Be Your Own Backend Developer

Presentation I gave at the Code Mobile conference in Chester.

Transcript

1. Be Your Own Backend Developer Abizer Nasir ❦ @abizern ❦ abizern.org 1/37 — CodeMobile 2017
2. I am not a backend developer 2/37 — CodeMobile 2017
3. This is not a swift tutorial 3/37 — CodeMobile 2017
4. 4/37 — CodeMobile 2017
5. Swift is not just an application development language 5/37 — CodeMobile 2017
6. You can create compiled binaries with the Swift Package Manager and run them from the command line. 6/37 — CodeMobile 2017
7. #!/usr/bin/swift 7/37 — CodeMobile 2017
8. Why ||Do I|| Do You Want to Be a Backend Developer? → It’s fun to add a new skill to the toolbox. → Provide real time data during development. → Hackdays. → Help the current backend team. → Become a full stack native app developer. 8/37 — CodeMobile 2017
9. Swift on the Server, really means Swift on Linux, eventually maybe even Windows. 9/37 — CodeMobile 2017
10. Does Swift’s performance match up? 10/37 — CodeMobile 2017
11. Low Memory! Memory Usage (MB)! (lower is better)! Swift @ IBM http://benchmarksgame.alioth.debian.org/u64q/performance.php?test=spectralnorm! 11/37 — CodeMobile 2017
12. Performant Applications! Duration (s)! (lower is better)! Swift @ IBM http://benchmarksgame.alioth.debian.org/u64q/performance.php?test=spectralnorm! 12/37 — CodeMobile 2017
13. Setting up a Server → Create an executable Package with the Swift Package Manager. → Define the dependencies for the server, databases, template engine, logging... → Define the routes and specify the port to listen to requests on. → Build and run the project. 13/37 — CodeMobile 2017
14. Profit 14/37 — CodeMobile 2017
15. Swift is not the same everywhere. #if os(OSX) import Darwin public let random: (Int) -> Int = { Int(arc4random_uniform(UInt32($0))) } #else import Glibc public let random: (Int) -> Int = { while true { let x = Glibc.random() % $0 let y = Glibc.random() % $0 guard x == y else { return x } } } #endif 15/37 — CodeMobile 2017
16. You could run it locally on your Mac, or another network attached Mac. 16/37 — CodeMobile 2017
17. Set up or get a Linux box, set up Swift use your own editor, and terminal set up. 17/37 — CodeMobile 2017
18. Docker seems to be the current best practice. Run the app in the container, edit the project in Xcode. IBM have an almost complete version of Foundation and a complete version of Dispatch that matches those available on macOS. ibmcom/swift-ubuntu 18/37 — CodeMobile 2017
19. If you want to see if your Foundation code will run on Linux, you could run a REPL inside your docker container and try out some code. 19/37 — CodeMobile 2017
20. Swift Sandbox Playgrounds on the Web https://swift.sandbox.bluemix.net/#/repl 20/37 — CodeMobile 2017
21. 21/37 — CodeMobile 2017
22. Frameworks There are choices. All open source → Kitura → Vapor → Perfect 22/37 — CodeMobile 2017
23. Routing This is the simplest part, the syntax varies between frameworks but essentially attach code to an endpoint. 23/37 — CodeMobile 2017
24. Kitura import Kitura // Create a new router let router = Router() router.get("/") { request, response, next in response.send("Hello, World!") next() } Kitura.run() 24/37 — CodeMobile 2017
25. Vapor import Vapor let drop = Droplet() drop.get("/hello") { _ in return "Hello Vapor" } drop.run() 25/37 — CodeMobile 2017
26. → Pick one and try it. → You can even run Vapor with a Kitura server. → There are plugins for almost anything you want to do. Security, databases, sockets, templates, Logging, 26/37 — CodeMobile 2017
27. Deployment Kitura applications can be served from IBM’s Bluemix. Using a provided app or a command line application 27/37 — CodeMobile 2017
28. Deployment Alternatively, Deploy to Heroku with a custom Buildpack. $ heroku create --buildpack https://github.com/ kylef/heroku-buildpack-swift.git 28/37 — CodeMobile 2017
29. Summary You get to work mainly with. the language and tools you’re used to in a reasonably performant environment. 29/37 — CodeMobile 2017
30. Pick a framework. You’ll mostly be using dependencies, so there isn’t much code to rewrite. 30/37 — CodeMobile 2017
31. You have greater scope for your own projects, maybe even client projects. 31/37 — CodeMobile 2017
32. It’s a step towards learning other web technologies. 32/37 — CodeMobile 2017
33. References Paul Hudson’s Hacking with swift book. https://www.hackingwithswift.com/store/server-side-swift 33/37 — CodeMobile 2017
34. References Ray Wenderlich’s Tutorial site. http://raywenderlich.com 34/37 — CodeMobile 2017
35. References Swift Talks by the Objc.io https://talk.objc.io 35/37 — CodeMobile 2017
36. References Swift Web Weekly http://swiftwebweekly.com 36/37 — CodeMobile 2017
37. Thank You Abizer Nasir ❦ @abizern ❦ abizern.org 37/37 — CodeMobile 2017