Apple's SwiftUI engineering director tells its origin story

Swift UI
Swift UI (Image credit: Apple)

What you need to know

  • SwiftUI is Apple's way of making it easier for developers to create apps for multiple platforms.
  • The SwiftUI team's engineering director has been speaking about how it came about.
  • The discussion lasts almost an hour and is a must-listen for developers.

Josh Shaffer Is a name you might not be familiar with, but you probably should be. Over the years he's had his fingers in different iPhone and Apple Watch bits and pieces. The chances are you're using software he's worked on without even knowing it. Now he's heading the SwiftUI team at Apple and you can hear all about it in the latest Swift by Sundell podcast episode.

The podcast covers everything from the creation of SwiftUI to how it's changing the way apps are being created. Developers – or those interested in how development takes place in a SwiftUI world – should set aside an hour and take this in. It'll be time well spent.

Josh Shaffer, engineering director with the UIKit and SwiftUI team at Apple, joins John to go on a deep dive into SwiftUI. What inspired the creation and design of SwiftUI, how does it impact the way apps are developed and architected, how is Apple using and improving SwiftUI internally, and much more.

When you've listened to this episode – episode 59 – do yourself a favor and subscribe. There's a whole back catalog of podcast episodes to enjoy, too!

Oliver Haslam
Contributor

Oliver Haslam has written about Apple and the wider technology business for more than a decade with bylines on How-To Geek, PC Mag, iDownloadBlog, and many more. He has also been published in print for Macworld, including cover stories. At iMore, Oliver is involved in daily news coverage and, not being short of opinions, has been known to 'explain' those thoughts in more detail, too. Having grown up using PCs and spending far too much money on graphics card and flashy RAM, Oliver switched to the Mac with a G5 iMac and hasn't looked back. Since then he's seen the growth of the smartphone world, backed by iPhone, and new product categories come and go. Current expertise includes iOS, macOS, streaming services, and pretty much anything that has a battery or plugs into a wall. Oliver also covers mobile gaming for iMore, with Apple Arcade a particular focus. He's been gaming since the Atari 2600 days and still struggles to comprehend the fact he can play console quality titles on his pocket computer.