Personal essays
Looking at the rest of the year
Apps
I’ve been talking about writing a To-do app for years.
Certainly the world doesn’t need another to-do app, but I’ve had an idea for one and may find the time to write it.
In looking for time, I’ve realized that I’m busier now than I’ve been in a long time.
I’ve updated my dough temperature app and am mostly done with minor updates to my music listening app. The dough app is already free and the code is online - this fall when iOS 18 is released and I can release the updates to my music app, it will be free as well.
I recently texted my friend James who often talks about his “Cavalcade of Profitless Pursuits” and told him that all of a sudden I seem to be stuck on the same ride.
He corrected me and pointed out that it’s my own Cavalcade and I can jump off of it at any time.
That said, this week’s essay is just a catalog of what I have planned for the rest of the year.
Conferences
I have been fortunate to have been invited to a bunch of conferences and am beginning to plan my travel. I also continue to teach private workshops in person and via zoom and will be teaching two in-person in early August.
I have this foreboding that if the elections don’t go the right way in November, anyone with a passport will be considered suspect (why would you want to go anywhere else - we have everything you could possible want here). So I’m traveling as much as possible while I can.
The first international trip is a return to Texel for Swift Island. One of the conditions for that conference is that they don’t repeat workshop mentors so I’m honored that they’ve invited me to present a non-programming topic in a new track they are experimenting with this year.
I’ll take the train to London. I find it amazing and delightful that you can take the train from Amsterdam to London. I have a few days there before my trip to Wales so I am taking a Tai Chi class. Then it’s on to Wales for iOS Dev UK. There’s something about that conference that’s really delightful - it comes from the organizers and the setting. I’ll be doing a workshop and a session there.
Then it’s a short walking tour of southern Wales and then back home - although at 2 am the night I return, I will be delivering a workshop on Async coding remotely over Zoom.
Phew. That’s trip one.
Trip two begins in Logrono at NSSpain. Again, this is a conference I really love and again it is because of the organizers and the location. I’m giving a workshop, presenting a session, and sharing MC duties.
My current plan is to spend a few days in Penzance between NSSpain and Server Side Swift. I’m really looking forward to getting to know people and issues on the server side and will be presenting a session there.
I haven’t yet decided what to do for my birthday weekend. I’m thinking of taking the train up to Edinburgh and spending some time there. I always feel relaxed and rooted there and don’t know why.
Trip three hasn’t been booked yet. I will be going to Pragma Conf in Italy. To repeat myself - this is another fantastic conference because of the organizers and the location. I always come out of it feeling energized and exhausted. I’ll be doing a workshop and a session there.
Books
I have just started writing a new book on SwiftTesting. I’m hoping it will be short and just a quick introduction.
I will likely also write a book on Swift 6 but I’m struggling with what belongs in the book and how to tell the story.
Other than that, I need to update my existing books.
The Swift and SwiftUI Kickstart books each need a light update (I hope) and this will be the last time they are updated.
The Async book needs a good re-read and reworking as does the Data Flow in SwiftUI book.
Given all of that, I could probably use my planning app. On the other hand, I may not have the time to write it.
I should probably also promise to eat better and exercise more, but I seem to have come to the end of this essay so that will have to wait.
Essay from Dim Sum Thinking Newsletter 224. Read the rest of the Newsletter or subscribe