From iOS- to Vapor Developer (Øredev)

Diving into server-side Swift can seem straightforward at first if one knows the programming language, but it might be harder than you think since it involves developing on a new platform. I will walk you through my journey coming from iOS into Vapor, what challenges I faced, and which strengths I had coming from the iOS platform. I will talk about how these challenges can be overcome and I will share my experiences after working with Vapor in production for 6 months.

Talk given at Øredev 2017 on the 9th of November 2017.

Transcript

1. From iOS- to Vapor developer
   @steffendsommer
   

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5. Pla$orm support for all Apple
   pla*orms as well as Linux
   

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8. Swi$ on the server
   

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10. !
    

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11. ♻
    

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12. !"
    

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14. !"
    

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15. !
    

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16. • Swi%
    • Fast
    • Code share
    • More fullstack developers
    • Xcode
    • Big community
    • Be part of the development
    

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17. Swi$ on the server
    

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19. !
    

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22. ☁
    

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23. !
    

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24. • New language
    • New package manager
    • New framework
    • Xcode
    • Limited hos9ng op9ons
    • Less libraries compared to other web frameworks
    

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25. Programming languages in the
    making
    

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26. • JavaScript (1995): 22 years
    • Java (1996): 21 years
    • Ruby (1996): 21 years
    • Swi$ (2014): 3 years
    

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27. Web frameworks in the making 1
    1 Since their version 1.0 release.
    

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28. • Spring MVC (2002): 15 years
    • Ruby on Rails (2004): 13 years
    • Express (2010): 7 years
    • Kitura/Perfect/Vapor (2016): 1 year
    

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29. The future is bright for server-side
    Swi/
    

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31. Kitura
    Perfect
    Vapor
    

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32. Kitura
    Perfect
    Vapor
    

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33. Kitura
    Perfect
    Vapor
    

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35. Hi, my name is
    Steffen D. Sommer
    !
    

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36. Steffen iOS
    

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37. Steffen
    ❤
    iOS Swi*
    

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38. Swi$ as a language, not iOS as a
    pla/orm
    

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40. import Vapor
    let drop = try Droplet()
    drop.get("hello") { req in
    return "Hello, world."
    }
    try drop.run()
    

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43. iOS != Vapor
    

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44. iOS != Vapor
    Number of users
    

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45. !
    • 1
    

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46. • It's all about the requests
    

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47. iOS != Vapor
    Performance
    

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48. !
    • Not an issue
    

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49. • Users do not want to wait for requests to return
    

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50. • Users do not want to wait for requests to return
    • More performance = more money
    

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51. iOS != Vapor
    Crash handling
    

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52. !
    • "We'll fix it in the next app update"
    

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53. • Fix it now
    

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54. iOS != Vapor
    Pla$orms
    

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55. !
    • One pla(orm to rule them all
    

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56. • macOS + Linux
    

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57. iOS != Vapor
    Foundation
    

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58. !
    •
    !
    

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59. •
    !
    

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60. iOS != Vapor
    The Xcode project file
    

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61. !
    • Merge madness
    

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62. • .. what file?
    

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63. iOS != Vapor
    Third party frameworks
    

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64. !
    • Which one to pick?
    

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65. • Roll out your own
    

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66. iOS != Vapor
    User Interfaces
    

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67. !
    • Storyboards and auto layout
    

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68. • HTML, CSS, JavaScript & template languages
    

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69. iOS != Vapor
    Persistence
    

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70. !
    • Used to some extent
    

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71. • Used heavily
    

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72. iOS != Vapor
    Security
    

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73. !
    • Mostly handled by the OS
    

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74. • Needs to be taken care of
    

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75. iOS != Vapor
    Consumers
    

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76. !
    • None
    

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77. • "Hey backend dev, I can't get this endpoint to work.."
    

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78. iOS != Vapor
    Releasing
    

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79. !
    • iTunes Connect
    

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80. • Deploying
    

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81. Tips to overcome these challenges
    

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82. Tip #1
    RTFM & get involved
    

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83. Tip #2
    Learn about databases
    

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84. Tip #3
    Consider when to use Foundation
    

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85. Tip #4
    Start repor)ng
    

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86. Tip #5
    Setup CI or a VM
    

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87. Tip #6
    Write (API) tests
    

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88. Tip #7
    Document your APIs
    

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89. Tip #8
    Use security packages
    

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90. Tip #9
    U"lize the template language
    

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91. Tip #10
    Use Vapor Cloud
    

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92. The last 10 months in hindsight
    

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93. Challenges
    

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94. • Lots of moving targets (Swi2, Vapor, Vapor Cloud)
    

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95. • Lots of moving targets (Swi3, Vapor, Vapor Cloud)
    • Overhead in crea,ng and maintaining open source packages
    

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96. • Lots of moving targets (Swi3, Vapor, Vapor Cloud)
    • Overhead in crea?ng and maintaining open source packages
    • Lack of documenta.on
    

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97. • Lots of moving targets (Swi3, Vapor, Vapor Cloud)
    • Overhead in crea?ng and maintaining open source packages
    • Lack of documenta?on
    • Outdated resources
    

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98. • Lots of moving targets (Swi3, Vapor, Vapor Cloud)
    • Overhead in crea?ng and maintaining open source packages
    • Lack of documenta?on
    • Outdated resources
    • Few experts
    

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99. • Lots of moving targets (Swi3, Vapor, Vapor Cloud)
    • Overhead in crea?ng and maintaining open source packages
    • Lack of documenta?on
    • Outdated resources
    • Few experts
    • Lots of boilerplate
    

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100. • Lots of moving targets (Swi3, Vapor, Vapor Cloud)
     • Overhead in crea?ng and maintaining open source packages
     • Lack of documenta?on
     • Outdated resources
     • Few experts
     • Lots of boilerplate
     • Linux quirkiness
     

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101. How things have improved
     

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102. • Updates are slowing down (Swi2 and Vapor)
     

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103. • Updates are slowing down (Swi3 and Vapor)
     • Vapor Cloud reached 1.0 and is stable
     

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104. • Updates are slowing down (Swi3 and Vapor)
     • Vapor Cloud reached 1.0 and is stable
     • We don't create as many open source packages anymore
     

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105. • Updates are slowing down (Swi3 and Vapor)
     • Vapor Cloud reached 1.0 and is stable
     • We don't create as many open source packages anymore
     • Documenta*on is improving
     

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106. • Updates are slowing down (Swi3 and Vapor)
     • Vapor Cloud reached 1.0 and is stable
     • We don't create as many open source packages anymore
     • DocumentaDon is improving
     • More and more resources
     

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107. • Updates are slowing down (Swi3 and Vapor)
     • Vapor Cloud reached 1.0 and is stable
     • We don't create as many open source packages anymore
     • DocumentaDon is improving
     • More and more resources
     • Bigger community - more experts
     

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108. • Updates are slowing down (Swi3 and Vapor)
     • Vapor Cloud reached 1.0 and is stable
     • We don't create as many open source packages anymore
     • DocumentaDon is improving
     • More and more resources
     • Bigger community - more experts
     • Less boilerplate
     

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109. • Updates are slowing down (Swi3 and Vapor)
     • Vapor Cloud reached 1.0 and is stable
     • We don't create as many open source packages anymore
     • DocumentaDon is improving
     • More and more resources
     • Bigger community - more experts
     • Less boilerplate
     • Swi$ on Linux is more mature
     

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110. Our results
     

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111. • 25+ customer projects
     

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112. • 25+ customer projects
     • 30+ open source packages created
     

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113. • 25+ customer projects
     • 30+ open source packages
     • Hos$ng fees are going down
     

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114. • 25+ customer projects
     • 30+ open source packages
     • Hos7ng fees are going down
     • More and more of our iOS developers starts to catch up
     

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115. • 25+ customer projects
     • 30+ open source packages
     • Hos7ng fees are going down
     • More and more of our iOS developers starts to catch up
     • We develop faster
     

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116. • 25+ customer projects
     • 30+ open source packages
     • Hos7ng fees are going down
     • More and more of our iOS developers starts to catch up
     • We develop faster
     • Less bugs than before making the switch
     

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117. No major issues since we made the
     switch
     

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118. Resources
     • Vapor docs: h-ps:/
     /docs.vapor.codes/2.0/
     • Vapor Slack: h-p:/
     /vapor.team
     • Vapor @Nodes: h-ps:/
     /github.com/nodes-vapor
     • SwiBConf '17 @gtranchedone: h-ps:/
     /www.youtube.com/
     watch?v=IuW_hLCsIeQ
     

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