iOS Developer Roundup: Storyboards vs. Nibs vs. Code, Space Invaders and Sprite Kit, Key-Value Observing, and ZXingObjC

Debating Storyboards vs. Nibs vs. Code

In Storyboards vs. NIBs vs. Code: The Great Debate!, you can watch a debate that took place in a Google+ hangout on October 1 between three developers over which way is the optimal way to build user interfaces. Cesare Rocchi argues for code, Tammy Coron takes the pro-nib argument, and Felipe Laso Marsetti sides with Storyboards, which Apple seems to be pushing hard. It’s interesting lunchtime viewing:

Building a Space Invaders-like Game with Sprite Kit, Part 1

Here’s part one of a Ray Wenderlich tutorial that walks you through the process of building a classic arcade game (all the way back from 1978) in iOS 7 using the new Sprite Kit library. They recommend that you go through their Sprite Kit Tutorial for Beginners before you tackle this tutorial, which walks you through controlling player and enemy ship movements.

Key-Value Observing

Key-value observing is handy. It’s also a pain in the ass. Or, as NSHipster Mattt Thompson puts it:

“Ask anyone who’s been around the NSBlock a few times: Key-Value Observing has the worst API in all of Cocoa. It’s awkward, verbose, and confusing. And worst of all, its terrible API belies one of the most compelling features of the framework.”

Key-value observing is one of those “let me know when something happens” systems that you can use in Objective-C, along with NSNotifications, delegates, and callbacks. Thompson says that of the four, key-value observing is the least understood. He aims to fix that by sharing some observations and techniques that have worked for him.

The ZXingObjC Barcode Library

ZXing is short for “Zebra Crossing”, which is a pretty clever name for an Android/Java barcode encoding/decoding library. ZXingObjC is a full Objective-C port of ZXing, and it’s available on GitHub. If you need to encode or decode any of the following barcode formats on an iOS device or Mac:

• UPC-A and UPC-E
• EAN-8 and EAN-13
• Code 39
• Code 93
• Code 128
• ITF
• Codabar
• RSS-14 (all variants)
• QR Code
• Data Matrix
• Aztec (there’s “beta”-level support for this)
• PDF 417 (there’s “alpha”-level support for this)

…then you’ll want to get your paws on ZXingObjC. The library comes with example apps, including a basic barcode scanner/decoder app and another app that accepts user input and turns it into a QR code. Keep in mind that…