This Monday is New Zealand Queen’s Birthday (2nd June), and also this day is WWDC (Apple Worldwide Developers Conference) 2014. Apple hold a meeting with over 1,000 developers at San Francisco, USA. This year catchword is “Write the code. Change the world.”
WWDC: https://developer.apple.com/wwdc/
This conference is very different last year, Apple more focus on the software development.
Summary of WWDC 2014:
OS X Yosemite (OS X 10.10)
Same as last year’s WWDC Craig Federighi (https://www.apple.com/nz/pr/bios/craig-federighi.html) who is Senior Vice President of Software Engineering at Apple get OS X to play as usual naming opened a joke, and then announced the name of the new version of OS X 10.10 to OS X Yosemite, upgrade focused on the continuity of the user interface , applications and systems continuity.
- UI Design:
OS X Yosemite and iOS 7 are similarly design with a thick glass flat and Gaussian wind effects, stereoscopic applications on the bottom bar , the shadows and highlights elements are fully removed in this version. Multi-tasking windows, menus, the iconic three buttons at upper left corner, Finder, folders, etc. And also shadows and three-dimensional design also been abandoned , short word , OS X is flattened. Translucent material also used in OS X Yosemite. When you change the desktop picture, desktop window can be cleverly adapted to the overall background color temperature. This is same as iOS 7.
- Applications:
OS X Yosemite also improved Notification Centre and Spotlight Search. Same as iOS 7, it adding “Today” tab page. The Spotlight search is more powerful than before, it allowed user searching directly from internet resources.
- iCloud:
Apple release new iCloud service, named “iCloud Drive”, sounds like “Google Drive”, and the functions pretty much same as Google product. However, Apple allowed user send large email documents (up to 5GB). The new “MailDrop” solved the mail application can not send large attachments problem. After attachment uploaded, the system stores it in the cloud, MailDrop will generate a secure access link, you can link to access and download attachments, and no longer need to download in Mail. This is like share system in Google Drive.
- Safari:
Apple also update the Safari browser, and now it supports WebGL, SPDY, IndexedDB, JavaScript Promises, and many other criteria. The new standard is added, the same MacBook Air through Safari to play Netflix streaming, you can save a maximum of two hours of power supply.
- Mail application:
OS X Yosemite mail application to join the photo editing features : Markup. By Markup, users can mark and lightweight editing of the picture in the mail. This function is similar to the Skitch in Evernote.
Mac OS:
Continuity between different devices also been strengthened in the OS X Yosemite. The AirDrop updated – now it supports file transfer between iOS and Mac. The new Handoff allows you to perform the same between iOS and Mac work. By Handoff, the user can switch tasks in real time between different devices. You can also switch to the iPhone continues to write messages on the Mac. With instant hotspot (Instant Hotspot), Mac can identify nearby iPhone, after the connection to complete the task switching. The iPhone calls the service can also be done on the Mac. The iPhone is connected to the Mac, which can play a role in the iPhone – you can answer the call on your Mac.
iOS 8
iOS 8 improved Notification Centre, multitasking, e-mail and iMassage, also joined the fast input functions QuickType.
iOS 8 also open access to third-party input method, Swype future you can achieve the same slide as entered on the iPhone. Third-party input method input records and thesaurus can also be synchronized to the iOS 8 default input method.
iOS 8 is finally starting to focus more and more popular health tracking service. The new HealthKit allow health care providers to receive and transmit data.
In addition, App Store has finally opened up application video presentation. Developers can shoot video demo to showcase the new features applications. Photo Album application now supports cross-platform, cross-platform editing and real-time synchronisation. Search picture, intelligent recommendation system can automatically match the choices based on the letters entered. Users to edit pictures like iMovie, can have the same sidebar photo contrast and brightness adjustment .
iOS notification center and finally the much-maligned major update on iOS 8 – Third Party Widgets can be settled in the iOS Notification Centre.
Safari also allows Widgets series interoperability within the browser, you can add Widgets – in Safari achieve more functionality – like Chrome plug it.
Apple has finally opened the Touch ID fingerprint scan to developers. It allows users to unlock the key chain information, but the fingerprint data is still in Apple’s strict protection .
Swift
Overall, the outlook for Swift is wonderful. Swift syntax is quite simple. Combines the many advantages of excellent computer language. Swift as the language matures , developers will win more support .
Swift is combined with Objective-C and C languages.
Swift language Playground feature is a highlight. Compile and display real-time results Playground makes programming more civilians and interesting. This innovative and interactive programming method is likely to be extended to the field of education. Maybe the university can change the boring language and algorithms course in the future.
Overall, the WWDC 2014 is still released a lot of new product. As Apple said, “Write the code. Change the world.” This is will be the great time to be a Apple developer. 🙂
