WWDC 2016: Developer Reading List

On Monday, I talked about the business implications of this year’s WWDC announcements, but today’s post is for developers. I had trouble finding key information after the keynote, so I put together a compendium of documentation and important key concepts from WWDC 2016. Brace yourself for lots of protocols!

• Tip #1: Browse prerelease documentation by release date to see what is new. A ton of WWDC sample code and docs have been out since Monday night!
• Tip #2: Find less-discussed changes by browsing iOS API Diffs. This year it is best to view Obj-C diffs, as the Swift diffs are huge this year (hello API guidelines). For example, UIKit Diffs are always worth a skim.
• Tip #3: Use Swift iBook revision history to quickly find and read up on key changes.

Nerd Favorites

Documentation links from Apple are notoriously unstable, though word has it this year that might be improving. However, if a link below is not working, your best bet is to search the Apple development site directly. Comment below and we’ll update the link.

We’re excited about:

• SiriKit, or Intents Extension and Intents UI Extension. This is initially available for only six domains:

  1. Audio or video calling
  2. Messaging
  3. Payments
  4. Searching photos
  5. Workouts
  6. Ride booking

• I’m particularly curious about these speech changes and these Swift 3 API design guidelines (via https://swift.org/migration-guide/).

• watchOS 3 has a renewed focus on speed. Glances appear to be gone, replaced by more glanceable apps. Also see API Diffs.

• CloudKit sharing controller and Services. Again, use revision history as a guide to what is new.

• Xcode source editor extensions are only briefly discussed in the release notes. Take special note of the Known Issues; there’s a terminal command you will need to run. There are more gotchas, some covered in this handy blog post. While not a panacea, I am excited that Apple is headed down this path with Xcode.

• I’m really excited about controllable animations!

• Core Data advancements

• Basic Neural Network Subroutines for neural networks

• Apple File System

• If you have extra devices you can use for exploring, check out the beta downloads. Or you can browse all prerelease documentation by release date yourself, and find what you’re most interested in. You can find gems like this very specific but useful new ability.

Getting Started

Want the new and shiny right now? Download Xcode 8 Beta, open a new playground or project and start playing around. Import a framework, poke through the headers and then try out some code.

Want to really dive in? Take one of our classes to get your skills up to speed.

Finally, what are you most excited about so far? Did I leave out something incredible? Let me know in the comments.