Top-notch video tutorials for Swift developers

In our special 100th episode I dive into a fun little class called CAEmitterLayer. Using this class we can create cool particle effects such as fire, water, smoke, clouds, or a fountain of stars.

In this episode we cover a basic but fundamentally important topic: dealing with dates & times. Particularly when dealing with an API, dates can arrive in all shapes and sizes. We'll examine some of the common ones, talk about how to parse these formats into NSDate instances, and how to use NSDateFormatter to display them back again as a string.

In this episode we grab image data live from the camera on an iPhone 5. We discuss inputs and outputs, image formats, and finally (you guessed it) put a mustache live on each face in the video frame using the face detection techniques demonstrated in Episode 96.

In this episode I implement a fast scrolling "nub" to assist with scrolling through table views with many entries. The technique was lifted from the Dropbox app and I build a quick prototype of how it works.

In this episode we dive into CoreImage with a fun feature: detecting faces in photos! We also find the eyes & mouth positions and use Core Graphics to draw on our photo.

In this episode we take a look at implementing an iBeacon transmitter and receiver. Using this technology we can detect nearby beacons and range them in order to see how far away they are.

In this episode I upgrade the sample app created way back in Episode 4 using Kiwi to Xcode 5 and XCTest. Along the way, we're greeted with a number of warnings & errors that we have to address to get the Kiwi tests to run with XCTest.

Background transfers are a new feature of iOS 7 where you can have the OS download files in the background and have them ready for your application when you launch it the next time. In this episode we write a simple image downloader that takes advantage of background sessions.

In this episode we write an application that takes advantage of iOS 7's background fetch feature, allowing us to keep our application updated in the background so that the user doesn't have to wait for updated data when the application is launched.

In this episode we take a look at the brand new design of AFNetworking 2.0. We'll convert our TuneStore application to leverage AFNetworking and clean up our View Controller by introducing a new class to handle the network plumbing. We'll also take a look at a handy UIKit category for easily managing an activity indicator's state.

In this episode we continue our example from Episode 89, using NSURLSessionDataTask to download images for our rows. We also see how we can benefit from the built-in cache settings of NSURLSessionConfiguration and how to efficiently request images while scrolling.

In this episode we take a look at the brand new NSURLSession family of classes. We'll consume the iTunes Affiliate Search API and show how to do a simple GET request.

In this episode we continue our transition example from episode 86. We create a new InteractiveSwipe transition class that we can use for dismissal so the user can swipe the view controllers away instead of tapping a button.

This week we have another free bonus video on the improvements that Xcode 5 brings to Autolayout. As something that has been quite obnoxious to work with in the past, many people dismissed auto layout when it was introduced to iOS 6. With these improvements it is much more friendly and dare I say... usable?

Now that the iOS 7 is out and the NDA has been lifted you can expect NSScreencast to cover lots of the new features. In this episode I show how you can take a simple stock modal transition for a color picker and create something more unique and playful that fits with the "swatch" theme.

To celebrate the launch of iOS 7, here is a bonus free screencast covering a few of the concepts in iOS 7 such as the status bar behavior, tint color, and navigation bar transitions. We'll also take a look at Xcode 5 with a couple of the new features, including the integrated test runner.

Trying to run unit tests with xcodebuild leaves a lot to be desired. In this screencast I'll show you why xctool is a superior alternative. Quick, parsable build output and easy to follow pass/fail status on test runs make xctool worth checking out.

We continue our TDD exercise, building a view controller one test at a time using Specta and OCMock. This time we introduce the alert view behavior for invalid logins, performing a segue for valid logins, and capturing arguments passed to mocks in order to affect the system, all in tests.

In this episode I cover test driving a UIViewController using Specta and OCMock. We'll first talk about how to verify that your storyboard is wired up correctly with all outlets & actions and then talk about how to isolate the view controller from other dependencies using mock objects.

In this episode I add a block-based tap handler to UIButton, and discovering the limitation that categories can't define ivars or properties. To fix this, we use the objective-c runtime to add associated object storage. We also identify a block retain cycle and discuss a fix.

In this episode I cover a really interesting & powerful tool called PaintCode. With this vector-based drawing app you can export your artwork as Core Graphics source code.

In this episode I take a break from code to show off a powerful vector drawing program called Sketch. I show off some Sketch basics, create a simple (yet cheesy) cloud icon, and show how Sketch can be used to design mockups or full-fledged designs.

In part 2 we continue our Money example. We start by adding the ability to add 2 Moneys of the same currency, then extract the concept of Expressions in order to defer conversion until the very end.

In this episode I walk through Kent Beck's Money example from his book, Test Driven Development by example. We'll start off by setting up to use Specta & Expecta for our tests, and then drive out an implementation test-first. We'll see opportunities for refactoring and use our tests to guide us.