Category: Programming

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Mobile Programming

Learn Android development by joining an Android Study Jam

This article is part of the Android August series, in which I’m writing an Android development-related article every day during the month of August 2021.

While you can learn Android programming alone and on your own, it’s often helpful to learn in a group setting, where you can ask questions, share ideas, and tackle problems together. That’s where Android Study Jams come in.

Android Study Jams are community events where people get together to learn how to build Android apps. Android Study Jam participants work through a curriculum created by Google that allows everyone to work at their own pace. These Jams are led by facilitators who organize events in their area and invite others to join and learn.

GDG SunCoast is the Tampa Bay area Google Developer Group, a group for developers and aspiring developers who are interested in Google’s developer technology. It covers everything developer-y that Google offers, such as Android, Java & Kotlin, Firebase, Progressive Web Apps with Polymer, Angular web apps, Google Cloud Platform), machine learning with TensorFlow and more.

GDG Suncoast has a regular online Android Study Jams session, and there’s one every Wednesday evening in August! They’re online, and they’re free — all you need is a computer that can run Android Studio (a Windows machine made in the last 5 to 6 years, or a Mac made in the last 10 years can do it). Check out their Meetup page, set aside an hour on Wednesday evenings, and learn some Android programming!

And in case you needed a reason to learn Android programming, check out these stats from ZipRecruiter:

Screenshot as of July 1, 2021. Tap to view the source.

If your interest is piqued, there’s an Android Study Jam this Wednesday.

Categories
Current Events Mobile Programming Tampa Bay

So many Tampa Bay mobile dev job openings, so few applicants

Tampa Bay mobile developer jobs on LinkedIn as of this morning. Tap to view at full size.

While checking LinkedIn this morning, I noticed that there were a lot of iOS and Android developer jobs in the Tampa Bay area, and many of them didn’t have any applicants (or at least any applicants who applied via LinkedIn).

I quickly cobbled the image above from screenshots of LinkedIn’s Jobs sections that I took this morning. If you know UIKit from SwiftUI or can tell your RecyclerViews from your ListViews and either live in Tampa Bay or want to move to our sunny shores, there’s a lot of opportunity right here, right now.

It’s nice work if you can get it

Want to know how much you can make as an Android developer? Here’s what ZipRecruiter has to say:

Screenshot as of July 1, 2021. Tap to view the source.

Here’s ZipRecruiter’s graph for iOS developers:

Screenshot as of July 1, 2021. Tap to view the source.

…and trust me on this one: If you can combine mobile development skills with people skills, you can make a little more.

Learn Android development with GDG SunCoast

We’ve got a GDG (Google Developer Group) right here in Tampa Bay — GDG SunCoast — and they host an Android Study Jam every Wednesday evening. It’s an online event that’s free of charge to attend, and they walk you through Google’s official Android/Kotlin tutorials. It’s a great place to get to know other locals with an interest in Android development, ask questions, and even win prizes!

GDG SunCoast’s next Android Study Jam happens on Wednesday, July 7 at 7:00 p.m..

I’m going to try and catch as many of these as I can. I hope to see you there!

Returning soon: The Programmers of Portables meetup!

A few years back, I started the Tampa iOS Meetup with Angela Don, and over time, it mutated into Programmers of Portables.

The pandemic, my job search, and a lot of work at Auth0 have kept me from holding a meetup in some time, but I’m already working on plans to bring it back. Watch this space, and get ready to learn iOS, Android, and IoT development tricks!

Speaking of Auth0…

Keep an eye on the Auth0 developer blog, where I’m one of the editors. I’m working on a lot of articles about mobile and Python development, and you’ll start seeing them there soon!

Categories
Programming

What to do when the Xcode 13 beta Canvas view doesn’t work and has no Simulators

Still photo from “The IT Crowd” — Rory at his desk on the phone, with the caption “Have you tried turning it off and on again?”

I downloaded the Xcode 13 beta and waited through its lengthy installation process…

…and when I launched it once it had been installed, something was wrong. The SwiftUI Canvas preview screen didn’t work, and there were no Simulators available.

And then I remembered that this happened to me with the beta edition of the previous Xcode version. The Canvas makes use of the Simulators, and both work properly when you reboot the Mac after installing Xcode, which appears to reload some necessary files.

Simply put, the way to fix it is to use the classic IT solution: Turn the computer off and on again.

I did just that, and Xcode 13 beta now has a properly-functioning Canvas and a full set of Simulators running iOS 15 beta.

Categories
Programming What I’m Up To

Putting iOS 15 beta on the “sacrificial iPhone 6S”

My iPhone 6S during the iOS 15 installation process.

One of the two phones that I’ve held onto for sentimental reasons is my rose gold iPhone 6S, which I’ve had since late 2016. I got it during my all-too-brief stint in the fashion industry (I’ll save the details for another time), I used it in writing an app at a hackathon that was so funny that they made up a new prize just for it, it survived being driven over (thanks to its Otterbox case), and it was my test platform for my first app in the App Store.

It turns out that iOS 15 supports the 6S, which makes my old “sacrificial phone” a suitable candidate for the new OS and trying out iPhone development with the Xcode beta, Swift 5.5, and the new SwiftUI.

I’ll keep you posted.

Recommended reading

Categories
Programming

Xcode 13 beta is available now!

Tap to view at full size.

The first day of WWDC ’21 has come and gone, which means that the beta for the upcoming version of Xcode is available now!

If you’ve been itching to try out the new Xcode (and especially the new SwiftUI), you can get it at Apple’s Developer site’s Downloads page. It’s currently installing on my machine as I write this.

Let’s do this.

Just a quick warning if this is your first time working with Xcode: the installation process can take a while. On my Auth0-issued 2019 MacBook Pro (2.6 GHz 6-core i7, 16 GB RAM), it took about a half hour or so to unzip itself into a functioning application.

Categories
Humor Programming

The Programmers’ Credo

Plaque of Pinboard’s August 5, 2016 tweet: “The Programmers’ Credo: we do these things not because they are easy, but because we thought they were going to be easy.””
Thanks to Santosh Hari for the find!
Tap to view at full size.

I had no idea that one of the best tweets about programming had been turned into a plaque.

Categories
Programming

Learn about common XSS misconceptions with Avocado Labs!

The power of XSS

Developers agree that Cross-Site Scripting (XSS) is a real threat to browser-based applications, but many underestimate the true power of XSS.

In this talk, we take an in-depth look at the consequences of XSS. With practical examples, we illustrate how different payloads target an application. Mindblowing attack scenarios will focus on identity-specific features, such as stealing tokens from web applications. By the end of this session, you will understand the real threat of an XSS vulnerability in your application, allowing you to implement the right defense strategy.

The talk happens today at 10:00 a.m. EDT (UTC-4) on Auth0’s Twitch channel: https://www.twitch.tv/Auth0

Before you catch this talk, you’ll probably want to watch this video (just under half an hour) titled Do you really understand cross-site scripting?

What is Avocado Labs?

Avocado Labs an Auth0 project whose goal is to keep developers and techies — and people who want to become developers and techies — connected through high-quality online talks.