Here's the thing… A blog about the indie software life. By Mike Glass of Pocket Sevens

Save your dSYM files (automatically)

As you start shipping iOS software, you're going to need your dSYM files. They allow you to take crash reports from your users and translate them from hex addresses that mean nothing to you, to handy information you can use to determine where and why your app is crashing. However, dSYM files are specific to the build they came from, so you should keep them organized.

The venerable Matt Drance recently reminded me about this, and it prompted me to write a build script to automate it for me. Right click on your target, add a new Run Script build phase, and in the Script box that pops up, input the following:

STORAGEDIR=~/Development/dSYMStorage/
BUILDDATE=`date +%Y%m%d`
cd ${BUILT_PRODUCTS_DIR}
tar -czf ${STORAGEDIR}/${PRODUCT_NAME}-${BUILDDATE}.tbz ${PRODUCT_NAME}.app ${PRODUCT_NAME}.app.dSYM

C4[3] Roundup

Well, I'm home from my first C4 experience, and it was unbelievable. I want this post to serve as both a reflection on the conference and a guide for next year's first timers. So, here we go.

Code

The conference itself takes place in Chicago, over the course of a weekend. There was a mix of approximately hour long sessions, interspersed with five-minute Blitz talks. Blitz talks were a new thing this year, and I think everyone agrees, they stole the show. They were an unbelievable, runaway hit. Because of the short format, we were able to get a lot of them in, which gave a lot more people the chance to stand up and present some really cool stuff. For me, highlights were Fraser Hess's Cocoa Boutique, Dave Dribin's Testing session, Matt Drance's talk on working with Apple, Patrick Thompson on MacRuby, Jacob Godwin-Jones's Opacity (who gave us all a copy of Opacity Express, which is really cool and an amazingly nice gesture) and Chris Lloyd's Cocotron. As I understand it, videos will be made at some point of all these talks, and I recommend watching every single one. Worth mentioning is the difference of opinion in the room, which couldn't have been more clear than in the recent AppleScript/JSTalk debate that spilled over into the sessions. It was great to have both sides from passionate people. I'm still on my side (that's the "AppleScript is 15 year old legacy cruft and it's time to move on" side, the side that loved when Wolf put AppleScript in the coffin), but I really appreciate the debate and I'm glad it happened. I think I understand the other side more now.

Community

The entire weekend, I felt surrounded by 200 people who were smarter than me, and hoping just a little would rub off. C4 attracts some of the best developers in our community. It was really a privilege to sit with, socialize with and learn from them for a weekend. It's important to talk to as many people as you can, because everyone has something different to offer. I tried my hardest, and I still didn't run into some of the people I wanted to. One piece of advice regarding this: if you want to meet someone, find them and introduce yourself. Everybody at C4 expects it, and was always happy to meet me and have a conversation. Don't be intimidated by someone's reputation (or physical presence, in the case of Craig Hockenberry). Trust me, they're all there for the same reasons. The bars and after-parties are a good place to do this.

Controversy

Now, there was one not so shining moment that I'm sorry to say I was a part of. The surprise speaker this year was Marshall Culpepper, who presented the project he is leading, Appcelerator Titanium. Part of C4 is the Twitter backchannel, which allows attendees to chat about what's going on during the conference, live. During Marshall's talk, a number of us made remarks on the backchannel that were in poor taste, if not downright rude. I don't believe any of us meant to be rude or disrespectful, we were just reacting to the session, but it still came off that way, and that's what really matters. Wolf took us to task on Sunday morning for it in a clearly very difficult and passionate statement before the first session. The actual content isn't really important, but if you have to know what was said, it's all listed under @c4 on twitter. Personally, I'm very embarrassed by my role in all this, and I want to apologize to everyone there, and especially Marshall, for my behavior. Hopefully, this will stay behind us and we'll move on from here.

Canadian Bacon

Oh the food. There was SO MUCH FOOD. This was probably the one thing I wasn't really prepared for. Wolf fed us every few hours it seemed. The hotel food was really good, @violasong picked out a great menu and was prepared for vegetarians and lactose intolerant people as well. On Saturday night, we walked to Gino's East, to experience Chicago-style pizza, which I'll refer to as bread and cheese soup. I got through one slice of Meaty Legend (who screamed hilariously on the backchannel during our feeding frenzy) before I gave up. I must have put on 10 pounds during the trip. So, first timers, be ready. Work out extra hard before you go, because you will be eating, ALL THE TIME.

Wrapup

The best part of C4 is the people. I can't stress that enough. Meet everyone. Talk to everyone. Enjoy it! Talk about anything. At a bar on Saturday night, I talked sports with @gruber, found out that @kickingbear is working on something similar to Conspire (But I'm releasing first Guy!) and talked podcasting with @manton and @danielpunkass. My biggest surprise was that more people know who I am than I thought. @violasong informed me, as I was heading out to catch my shuttle to the airport, that I'm the only Republican she follows on Twitter. Victoria, I wear that as a badge of honor now! Hanging out with @kevinhoctor was as fun as ever. Meeting one of my Conspire beta testers, @eridius, was awesome too, and we had a long, laughter filled conversation on Saturday night.

So keep an eye out for next year's announcement, and be ready to jump when the tickets go on sale, because you don't want to miss C4. With any luck, I'll be there too.