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The goal of this book is to teach the skills necessary to build iOS 14 applications using SwiftUI, Xcode 12 and the Swift 5 programming language.

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Ubuntu 20.04 Essentials provides in-depth information on the installation, use and administration of Ubuntu 20.04.

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Recent Posts

• Raspberry Pi Pico Launched and Priced at $4
  Raspberry Pi has just launched the new Pico microcontroller board. The board includes 264KB of on-chip SRAM, 2MB of on-board QSPI flash and a single USB 1.1 controller and port. The board also supports the addition of 16MB of off-chip flash memory. I/O options include I2C, SPI and PIO. Two features of the Raspberry Pi … Continue reading “Raspberry Pi Pico Launched and Priced at $4”
• Google Has Deprecated the IntentService Class
  As of Android API 30 (otherwise known as Android 11) the IntentService class has been deprecated. Provided since Android API 3, the purpose of IntentService was to allow asynchronous tasks to be performed without blocking the main thread. The deprecation is one of a number of steps introduced starting with Android 8.0 (API 26) to … Continue reading “Google Has Deprecated the IntentService Class”
• Android Studio 4.2 Beta 3 Released
  Google has now released Android Studio 4.2 Beta 3 for early access testing and is available via the Beta channel. If your copy of Android Studio is already subscribed to the Beta channel, it can be downloaded using the Help > Check for Updates (Android Studio > Check for Updates) menu option. Rather than introducing any … Continue reading “Android Studio 4.2 Beta 3 Released”
• Red Hat Announces There will be No CentOS 9
  Red Hat has announced that the end of life date for CentOS 8 will be brought forward to December 31, 2021 after which there will be no further updates. They have also announced that when RHEL 9 ships, there will be no CentOS 9 equivalent. In place of the “version” based releases, users will need … Continue reading “Red Hat Announces There will be No CentOS 9”
• Google Deprecating Android AsyncTask
  If you are writing multi-threaded asynchronous code using Android Studio you can’t help but have noticed that any reference to AsyncTask appears with a strikethrough. This, as we all know, is the dreaded sign that a feature of the Android SDK on which we have relied for years (in the case of AsyncTask it has … Continue reading “Google Deprecating Android AsyncTask”
• Google Changing Android Studio Version Numbering System
  Google has announced that it is changing the version numbering system for Android Studio with the change taking effect after the release of Android Studio 4.2. This means that instead of calling it Android Studio 4.3, it will be called Android Studio Arctic Fox (2020.3.1). This new system includes a code name representing a major … Continue reading “Google Changing Android Studio Version Numbering System”
• Android Studio 4.2 Beta 2 Released
  Google has now released Android Studio 4.2 Beta 2 for early access testing and is available via the Beta channel. If your copy of Android Studio is already subscribed to the Beta channel, it can be downloaded using the Help > Check for Updates (Android Studio > Check for Updates) menu option. If you want to … Continue reading “Android Studio 4.2 Beta 2 Released”
• Apple Announces Small Business Program
  After coming under pressure for taking a 30% commission on all App Store sales, Apple has now announced the App Store Small Business Program. Businesses that qualify for the program will see commissions dropped to 15%. To qualify for this program, your business must have earned less than $1 million for all apps during 2020. … Continue reading “Apple Announces Small Business Program”
• iOS 14.3 Fails to Fix Circular ProgressView Bug
  If you’ve been waiting for Apple fix the bug in the SwiftUI ProgressView that causes a circular view to appear using the indeterminate UI then you are out of luck. Having downloaded and tested iOS 14 with Xcode 12.3 it seems pretty clear to us that the bug is still there. We tried the following … Continue reading “iOS 14.3 Fails to Fix Circular ProgressView Bug”
• Ubuntu 20.04 Enters LTS
  Ubuntu 20.04 has now reached Long Term Support phase meaning security, maintenance and upgrades will continue until 2025. In the meantime, Ubuntu 20.10 remains the latest version of Ubuntu Linux with ongoing support until July 2021.
• JingOS Linux Arriving with iPadOS-like UI.
  Jingling Tech has announced that it’s JingOS Linux distribution will be available for download on January 31, 2021. Based on the Ubuntu Linux distribution, JingOS has a user interface and experience which JingLing Tech compares to that of Apple’s iPadOS. In addition to the ability to existing Linux desktop apps, JingOS also comes with a … Continue reading “JingOS Linux Arriving with iPadOS-like UI.”
• Xcode 12.3 Now Available
  If you have been ignoring the “updates available” notification on your Mac recently you may not be aware that Xcode 12.3 is now available from Apple. This new version of Xcode includes the SDKs for iOS 14.3, iOS 14.3, iPadOS 14.3, tvOS 14.3, watchOS 7.2, and macOS Big Sur 11.1 in addition to minor bug … Continue reading “Xcode 12.3 Now Available”
• A Basic Overview of Java Threads, Handlers and Executors
  The next chapter will be the first in a series of chapters intended to introduce the use of Android Services to perform application tasks in the background. It is impossible, however, to understand the steps involved in implementing services without first gaining a basic understanding of the concept of threading in Android applications. Threads, thread … Continue reading “A Basic Overview of Java Threads, Handlers and Executors”
• An Android MotionLayout KeyCycle Tutorial
  The previous chapters introduced and demonstrated the concepts of integrating animation into Android app user interfaces using the MotionLayout container combined with the features of the Android Studio MotionLayout editor. The chapter entitled “An Introduction to MotionLayout” briefly mentioned the cycle (KeyCycle) and time cycle (KeyTimeCycle) key frames and explained how these can be used … Continue reading “An Android MotionLayout KeyCycle Tutorial”
• An Android MotionLayout Editor Tutorial
  Now that the basics of MotionLayout have been covered, this chapter will provide an opportunity to try out MotionLayout in an example project. In addition to continuing to explore the main features of MotionLayout, this chapter will also introduce the MotionLayout editor and explore how it can be used to visually construct and modify MotionLayout … Continue reading “An Android MotionLayout Editor Tutorial”
• An Introduction to Android MotionLayout
  The MotionLayout class provides an easy way to add animation effects to the views of a user interface layout. This chapter will begin by providing an overview of MotionLayout and introduce the concepts of MotionScenes, Transitions and Keyframes. Once these basics have been covered, the next two chapters (entitled “An Android MotionLayout Editor Tutorial” and … Continue reading “An Introduction to Android MotionLayout”
• Ubuntu 20.04 System and Process Monitoring
  An important part of running and administering an Ubuntu system involves monitoring the overall system health in terms of memory, swap, storage and processor usage. This includes knowing how to inspect and manage both the system and user processes that are running in the background. This chapter will outline some of the tools and utilities … Continue reading “Ubuntu 20.04 System and Process Monitoring”
• Adding and Managing Ubuntu 20.04 Swap Space
  An important part of maintaining the performance of an Ubuntu system involves ensuring that adequate swap space is available comparable to the memory demands placed on the system. The goal of this chapter, therefore, is to provide an overview of swap management on Ubuntu. 1.1  What is Swap Space? Computer systems have a finite amount of … Continue reading “Adding and Managing Ubuntu 20.04 Swap Space”
• Adding a New Disk to an Ubuntu 20.04 Volume Group and Logical Volume
  In the previous chapter we looked at adding a new disk drive to an Ubuntu system, creating a partition and file system and then mounting that file system so that the disk can be accessed. An alternative to creating fixed partitions and file systems is to use Logical Volume Management (LVM) to create logical disks … Continue reading “Adding a New Disk to an Ubuntu 20.04 Volume Group and Logical Volume”
• Adding a New Disk Drive to an Ubuntu 20.04 System
  One of the first problems encountered by users and system administrators these days is that systems tend to run out of disk space to store data. Fortunately disk space is now one of the cheapest IT commodities. In the next two chapters we will look at the steps necessary to configure Ubuntu to use the … Continue reading “Adding a New Disk Drive to an Ubuntu 20.04 System”