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The Tymit iOS team attended the tenth edition of NSSpain, one of the most well-known iOS/macOS-related events in the world.

NSSpain 2022 Review

Tymit Team

Two weeks ago, the Tymit iOS team had the opportunity to assist in the tenth edition of the [NSSpain](https://2022.nsspain.com/index.html). One of the most known iOS/macOS-related events in the world. Each edition, the organization bring speakers from all the continents who deliver top-flight talks.

After two remote editions, this edition allowed us to engage again with the iOS community. Because the event is not only about the technical side, also it is about the community. This event brings us the opportunity to meet software creators and crafters around the world. 

After seeing the schedule, the team went crazy. Few talks focused on the actual Tymit app architecture, The Composable Architecture or TCA. Furthermore, Brandon Williams (one of the creators of TCA) was one of the main speakers. We felt it would be a special edition, and we were not wrong.

![Blog Assets-01.png](https://cdn.tymit.com/media/Blog_Assets_01_dec45a3b6d.png)


One more thing: NSSpain is located in Logroño (north of Spain) and is known for wine (Rioja) and food. Also, the event matches the beginning of the regional holidays (San Mateo). So, after finishing the event, the party starts. We know it is not an important part, but it is essential. 

Let me share with you the highlights of each day.
 
#### **NSSpain 2022, Day 1**
The day started well. First talk: [Composable Architecture](https://vimeo.com/showcase/9831667/video/751173570) at Scale by [Krzysztof Zabłocki](https://twitter.com/merowing_). It wasn’t an easy talk. Because one of the TCA creators was sitting in the first row, you can check out the talk here.

The talk [Celebrating App Icon Design](https://vimeo.com/showcase/9831667/video/751182671) was impressive. [Michael Flarup](https://twitter.com/flarup) made a master class about design and icons in our apps, why they are essential, and how to improve their impact on our users. Amazing speaker. Check out the talk [here](https://vimeo.com/showcase/9831667/video/751182671).

The first Spanish company on stage was Wallapop. [Jessica Hernández Velarde](https://trysplit.atlassian.net/wiki/spaces/TECH/pages/2499281033/NSSpain+2022+Review#) showed us how they use metrics during the development and release process: [Improving the iOS development process guided by technical metrics](https://vimeo.com/showcase/9831667/video/751286701). We get valuable learnings to apply and discuss with our Platform teammates.

[Johannes Fahrenkrug](https://twitter.com/jfahrenkrug) gave an outstanding talk about how to be bad in a good way, [Living dangerously: The why and how of safely using private APIs on iOS](https://vimeo.com/showcase/9831667/video/751288471). Private APIs could help you get the solution, but you should do it carefully.

Great talk from another Spanish, [Pedro Gómez](https://twitter.com/pedro_g_s), from GoodNotes, to talk about [Swift WebAssembly + GoodNotes, a cross-platform story!](https://vimeo.com/showcase/9831667/video/751290710) How to use Swift for other purposes rather than mobile is always interesting.

And we finished the day with day [Server-Driven UI, from macOS to iOS](https://vimeo.com/showcase/9831667/video/751540434). [Marci Krzyzanowski](https://twitter.com/krzyzanowskim) from Judo app presented how it is possible to have remote Swift code in a server and update it without passing the App Store. Crazy! Server side on Swift can also be written using [Vapor](https://vapor.codes/) and Docker, which may allow us to execute tests differently as we do nowadays or populate Apps with it.

#### **NSSpain 2022, Day 2**
The second day started intensely. [Matias Villaverde](https://trysplit.atlassian.net/wiki/spaces/TECH/pages/2499281033/NSSpain+2022+Review#) and [Rens Breur](https://trysplit.atlassian.net/wiki/spaces/TECH/pages/2499281033/NSSpain+2022+Review#) from Soundcloud showed us how they are [Rewriting SoundCloud in SwiftUI](https://vimeo.com/showcase/9831667/video/751534042). It was interesting to see the way big companies execute the migration to the new UI paradigm.

And we continued with a talk about history: [CocoaPods, ten years of maintenance, and what I would do differently](https://vimeo.com/showcase/9831667/video/751539521). [Orta Therox](https://github.com/orta) is an open-source engineer who builds and maintains one of the most successful dependency managers in the iOS ecosystem. Is it possible to run [cocoapods in Docker](https://cocoapods.org/pods/Docker) to manage the dependencies so it would be an interesting way of providing this part as it can integrate seamlessly with our CI/CD.

Out of the technical talks, [Rob Napier](https://twitter.com/cocoaphony) gave an inspiring talk about mentoring the next generation: [Kids Today](https://vimeo.com/showcase/9831667/video/751566672)! 

Animation, animation and more animations with [Adam Bell](https://twitter.com/b3ll) (Netflix). [Crafting Responsive and Playful Interfaces](https://vimeo.com/showcase/9831667/video/751571352) is an enlightenment talk about how animation can improve the user experience. He explained how to improve your animations using the Motion framework (UIKit). The talk included an impressive demo.

[JP Simard](https://twitter.com/simjp) from Lyft presented the [Lessons from Mobile Networking at Scale](https://vimeo.com/showcase/9831667/video/751575150). A dive into the [Envoy Mobile](https://github.com/envoyproxy/envoy-mobile) project, a powerful open source networking library which provides a ubiquitous API and abstraction for mobile application networking. Also, it offers unparalleled networking functionality and observability to modern distributed applications and API design. Using [GRPC](https://grpc.io/), latencies are working on streams of real-time; this can be extremely useful for some app functionalities, like showing information in real-time.

They left the best for the last talk. [Brandon Williams](https://twitter.com/mbrandonw) from Point-Free was talking about [URL Routing with NavigationStack](https://vimeo.com/showcase/9831667/video/751580644). He is one of the TCA creators, our architecture approach for all the apps we develop in Tymit. Furthermore, he talked about a subject we are deeply interested in, navigation. It was a win-win.


#### **Conclusions**
As I mentioned before, this edition was terrific. The opportunity to gather the whole team around an event and a community and present the Tymit brand is remarkable. After the talks, we get the security that we are on the right path. We decided two years ago to bet on an idea: the unidirectional data flow, and we are so happy with the outcome.

As a full-remote company, spending two days with teammates sharing knowledge and having fun is the best team building of the year. The team returns with new ideas and inspiration, and the bindings are stronger with the feeling of belonging to the best tech community.

Next year, we will come back and try to be on the stage.

[Official Web Site](https://2022.nsspain.com/)
[Official Vimeo Channel](https://vimeo.com/showcase/9831667)

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Tymit at NSSpain 2022

Discover the vibrant world of iOS development and the rich culture of Rioja through our NSSpain Experience. Join us as we delve into top-quality insights, valuable connections with fellow engineers, and unforgettable moments in the heart of Logroño.

Tymit's NSSpain Experience

# NSSpain Experience

In the ever-evolving world of iOS development, the value of opportunities for learning and idea-sharing cannot be overstated. NSSpain stands out not just for its top-quality insights, but also for its platform to connect with fellow engineers. As someone who only recently joined Tymit, attending was about more than professional growth; it was a brilliant means to bond with new colleagues amidst the rich backdrop of the Rioja region. Nestled in the heart of Logroño, the conference was a mecca for iOS aficionados. Alongside thought-provoking sessions and engaging discussions, a standout event was our tour of a local winery, where the opportunity to ’sample’ wines was as enlightening as our tech talks. With the Rioja Wine Harvest Festival kicking off soon after, NSSpain wasn’t merely an educational retreat; it was a celebration of our craft within a vibrant cultural tapestry.

![NSSpain Logo](https://cdn.tymit.com/media/dragon_full_5f77c2c922.png)

![Tymit's iOS Team](https://cdn.tymit.com/media/IMG_4654_1_37c0803a0b.jpg)

## Highlights and Learnings

I won’t cover every talk in detail to keep this post succinct. They were all of a very high standard and recordings are being added to threads on [Mastodon](https://mastodon.social/@nsspain/111119542541625667) and [the website formally known as Twitter](https://x.com/NSSpain/status/1705506392646234213?s=20). I will instead write a little about the talks which were most enlightening to me personally.


### Building UI components with SwiftUI - Kasper Lahti

Already available to watch [here](https://vimeo.com/865570738), Kasper’s talk is invaluable to SwiftUI newcomers and veterans alike. It’s inspiring to observe the depth of customisation he achieves using the framework; his presentation thoroughly disproves the lingering notion that moving away from UIKit will lead to flexibility issues. 
Primarily, he covers numerous tips, ideas and warnings for implementing custom controls/widgets. Kasper has also written an article on the subject available [on the Moving Parts blog](https://movingparts.io/styling-components-in-swiftui).


### Harnessing the Potential: Swift Macros in Action - Antoine van der Lee

Antoine’s talk was a great introduction to Swift Macros, focusing on their use cases rather than their implementation. His talk covers many specific macros, ranging from macros that simply perform some validation at compile time (`#URL`, which would check a url is valid before inserting forced unwrapping, ` URL(string: ...)!`), to discussing [Papyrus](https://github.com/joshuawright11/papyrus), a macro based HTTP client.


### Bug-Free by Design - Crafting Swift Code That Doesn't Sting - Marina

Marina’s talk was a collection of tips with the shared theme of leaning on the compiler as much as possible to catch bugs before they’re a problem. 

An idea which I’d not considered before, and my favourite take away from the whole conference, was using late let initialisation to help prevent code paths from being forgotten about, for example:

```swift
{
func spell(number: Int, completion: (String) -> Void) {
   switch number {
   case 0:
     completion("zero")
   case 1:
     break
   case 2:
     completion("two")
   default:
     completion("other")  
    }
}
``` 

This compiles fine, but if called with the `number` `1` then `completion` is never called! Hopefully, if this was a bug, it would be caught by good unit tests, however, we could have caught it earlier and made our code more robust by writing the function using late initialisation:

```swift
{
func spell(number: Int, completion: (String) -> Void) {
   let spelling: String
   switch number {
   case 0:
     spelling = "zero"
   case 1:
     break
   case 2:
     spelling = "two"
   default:
     spelling = "other"
   }
   completion(spelling) 
}
```

With this approach, we’ll get a nice error, “Constant ’spelling’ used before being initialized”, warning us that `spelling` hasn’t been initialised for all code paths.

### An overview of different approaches to share code across platforms - Benedikt Terhechte

Benedikt’s talk was a very entertaining look at cross-platform solutions, and specifically, at using Rust to share business logic between iOS and Android, highlighting the similarities, and shared strengths, between Swift and Rust. As well as being both interesting and informative (I’ll be giving Rust a go in my own projects!), his talk could be an effective resource to show the next overzealous product person bringing up React Native .

### The Temporal Axis of Space-Time - Dave DeLong

Dave's talk was a journey into the nuances and challenges of handling dates and time. The key message? Time is hard; lean on `Calendar` , the 'temporal map' provided by Foundation. For further insights, Dave also maintains [yourcalendricalfallacyis.com](https://yourcalendricalfallacyis.com/).

## In reflection

NSSpain 2023 was more than just a conference; it was an amalgamation of knowledge-sharing, cultural experiences, and forming connections within the iOS community. The talks I've highlighted only scratch the surface of the plethora of insights I gained. As I continue my journey at Tymit, I am eager to apply the knowledge and ideas gathered from these brilliant minds to drive innovation and enhance our user experiences. Until the next conference, I'll be diving deeper into SwiftUI, exploring Rust, and always remembering that time is, indeed, hard!


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Sipping Swift and Savouring Spain: 2023

Droidcon London 2023 Tymit

This was a special occasion for the Tymit team. It was the first time we were all together in person since I joined the company, giving us an opportunity to get to know each other better face to face. It also gave me the chance to give the team a small look into London life and the experience of an authentic British pub. 🍻

#### Talk Highlights

This years talks were of very high quality and variety. Ranging from popular topics such as Jetpack Compose to more advanced concepts like Augmented Reality. Each speaker clearly knew their area of expertise and the team left the conference feeling inspired and filled with ideas to consider for our own work here at Tymit. 💳

##### Some of the talks that stood out to me were:

#### 🤖 Challenges, failures and lessons in 15 years of building on top of Android — Carl-Gustaf Harroch

The Keynote talk and an appearance from a Droidcon London superstar! Carl started Droidcon London in the early days and also created Novoda, a Mobile Product Engineering Company recognised across the world. Carl shares his 15 years of experience working with Android and what he’s learnt when it comes to building high performing teams and engaged communities.

#### 🏗️ Building Compose APIs — Jossi Wolf

Jossi Wolf from Google talks about how to build Modifier & Composable APIs right, through lessons learned building the AnchoredDraggable API. Interesting ideas include working out whether your API works best as a Composable or a Modifier, making sure the signature of your API is simple for developers to use, and not being afraid to iterate on your API over time.

#### 🔎 Mobile Observability at scale — Josef Raksa

Josef from Glovo’s platform team talks about observability for mobile. He explains what Mobile Observability is, why it is important, and how it helps companies to better understand what is happening in their mobile apps and platform. This becomes especially useful when SLA’s / SLO’s are involved.

#### 🎆 Easy screenshot testing with Compose — Jose Alcérreca

Screenshot tests are a great way to verify your UI is laid out as expected using Jetpack Compose. Jose from Google explains how easy they are to implement, why it’s useful Roboelectric Native Graphics enables screenshot tests to run on the JVM, and finally gives a preview of what Google are working on to make screenshot testing even easier using Jetpack Compose Previews.

#### In Conclusion
Droidcon London 2023 was a great experience and contained the energy, excitement and friendliness you expect from a developer conference. For the team it was a great opportunity for us to meet in person for the first time and also to learn more about each other. We hope to be back next year!

Written by Darryl Bayliss, Senior Android Engineer

All posts about #engineering

Tymit at NSSpain 2022

Sipping Swift and Savouring Spain: 2023

Tymit attend Droidcon London