Bruji

Last November when the first beta of what will become version 6 was released, the focus was mainly about changes for the details view and including fixes for those experincing issues.

Without necessarily providing dates, I was wondering what the next focus area will be?

I been testing some iCloud integration, but I don't think it's ready for the 6.0. I have also switched to some Pocketpedia development hence why the beta has been quiet recently.

But I will retake it soon as I think 6.0 is getting ready and I do want to get the jump from 10.5 to 10.12+ only behind us, to concentrate of cool features instead of backwards compatability. With WWDC close, I might hold of on the release of 6.0, to see if we need to get even stricter and go 10.13+ only. Also integrate any changes needed for 10.14 into this big jump.

Thanks Connor for the update.

I have recently switched the storage management of my Documents folder to iCloud. Each of my Pedia apps data is store under Documents/App Data/Bruji/ and it hasn't affected my load time but then again I launch the apps on a daily basis so the data is still cached locally. The reason for this is that I have extra folders for back covers, images and documents (i.e. PDFs).

I'm happy to hear that Apple is slowing down on new features to put more focus on stability. Considering that 6.0 will only be available on macOS 10.12+, this is a big jump indeed but as you said, it opens the possibilities of implementing new cool features.

I'm curious, are the 6.0 apps still using Objective C or are you moving to Swift? I've read a few threads here where Swift is a totally different beast to program with and lacking in some areas compared to Objective C.

Nice to hear about what's happening at Bruji and that 6.0 will take the time it requires to give us an awesome release.

I have recently switched the storage management of my Documents folder to iCloud.

Many users have their bruji data on iCloud or Dropbox and works well. In fact higher on my priority list is making the Pedias aware of file changes and flushing the cache so users don't have to worry about restarting the app if they have been on two computers. It actually works much better and users also know where their files are as opposed to the magic vail of the iCloud data.

I been dabbling with Swift but only on weekends and for keeping up with the development of the language. I am on the developer mailing list and it's interesting to see it evolve and make many of the right choices for the future of programming. Although Swift is a solid language it has three disadvantages for the Pedias: no where near as optimized as Objetive-C (It's fighting a 30 year head start of Objective-C); it's easier to integrate with C and third party libraries in Objective-C; and the last one is personal, I can code much faster in Objective-C than Swift. Slowly as I learn more Swift and it matures these disadvantages go away and I can make the transition.

If starting a new project I would use Swift as much as I have to fight engrained programming tactics. (The biggest one is that I rely heavily on being able to message empty objects and the message gets ignored in Objective-C in Swift it would be a crash. It's nice to be able to say "do something" if you exit otherwise carry one, each version of Swift has made the boiler plate for this better and better.)

It's actually possible to merge Swift and Objective-C in a single project, but want to make the jump to 64-bit only, leave all the old frameworks behind and then start exploring a new can of worms when integrating two programming languages. Oohh how wonderful it would be to get rid the semi-colon at the end of every line.

Conor wrote:In fact higher on my priority list is making the Pedias aware of file changes and flushing the cache so users don't have to worry about restarting the app if they have been on two computers. It actually works much better and users also know where their files are as opposed to the magic vail of the iCloud data.

Excellent. I use Dropbox and I'm reasonably disciplined about quitting before changing computer but sometimes I get sidetracked or distracted.