Working
The week was spent finishing up purchases and integrating RevenueCat into Cleaner. To speed up the process, I took the risk of not using StoreKit directly. RevenueCat has many positive reviews, let's see if it lives up to expectations. Generally, I'm not a fan of writing everything myself in small projects; it seems many things are already written quite well, and the arguments for not having dependencies only apply to larger products. So far, everything looks good; in 4 hours, I essentially did everything including setup in AppStore Connect. Only paywalls remain, which unfortunately don't work on macOS in RevenueCat.
While I'm working on Cleaner, speed is always an important criterion for me. Not having much time, I have to suppress my habits and give up many things I always did. Here are a few examples that might make me look like a junior:
The project has no tests, not a single one. Yes, it's a bit inconvenient when you're used to writing them. But it's fast🙂 Honestly, by the end, I'm tempted to write tests for basic things, but I restrain myself for now.
No CI or auto-deployment. Everything is manual, pressing the archive button seems not so difficult.
The entire project is written in Objective-C. Unfortunately, no matter how nice Swift's features are, I don't have time to fight with the compiler and debugger when they simply refuse to do what they should. Despite the debatable nature of the above solutions, the project is being developed quite quickly. Compared to my other side projects, this one seems to be the fastest in development, largely thanks to these "difficult" decisions.
Reading
The idea to focus on the speed at which I work didn't come from nowhere. Mainly, it's the result of reading these two books:
The Passionate Programmer (2nd edition) by Chad Fowler
https://pragprog.com/titles/cfcar2/the-passionate-programmer-2nd-edition/
The Passionate Programmer is an excellent book for a number of reasons, but what particularly struck me was Chapter 19, which I recommend everyone read at least. "What if you need to write an app over the weekend for a $100k prize?" the author asks, then reflects on why sometimes this is possible, whereas in a regular project, you might barely decide whether to move a curly brace to the next line during that time.
Deep Work: Rules for Focused Success in a Distracted World by Cal Newport
https://www.amazon.com/Deep-Work-Focused-Success-Distracted/dp/1455586692
Deep Work is slightly about a different aspect of productivity. We all notice that often we do a different volume of work in the same amount of time, depending on mood, condition, and many other factors. This book analyzes and systematizes all this, offering many practical tips. I would also recommend it to anyone who feels behind (does it happen any other way?).
Already the second post on schedule. Surprising.