Stacktrace

Using Android as an iOS user, and the state of Swift Package Manager, including how it could become a more full-featured orchestration tool for Xcode projects.

On this first episode of the 2026 season, John and Rambo discuss how they’re using AI agents when working on different projects, and how to approach learning new programming languages in 2026.

Stacktrace is back! John and Rambo check their hype levels for WWDC24, and discuss how AI might fit into Apple’s plans for this year’s releases. Also, Xcode wishes, and the challenges of building distributed systems.

John and Rambo reflect on what they’ve been learning and how they’ve been aiming to improve as developers during 2023. Also, tips for getting better at debugging, deploying generative AI within existing apps, and are view models really such a good fit for SwiftUI views?

Reactions to Apple’s “Scary fast” event, Rambo’s review of the iPhone 15 Pro Max, and under the hood of CleanupBuddy.

Will this year’s iPhones switch to USB-C instead of Lightning, what could an Apple Watch Ultra-style action button be used for on a phone, and will Apple give us another look at the Vision Pro at their upcoming “Wanderlust” event?

Rambo’s custom implementation of macOS desktop widgets and how they relate to Apple’s new built-in system feature, why the experience of using SwiftUI depends so much on the environment it’s being used in, and a mini-review of the ASUS ROG Ally.

John and Rambo start diving into the new announcements from WWDC23 — including the Apple Vision Pro and visionOS, the new Apple Silicon-powered Mac Pro, as well as many of the updates to Apple’s various operating systems.

With the start of WWDC23 just around the corner, John and Rambo share their predictions, hopes, and dreams as to what Apple might introduce during this year’s edition of the conference. It’s Keynote Poker time!

Reducing UI flickering, designing in-app purchase and signup flows, and how adding delays can interestingly make a UI feel more smooth and stable.

Integrating AI-powered features into an iOS app, using high refresh rate monitors with a Mac, the advantages of simple abstractions, and how the M1 and M2 Max compare in terms of Xcode work.

John and Rambo celebrate the 5-year anniversary of the show by looking back at how their work and the technology they use have changed since the beginning of the show. Also, how might things change during the next 5 years, specifically when it comes to machine learning, AR, and the openness of Apple’s platforms?

How game controllers communicate with a Mac, handling asynchronous data and actions in SwiftUI, and various ways to use view models within a code base.

Thoughts on the most recent Mac Pro rumors, building custom layouts for SwiftUI views in a backward-compatible manner, and the mechanics of making a UI interaction feel responsive and fluid.

Building computers, running A/B tests as an indie developer, using UIKit as a layout tool for SwiftUI views, and deciding whether to use Core Data or a more simple on-disk data storage solution.

Building custom collection view layouts, introducing new features into a legacy code base, and managing patch releases while also working on a major new version of an app at the same time.

John’s got the new AirPods Pro, Rambo’s got the iPhone 14 Pro, so the two share their initial impressions of using these new devices and how features like Dynamic Island and Adaptive Transparency work in day-to-day use.

John and Rambo discuss three of the key announcements that Apple made during their “Far Out” event — the Apple Watch Ultra, the new AirPods Pro, and the iPhone 14 Pro.

With Apple’s upcoming “Far Out” event just around the corner, John and Rambo share their predictions as to what new devices, services and features that might be announced. It’s Apple Keynote Poker time!

John gains a new “job title”, Rambo starts working on an iOS version of AirBuddy, and the two discuss how come the Apple developer community tends to be so focused on UI frameworks.

John and Rambo share their initial impressions of some of the new APIs that were announced at WWDC22, and talk about managing releases, learning when and how to apply generics, and the launch of the Gigahertz podcast network.

John and Rambo discuss Apple’s WWDC22 keynote, and share their first impressions of the new features and APIs that were announced.

It’s time for John and Rambo to play another round of Apple Keynote Poker! This time the two place their bets as to what Apple might introduce during the WWDC22 keynote and State of the Union session.

Organizing workspaces and hobby projects, the pros and cons of view models and controllers, and rendering Core Animation layers within SwiftUI view hierarchies.

A deep dive into how WidgetKit and SwiftUI’s serialization mechanism works under the hood, why John removed the ads from the Swift by Sundell website, and the discontinuation of the last iPod model.

Balancing refactoring with feature development, abstracting system services, and building delightful UIs.

Custom macOS virtualization on Apple Silicon, the pros and cons of SwiftUI’s List view, initial thoughts on WWDC 2022, and why Italy is such an amazing place.

New website, new logo, same show! Rambo shares his initial impressions of using Apple’s new Studio Display, along with some interesting spelunking results. Also, behind the scenes of the show’s new website, and a few web development tips.

John and Rambo celebrate the show’s 4th birthday with a big announcement, and then talk about security research, project priorities, and how to combine SwiftUI views with protocol-based observable objects.

John and Rambo share their first impressions of the products announced at Apple’s “Peek Performance” event — including the new iPhone SE and iPad Air, M1 Ultra, Mac Studio and the Studio Display.

On this extra episode of the show, John and Rambo share their bets, hopes and predictions for Apple’s upcoming “Peek Performance” event.

Unit testing SwiftUI-based views, view and data architecture, as well as a behind the scenes look at Rambo’s home automation setup.

John and Rambo speculate what the SDK for Apple’s rumored AR/VR devices might look like, and what sort of user experiences that we might be able to build using it.

SwiftUI for animations, prototyping, and game development. Plus, a second review of the M1 Max-based MacBook Pro, and an update on how well it performs for gaming.

How memory management works when using Swift’s new concurrency features, getting out of productivity traps, remote pair programming, and the process of installing Mac apps.

Continued discussions around using SwiftUI for custom animations and layouts, more on phased rollouts and prioritizing bug fixes, content exclusivity and acquisitions, and various ways of sharing code across Apple’s platforms.

John and Rambo revisit the topic of SwiftUI and UIKit interoperability, and discuss which of the two UI frameworks that’s recommend for beginners to start with. Also, the launch of AirBuddy 2.5, and using phased rollouts when releasing new app versions.

Stacktrace is back! On this first episode of 2022, John and Rambo talk about their holidays, using Swift Playgrounds to build apps on the iPad, Mac gaming, and project goals.

Join John and Rambo on this special New Year’s Eve episode of Stacktrace, on which they celebrate some of their favorite moments, products, media, and learnings from 2021.

John and Rambo share their first impressions of the newly released Swift Playgrounds 4, which enables developers to build full iOS apps right on the iPad. Also, the value of narrowly scoped open source libraries, and what it’s like using GitHub CoPilot in practice.

The importance of sleep for both humans and async tasks, transferring apps and Apple developer accounts, and what things John and Rambo carry in their bags at all times.

John and Rambo discuss software quality trends, async functions and unit testing, Apple’s approach to private data with CloudKit, and dealing with technical debt.

It’s time for the first ever Stacktrace Headphone Holiday Guide! Along with discussions about writing technical articles, view models and the MVVM design pattern, and using Swift actors to solve race conditions and data races.

Rambo shares his set of principles for when and how to rewrite existing Objective-C code in Swift, John talks about his preferred workshop formats, and the two discuss the current state of Apple’s services.

John and Rambo discuss asynchronous unit testing, using Windows as a development platform, SwiftUI previews on laptops, and conclude their deep dive into Swift’s concurrency system by talking about actors and structured concurrency.

Rambo longs to get back to UI development, John releases a new open source project, and the two embark on part one of their deep dive into Swift’s new concurrency system. Also, organizing devices, and mechanical keyboards.

John shares his first impressions of the new 14-inch MacBook Pro and how he has been utilizing Swift’s new concurrency features to get the most out of the M1 Max. Also, Rambo’s work with Shortcuts, maintaining SwiftUI-based Mac apps, and much more.

After a discussion about Swift generics and when to use them, Rambo shares his initial impressions of using the new iPad mini, and John explains why he’s going back to the Mac for his portable computing needs.

The 14 and 16-inch Apple Silicon-based MacBook Pros have finally been revealed, and John and Rambo share their initial impressions of these new products and everything else that Apple announced during their “Unleashed” event.

John and Rambo share their bets, hopes, and predictions for Apple’s upcoming “Unleashed” event. Will we finally see a new, Apple Silicon-powered MacBook Pro, and what other products might make an appearance at the event? Also, SwiftUI backward compatibility, and re-prioritizing projects in preparation for new OS releases.