hoping to become an app developer

By Daniel Angus M…, 11 July, 2022

Forum
App Development and Programming

hello all,

I've been looking into getting some form of regular employment. I am hoping to become an app developer for Apple platforms. I would like to, if possible interview a current totally blind app developer and ask them some questions. I was thinking of Orial Gomez, the developer of Choose your Face among other iOS games. If you have time, please email Daniel.angus.macdonald@gmail.com. I envision us meeting via something common to both of us virtually, as I start my development journey, and go through the stages in submitting to the App Store, once I learn swift. I will have lots of questions on each stage, so if possible, I'd like to meet multiple times, as I will have questions on each stage of the app development process.

Options

Comments

By techluver on Saturday, July 23, 2022 - 02:18

I am totally blind, and although I don't do it as a profession I have experience doing it. Fire away and I will try to answer as best I can.

By KE8UPE on Saturday, July 23, 2022 - 02:18

Hello,
At the moment, I only have an 11-inch m1 iPad pro from 2021.
Is it feesible to learn this stuff using just an iPad & Swift playgrounds?
I some ideas in my head of things I’d like to make.

By Hasan Refaeiah on Saturday, July 23, 2022 - 02:18

Dear @techluver
I got some questions to you please
First, which resource did you go with to learn iOS development?
Second, what difficulties is expected to face as a blind developers?
Thanks

By techluver on Saturday, July 23, 2022 - 02:18

1. for the iPad thing: honestly if you're going to be serious about this, get a Mac. That's really where the real work happens. I think it may be possible to do it on iPad but I've never done it and I don't think you have the powerful tools you will need.
2. What resources? A lot of google. I already knew C programming so I just had to learn the language. just google "how to do xxx in swift" and you'll figure it out.
3. the major difficulty I had was layouts. swift UI is very declarative based so with layouts its hard to know sometimes and you'll want to get someone to once over it before you release. VoiceOver can be deceiving sometimes.
Also dealing with app icons can be a pain and you'll need someone to help you with that.

By Daniel Angus M… on Saturday, July 23, 2022 - 02:18

So I programmed in Python before, but it’s been years. Where do I start learning swift? I have a Mac running Monterey. I assume I’ll have to get a new one to develop apps for Ventura, as mine doesn’t support it. But will Monterey be good enough to at least learn? I have an Apple Developer Membership all ready, mainly for testing buggy beta software, and to get the new version of iOS, right after the keynote. I see, on the developer site, there are links for documentation, AppStore connect among others. So I will have to use app store connect eventually, but is the documentation link a good place to start? Thanks for answering my thread, finally! Others have chimed in, too. That is great that others are interested!

By techluver on Saturday, July 23, 2022 - 02:18

I think you can do Ventura on Monterrey.
As far as where to begin, hacking with swift is a good resource but your best shot is plain ol' google.

By Manuel on Saturday, July 23, 2022 - 02:18

If you want to learn how to code native applications with swiftUI (which I'd prefer for blind devs), I would recommend you 100 Days of SwiftUI by Paul Hudson. The website seems to be very accessible and you can definitely dive into the SwiftUI world with his great tutorials and descriptions. In the first few tutorials, Paul Hudson shows how to work with the swift language itself, then he moves on to the UI and app development part.
I also would recommend you to get a Mac when you want to get a real-world workspace. Yes, you can code applications with Swift Playgrounds, but for me, Xcode was more useful.

By KE8UPE on Saturday, July 23, 2022 - 02:18

Hi,
I’m aware that some people here, as well as myself, when I’ve tried to use it, have struggled to use Xcode with voiceover.
Are their tutorials on how best to do this?