.....
throw MyError.misTyped(string)
}
do {
let response = attempt foo(string: "Hi there world!")
} catch {
//the error right here is of kind "MyError" as a substitute of simply "Error"
}
For extra on Swift this 12 months, be sure you take a look at What’s new in Swift, and for extra on migrating your mission to Swift 6, take a look at Migrate your app to Swift 6
SwiftUI
SwiftUI obtained a good variety of updates this 12 months, as traditional. Listed here are a few of the issues that stood out.
View Is now on the @MainActor
You now not must mark your views with @MainActor as a result of the View protocol now has that ornament. That’s one much less line of code to jot down!
The Magic Floating Tab Bar (or Is it a Sidebar?)
One thing that’s already getting a blended response is the brand new tab view type:
struct TabBarExample: View {
var physique: some View {
TabView {
Textual content("Tab 1")
.tabItem {
VStack {
Picture(systemName: "1.circle")
Textual content("Tab 1")
}
}
Textual content("Tab 2")
.tabItem {
VStack {
Picture(systemName: "2.circle")
Textual content("Tab 2")
}
}
Textual content("Tab 3")
.tabItem {
VStack {
Picture(systemName: "3.circle")
Textual content("Tab 3")
}
}
}
.tabViewStyle(.sidebarAdaptable)
}
}
This can lead to considered one of two photographs, relying on whether or not you need a floating tab bar on the prime (suppose visionOS) or a conventional sidebar (suppose NavigationSplitView):
I haven’t had an opportunity to play so much with this one, however as with all paradigm-breaking issues, there’s often a little bit of disagreement in the neighborhood about it. We’ll see how this one shakes out!
New Modifiers for Presentation and Zooming
For views represented in a sheet, a brand new modifier enables you to specify web page, type, or customized sizing:
.presentationSizing(.type)
And to get a pleasant zoom in animation when bringing views to the foreground, a brand new pair of modifiers can assist you:
.navigationTransition(.zoom(
sourceID: merchandise.id, in: namespace))
///....
.matchedTransitionSource(id: merchandise.id, in: namespace)
}
For extra on SwiftUI this 12 months, be sure you take a look at What’s new in SwiftUI.
SwiftData
SwiftData didn’t have an enormous replace this 12 months like some had been hoping, nevertheless it did get some very vital updates to assist with efficiency and queries. This 12 months, Apple added the power to specify distinctive constraints with the #Distinctive macro and generally listed fields with Index. With only a few strains of code, you may add these options to an present @Mannequin:
import SwiftData
import Basis
@Mannequin
class KodecoArticle {
#Distinctive([.name, .dateWritten, .author])
#Index([.name], [.dateWritten], [.author], [.name, .dateWritten, .author])
var title: String = ""
var creator: String = ""
var content material: String = ""
var dateWritten: Date?
var dateUpdated: Date?
init(title: String, creator: String, content material: String, dateWritten: Date? = nil, dateUpdated: Date? = nil) {
self.title = title
self.creator = creator
self.content material = content material
self.dateWritten = dateWritten
self.dateUpdated = dateUpdated
}
}
The #Distinctive line states that entries are distinctive on that mixture of properties, and the #Index line lists which properties, or mixture of properties, are added as further metadata to the mannequin so it could actually carry out sooner queries.
Apple additionally unveiled different new options for SwiftData, corresponding to utilizing your personal customized knowledge retailer! For extra, take a look at What’s New in SwiftData.
Frameworks That Are All over the place
There have been two robust examples of frameworks that had been gaining parity and energy over many if not the entire platforms Apple gives. There’s so much to cowl right here, so right here they’re together with hyperlinks to the WWDC movies.
App Intents
Over the previous few years, App Intents has turn out to be a significant participant in terms of surfacing your app’s options; whether or not it’s to shortcuts, Siri, or widgets.
This 12 months, App Intents will get one other improve as a result of it’s the mechanism to hook your app into Apple Intelligence. For extra, be sure you take a look at What’s new in App Intents, Deliver your app’s core options to customers with App Intents, and Deliver your app to Siri.
RealityKit
Through the years, RealityKit hasn’t been very uniform throughout the platforms, making it laborious to deploy the identical app to totally different Apple {hardware}. That modifications this 12 months, as RealityKit has a number of new cross-platform APIs throughout all the varied platforms — visionOS, macOS, iOS, and iPadOS. For extra, take a look at Uncover RealityKit APIs for iOS, macOS, and visionOS.
Swift Testing
Along with transferring the open supply Swift elements to the swiftlang group at GitHub, Apple has formally included Swift Testing in that household of libraries. Swift Testing is a brand new manner of testing in Swift (however complementary to XCTest), introducing extra “Swifty” syntax to your take a look at code. Right here’s a fast instance:
import Testing
struct WWDCTests {
@Take a look at func testExample() async throws {
let worth = 2
#anticipate(worth + worth == 3)
let value2: Int? = nil
_ = attempt #require(value2)
}
}
After importing the Testing framework, you beautify your exams with the @Take a look at attribute. This implies you now not want to call your take a look at strategies so they begin with “take a look at”. I’ve added a number of issues to check. The primary makes use of the #anticipate macro, which replaces the household of XCTAssert calls and checks to see whether or not the situation inside is true. The subsequent code block checks that value2 is just not nil earlier than continuing by utilizing the #require macro. See what Xcode says when the take a look at button is clicked:
In the fitting gutter, you see indications that the expectations failed. For the primary one, should you hover over the error, a “Present” button seems which you could click on to get extra particulars, as proven within the screenshot. This allows you to dive into why precisely the examined code failed.
This appears to be like to be so much cleaner than XCTest (though you should use each in your exams!), and I can’t wait to begin utilizing it. For extra about Swift Testing, take a look at Meet Swift Testing.