Happy new year! In this newsletter: Swift Playgrounds 4 is out, there’s a new charity livestream you can rewatch, I’ve added another set of exclusive Hacking with Swift+ gifts, and more!

The new 100 Days is almost done!

Since October I’ve been working to produce the new 100 Days of SwiftUI, once again free online for everyone to enjoy. I’ve had most of the last two weeks off on a Christmas break, but as of tomorrow I’m back in action and am keen to finish up the final handful of days.

So, if you’re looking to start 2022 with a bang, now is a great time to begin the new 100 Days of SwiftUI course – it’s now updated for iOS 15, with lots of additions and improvements to help you make the most of SwiftUI as efficiently as possible.

Start here: hackingwithswift.com/100/swiftui

New Hacking with Swift+ upgrades

In December I announced two new improvements for Hacking with Swift+ subscribers:

You can now watch videos from Hacking with Swift Live 2021, or follow through the new transcripts. These videos dive deep into WWDC21 features from Swift, SwiftUI, and Foundation, and are powerful ways to get you up to speed fast.
There are all new gifts for folks who have been members for two years: a holo sticker, a new fridge magnet, a front-facing window sticker, and an exclusive two year badge – I’ve posted photos here.

Remember, everyone who subscribes for at least a year gets free gifts as a thank you from me, and these new second-year gifts are in addition to those original ones – you get both!

If you’re a subscriber and you’d like your free gifts mailed to you, make sure you edit your account details to include your address.

You can find out more about Hacking with Swift+ here: https://www.hackingwithswift.com/plus

Thanks to sponsors

I’m grateful to Essential Developer, RevenueCat, and Realm for sponsoring Hacking with Swift last month!

Essential Developer run a series of workshops helping folks develop their skills ready for senior positions. The slots for these disappear fast, but you can sign up for notifications about future workshops. Find out more here.
RevenueCat makes it easy to integrate subscriptions and in-app purchases into your apps – you get everything you need to build, analyze, and grow your revenue, without having to write your own back-end code. Find out more here.
Realm provides a super fast alternative to Core Data, making persisting local data as simple as working directly with native Swift objects – it’s the fastest way to store, query, and sync data in iOS. Find out more here.

Swift Playgrounds 4 is out!

At WWDC21 Apple promised a massive update for Swift Playgrounds 4, and they really lived up to that promise – I’ve been using it extensively to build SwiftUI apps, and it’s a ton of fun.

I wrote a full review of Playgrounds 4 here, but in case you’re short on time here’s the least you need to know:

Yes, you can now build SwiftUI apps right on your iPad.
Yes, you can use also UIKit if you prefer.
Yes, you can ship your apps to the App Store straight from your iPad.
Yes, it supports Swift Package Manager packages from GitHub.
Yes, you get the fantastic new code completion, just like with Xcode.
Yes, it ships with Swift 5.5 and all the concurrency awesomeness that entails.

PS: If you'd like a tutorial on how to build your first app with Swift Playgrounds 4, I've got you covered right here.

News from friends

iOS Conf SG is only a couple of weeks away, but there’s still time to pick up your ticket and learn some incredible new skills this month. Even better, if you use this link you’ll save 30% on your ticket price – it’s just $105 Singapore dollars (about $80 USD) for a ticket!

In other news, Antoine van der Lee released v6.0 of his RocketSim app – it was already packed with features, but now it also includes the ability to overlay device bezels on your screenshots and more. Find out more at https://www.rocketsim.app

Build your second iOS app with SwiftUI

It was my 42nd birthday a few days ago, and once again I spent the day hosting a SwiftUI livestream to raise money for charity. Hundreds of folks came along to support and we raised a lot of money that will go towards helping folks who are experiencing homelessness this winter.

The livestream is available for replay, and of course it’s never too late to donate to the fundraiser, so here are the two links you need:

Watch the replay here: https://youtu.be/tSwDfV6D_70
Donate to my fundraiser here: https://justgiving.com/twostraws

Discounts on books

Here's a reminder of the supporter's discount codes you can use to save money on all my books:

SwiftUI By Example: https://gum.co/swiftui/hws-thankyou
Hacking with iOS: https://gum.co/hws-book-pack/hws-thankyou
Pro Swift: https://gum.co/proswift/hws-thankyou
Swift Design Patterns: https://gum.co/swift-design-patterns/hws-thankyou
Testing Swift: https://gum.co/testing-swift/hws-thankyou
Swift on Sundays Volume One: https://gum.co/swift-on-sundays-1/hws-thankyou
Advanced iOS Volume One: https://gum.co/advanced-ios-1/hws-thankyou
Advanced iOS Volume Two: https://gum.co/advanced-ios-2/hws-thankyou
Advanced iOS Volume Three: https://gum.co/advanced-ios-3/hws-thankyou
Swift Coding Challenges: https://gum.co/swiftcc/hws-thankyou
Dive Into SpriteKit: https://gum.co/dive-into-spritekit/hws-thankyou
Hacking with macOS: https://gum.co/hwmacos/hws-thankyou
Hacking with watchOS: https://gum.co/hwwatchos/hws-thankyou
Hacking with tvOS: https://gum.co/hwtvos/hws-thankyou
Server-Side Swift Vapor Edition: https://gum.co/server-side-swift-vapor/hws-thankyou
Hacking with Swift Live Series 1: https://gum.co/hws-live-1/hws-thankyou
Objective-C for Swift Developers: https://gum.co/objcswift/hws-thankyou
Beyond Code: https://gum.co/beyondcode/hws-thankyou

Remember, if you already bought books from either the Swift Power Pack, the Swift Platform Pack, or the Swift Plus Pack and want to upgrade to the full bundle, I can create a custom discount code for you that takes off whatever you already paid – just email me.

One more thing…

Many people set themselves New Years resolutions, perhaps to learn a new skill, spend more time exercising, practice a foreign language, or something else.

My friend Cate Huston reminded me recently that we overestimate what we can do in a day, and underestimate what we can do in a year – rather than trying to check off a long list of things we want done, it’s better to have an intention that we can keep coming back to, keep aiming for, over the year.

So, I don’t have a big list of resolutions I want to work through. I do (sorry, Cate!) have one, but only because it’s been hanging over my head for ages: I need to start moving away from GitHub authentication on the site, and switch to local authentication! (If you missed my earlier message, this is part of a process – GitHub will be around for a few months to give folks time to move away.)

I mentioned this a while ago, and have all the code on my computer waiting to be deployed. To be honest, I’m just a little scared because it’s a big behind the scenes change that involves all sorts of major components shifting around on the site.

That’s my lone resolution: to push up the code required to begin the move away from GitHub. But inside that resolution is the bigger intention I want to focus on in 2022: to be braver, and to feel more confident making mistakes.

I don’t know about you but I hate making mistakes, particularly in public. But as Steve Jobs said, “some mistakes will be made along the way, and that’s good – because at least some decisions are being made along the way.”

So, my intention for 2022 is to be braver, and in doing that to be more comfortable making mistakes in public. Hopefully you’ll help keep me to that!

As for you, I hope you’re also able to set an intention for the year – the one thing you want to be different at the end of 2022. More importantly, I hope you get out there and make it happen, because as Diana Scharf-Hunt once said, “goals are dreams with deadlines.”

Have a fantastic 2022! Make it your year, but please remember to do so with kindness and consideration.

Paul

@twostraws

Learn more about Hacking with Swift+

Hacking with Swift Newsletter: April 2025

Hacking with Swift Newsletter: March 2025

Hacking with Swift Newsletter: February 2025

Hacking with Swift Newsletter: January 2025

Hacking with Swift Newsletter: December 2024

See all posts from Paul Hudson