Brian Coyner is a seasoned software engineer, technical leader, and public speaker specializing in mobile and software architecture. He helps teams solve complex problems using core software principles, GoF design patterns, strong testing practices, and thoughtful API design. He is currently a Lead Software Architect (Staff+ Engineer) at NISC, focusing on scalable, reliable, and user-centric mobile solutions.
27 articles from this blog
A technical guide on creating and registering custom auxiliary functions for SQLite's FTS5 full-text search extension using C.
A technical guide to implementing a reorderable UICollectionView in iOS using compositional layouts, diffable data sources, and context menus.
A guide to attaching a Core Data SQLite database file to a failing unit test in Xcode for debugging purposes.
A guide to setting up isolated Core Data unit tests using a SQLite persistent store for reliable, production-like testing.
A technique for creating and configuring a NSPersistentContainer in Core Data using a generic extension and configurator protocol.
Explains how to use XCTAttachment in XCTest to attach files, images, and data to test results for easier debugging.
A guide with 8 practical tips for setting up, deploying, and maintaining a static website using the Publish framework and GitHub Pages.
A developer's guide to using Publish, a Swift static site generator, covering setup, theming, syntax highlighting, and deployment.
Explores building complex asynchronous workflows in iOS/macOS using NSOperation and NSOperationQueue, covering dependencies, data passing, and progress tracking.
Explains how to use NS_REFINED_FOR_SWIFT to improve Swift interoperability with legacy Objective-C APIs that return NSInteger.
A tutorial on implementing a drop shadow effect on a UIVisualEffectView in iOS, similar to the style used in the iOS Maps app.
A tutorial on using Xcode's 'Capture View Hierarchy' debug feature to visualize the view hierarchy of the iOS 10 Maps app.
A Swift developer explains how wrapping primitive types like Int in structs improves type safety and eliminates runtime bugs in a toy train control app.
A guide to creating parameterized XCTest test cases in Swift, including workarounds for NSInvocation limitations.
Explains how Swift handles integer overflow using specific methods like addWithOverflow, preventing crashes.
A guide to converting an Objective-C protocol that returns a protocol-conforming object into Swift, focusing on the use of typealias.
Swift extensions to simplify Core Data localization, including methods for localizing entity names and working with model strings files.
A guide to creating type-safe Core Data objects in Swift, covering convenience initializers and factory methods to avoid string-based APIs.
Explains the 'fail fast' principle in iOS development and provides macros for app abortion with crash logging via Crashlytics.
A guide on using Xcode Run Scripts to enforce code conventions by failing builds and providing jump-to-error functionality for developers.
