Let’s start at the very beginning, so it’s clear exactly what we’re talking about here – in Swift, networking is the process of sending and receiving data between an iOS application and a remote server or another device over the internet.

If you’re building for mobile apps, you need Realm in your life. It’s specifically designed for mobile devs and even though it’s available on multiple platforms, it’s typically used to develop iOS apps, using Swift. Built on top of SQLite Realm Swift is a very high-level abstraction layer that simplifies database operations for the developer. Today we’re going to unpack it, with a guide that drills so far down into the subject, it’s practically in Australia.

Core Data enables us to manage the model layer of an Apple application. This layer is a crucial part of our app’s engine room, allowing the pretty bits at the front end to interact with the data and business logic at the back. We love Core Data because it provides a powerful database technology framework, and it’s built on top of the SQLite management system, which requires zero configuration or external storage space.

Can DataOps help data consumers reveal and take action on powerful product insights hidden in operational data? For many companies, the answer is yes! The emerging practice of DataOps applies Agile development principles and DevOps best practices (e.g. collaboration, automation, monitoring and logging, observability) to data science and engineering, making it faster and easier for organizations to uncover valuable product insights that enable innovation.

Introduced in iOS 14, App Clips allow users to quickly access a specific feature within an application (e.g. paying for parking or ordering a coffee) without downloading the full app. So they allow our users to interact with our apps on their terms, creating more targeted interactions that benefit us as well as them.

Introduced in 2023, SwiftData is the latest addition to the range of database framework options in Swift, Apple’s primary programming language for iOS. Built on top of Core Data, two levels above SQLite, it’s great for simplifying our persistent stores and it allows us to use declarative code, which is a really useful time-saver.

The term ‘data persistence’ refers to data that remains available, even when the program that created it is idle, sleeping or unable to open. In many cases, our iOS apps need to provide support around the clock, so we need our data to be ‘always on’ – even when the apps themselves are not.

Streaming analytics is an invaluable capability for organizations seeking to extract real-time insights from the log data they continuously generate through applications and cloud services. To help our community get started with streaming analytics on AWS, we published a piece last year called An Overview of Streaming Analytics in AWS for Logging Applications, where we covered all the basics.

Unit testing is one of the most powerful features of Android app development, saving us crucial time and reducing overall project cost and allowing developers to embrace test driven development With unit testing, we take an individual slice of code and test it to our requirements. If it passes, then the slice of code is pushed to the repository to merge with the existing code. If it fails, the developers fix the error and retest until it passes.

In the past, querying a database required Structured Query Language (SQL) skills, or knowledge of other database query languages, such as Kibana Query Language (KQL). Today, with the emergence of generative AI (GenAI), teams can query their analytic database using natural language — and get plain English results in return. Or, if you prefer to still use SQL, many teams use GenAI for database query optimization, making queries faster and more efficient.