For many developers, the go to platform for their work is Apple, and depending on your language and tools of choice it may be a dream setup. For others, especially those working on apps for the Apple echosystem, it can be a painful and frustrating process. The time spent, and then developer cost of this can add up. I’m referring to the problems that come with OS and Xcode Upgrades where developers are forced to navigate a mess of instability, incompatibility and disruption.
The biggest issue I have, is every OS upgrade, I seem to be forced to re-download at least parts of Xcode, if not deleting and re-installing the whole application. I have just had to go through this cycle again to get my development platform working again while trying to debug a random crash in an ios app. A crash that has come out of no-where due to an IOS upgrade I believe (18.4 -> 18.5).
Enforced upgrades too, not only does Apple upgrade Xcode and the dependencies, but they often force these upgrades to be completed alongside an OS Upgrade, you want the latest Xcode? Sure, go upgrade OSX first, this is asking for trouble with other unforseen compatibility issues. When upgrading, we often then suffer performance or stability issues with the latest software versions too, bugs and issues that are often ironed out as the software matures, not something as a developer we want to be fighting on day one of a new operating system.
What is the answer?
Separate the updates, allow one without the other? Make sure updates don’t break each other? Spread out releases more so its not all on the same day?
While everything for a consumer looks all sunshine and roses, they get a sleek and cutting edge experience, the reality working behind the scenes is often painful and messier. Being routinely disrupted by software upgrades that break development flow, require changes or introduce new problems that have to be worked around is frustrating.
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