Exploring Innovation in the Apple Ecosystem
Bitrock’s Mobile Development Team recently made a significant mark at the Pragma Conference 2024, held on October 29-30 at the Savoia Hotel Regency in Bologna, Italy. Our representatives – Fabio Cirruto, Federico Nessi, and Samantha Giro – Bitrock’s Mobile App Development Tech Lead – immersed themselves in a world of cutting-edge Apple technology and professional networking.
The Pragma Conference, organized by the Pragma Mark association, the first iOS and OS X developer community in our country, stands as Italy’s premier event for Apple platform developers, covering iOS, macOS, watchOS, visionOS, and tvOS technologies. This two-day event brought together international experts, offering an unparalleled opportunity to explore the latest trends, frameworks, and development methodologies.
Day 1: Technical Deep Dives and Networking
After registration and collecting event materials, our team engaged in a series of compelling technical sessions, including:
- SwiftUI Animations Under The Hood by Chris Eidhof, who unveiled the power of SwiftUI’s built-in animations, demonstrating their internal mechanics and potential.
- Stealing User’s Identity by Cyril Cermak (Porsche AG), revealing potential app vulnerabilities to hackers, with severe implications for users and companies.
- From Zero to Accessible in 30 Minutes by Robin Kanatzar (Betclic Group) on leveraging Apple’s tools to enhance app accessibility and inclusivity.
- Getting Sentimental: An Exploration of Sentiment Analysis in iOS by Anna Beltrami (Spotify) on iOS’s Natural Language framework for sentiment analysis, compared with tools like ChatGPT.
- From Side Project to Going Indie by Antoine van der Lee, sharing his journey to becoming an indie developer and the challenges of individual projects.
The first day concluded with an energetic after-party, fostering continued networking and knowledge exchange.
Day 2: Advanced Technical Explorations
The second day began with an inspiring talk on Swift Testing by Daniel Steinberg, highlighting the new testing framework in Swift 6 that promises enhanced app safety and performance.
To maximize learning, our team strategically split up to cover diverse sessions:
- Designing APIs: How to Ensure Accessibility in Design System Components by Feli Bernutz (Spotify), presenting Spotify’s accessible design system approach.
- So You Think You Know Swift by Nick Lockwood (Bloomberg), offering tips to optimize code and leverage Swift’s full potential.
- The Art of Functional State Management by Araks Avoyan, discussing functional state management with comparative examples.
- A Deep Dive Into Sendable by Tim Condon (Broken Hands), exploring how Sendable prepares code for maximum Swift 6 performance.
- From Concept to Creation: Building Intuitive AR Experiences on VisionOS by Daniel James Tronca (Zalando), sharing his VisionOS journey and inspiring attendees to explore augmented reality with code samples.
Conclusion
Pragma Conference remains the definitive gathering for Apple platform developers, offering unparalleled learning and networking opportunities in the ever-evolving world of technology.
The event concluded with a final keynote, celebrating speakers, sponsors, and participants. In an exciting twist, our own Samantha Giro won the top raffle prize – a ticket to next year’s conference and workshops!
Stay tuned for more insights from Bitrock’s technology adventures!
Main Author: Fabio Cirruto, Mobile Developer @Bitrock
