Layer Cis in the Blockchain Infrastructure Industry

Layer C

layerc

Google Cloud has recently teamed up with the Flare blockchain, taking on a dual role as both a validator and an infrastructure provider. This exciting development places Google Cloud among a group of 100 entities who are embracing these responsibilities to enhance the Flare network's security and functionality. Flare brands itself as "the blockchain for data," offering a unique proposition to developers by providing them with access to decentralized data through its Oracle system. In the world of blockchain, an Oracle serves as a bridge that connects blockchain networks with external systems. This connection is crucial as it enables the execution of smart contracts based on real-world data inputs and outputs, thereby expanding the capabilities and applications of blockchain technology. Flare 101: The Foundation of Innovation At its core, Flare is an EVM (Ethereum Virtual Machine)-compatible blockchain that aims to enhance the functionality and interoperability of smart contracts and decentralized applications (DApps). Unlike traditional blockchains, Flare introduces unique features that set it apart: : Flare's architecture is built around its two innovative protocols - the Flare Time Series Oracle (FTSO) and the State Connector. These protocols are designed to provide decentralized, secure, and accurate data feeds from both on-chain and off-chain sources, enabling a new level of functionality for smart contracts. Two Native Data Acquisition Protocols : Flare is committed to sustainability, employing a scalable consensus mechanism that minimizes its environmental impact. This is particularly appealing in an era where energy consumption of blockchain networks is under scrutiny. Scalable and Low Carbon : Flare's focus on interoperability is evident in its ability to build safer bridges between blockchains, allowing for the seamless transfer and utilization of assets across different networks. A Bridging Powerhouse The FlareDrop Guide: Catalyzing Adoption A unique aspect of Flare's strategy to boost its ecosystem is the FlareDrop mechanism. This innovative approach to distributing FLR tokens aims to incentivize participation and investment in the network. By rewarding existing users and attracting new ones, FlareDrop serves as a powerful tool for network growth and engagement. Core Flare Protocols: Expanding the Blockchain Horizon The core protocols of Flare, notably the FTSO and State Connector, are revolutionary in their approach to solving the oracle problem in blockchain by decentralizing the process of acquiring accurate and timely data, these protocols enable DApps on Flare to operate with a higher degree of reliability and functionality. This is a critical advancement, considering the pivotal role of oracles in the DeFi (Decentralized Finance) space. Songbird Canary Network: The Testing Ground The Songbird Canary Network plays a crucial role in Flare's development ecosystem. Serving as a "testnet in production," Songbird allows for the rigorous testing of new features, protocols, and DApps before they are deployed on the Flare mainnet. This ensures a higher level of security and stability for the network and its users. FAssets and LayerCake: Pioneering Asset Utilization Flare's introduction of FAssets and LayerCake protocols marks a significant innovation in asset utilization across blockchains. FAssets represent a way for non-native assets to be used within the Flare ecosystem, providing users with greater flexibility and opening up new possibilities for cross-chain interactions. LayerCake further enhances this capability by facilitating secure and efficient cross-chain communication. Governance and Community: The Backbone of Flare Governance plays a pivotal role in the Flare ecosystem, with a transparent and democratic process allowing the community to have a say in the network's development and direction. This emphasis on community involvement ensures that Flare remains responsive to the needs and interests of its users, fostering a strong and engaged community. The Road Ahead: Flare's Bright Future As Flare crosses the $1 billion market cap milestone, it stands at the cusp of a new era in blockchain technology. With its innovative protocols, commitment to sustainability, and strong community support, Flare is poised to play a significant role in the future of decentralized technology. The partnership with Google Cloud not only validates Flare's technical capabilities but also opens up new avenues for growth and collaboration. New Blockhain Unicorn on the Block The journey of Flare to becoming a blockchain unicorn is a testament to the innovation and vision driving its development. As the blockchain ecosystem continues to evolve, Flare's unique approach to solving long-standing challenges in the space positions it as a key player in the future of decentralized technology. With a strong foundation, a committed community, and a clear vision for the future, Flare's ascent beyond the $1 billion market cap is just the beginning of its story in the annals of blockchain history. Don’t forget to like and share the story! Vested Interest Disclosure: This author is an independent contributor publishing via our brand-as-author program. Be it through direct compensation, media partnerships, or networking, the author has a vested interest in the company/ies mentioned in this story. HackerNoon has reviewed the report for quality, but the claims herein belong to the author. #DYOR

Flare Crosses $1 Billion in Market Cap: A Deep Dive into the Blockchain Unicorn

ফ্লেয়ার মার্কেট ক্যাপে $1 বিলিয়ন অতিক্রম করেছে: ব্লকচেইন ইউনিকর্নে একটি গভীর ডুব

Flare überschreitet Marktkapitalisierung von 1 Milliarde US-Dollar: Ein tiefer Einblick in das Blockchain-Einhorn

Flare supera los mil millones de dólares en capitalización de mercado: una inmersión profunda en el unicornio blockchain

Flare franchit le milliard de dollars de capitalisation boursière : une plongée en profondeur dans la licorne Blockchain

फ़्लेयर ने मार्केट कैप में $1 बिलियन को पार किया: ब्लॉकचेन यूनिकॉर्न में एक गहरा गोता

Flare の時価総額が 10 億ドルを突破: ブロックチェーン ユニコーンを深く掘り下げる

Flare, 시가총액 10억 달러 돌파: 블록체인 유니콘에 대한 심층 분석

Flare ultrapassa US$ 1 bilhão em valor de mercado: um mergulho profundo no unicórnio Blockchain

Рыночная капитализация Flare превысила 1 миллиард долларов: глубокое погружение в блокчейн-единорога

Flare Piyasa Değerinde 1 Milyar Doları Aştı: Blockchain Unicorn'a Derin Bir Bakış

Flare vượt qua mức vốn hóa thị trường 1 tỷ USD: Đi sâu vào kỳ lân Blockchain

Flare 市值突破 10 亿美元：深入探讨区块链独角兽

Redux has gained immense popularity for managing application state in a predictable and maintainable manner. This comprehensive guide walks through the process of implementing Redux in an iOS app, empowering developers to build scalable and efficient applications. From understanding core principles to practical implementation, this guide serves as a robust resource for adopting Redux in iOS development : the core principles - single source of truth, state immutability, and unidirectional data flow, where: Understanding Redux Architecture Store: Define the single source of truth for the application state Actions: Describe events that trigger state changes by reducer and trigger middleware Reducers: Pure functions that handle actions and update the state Middlewares: Interaction with services and side effects and the result of a new action . Create a new iOS project. Initialize the project structure, including folders Core, Flow, MW, Store, Services, where: Setting Up the Project Core for the basic architecture components and all additional general utilities Flow for UI components Views and their Service something like Controller/Presenter/View Model MW for Middlewares, DTO’s Store for Actions, Reducers, State Service for all components that are connected to the outside world something like File Manager/DB/Network/… . At first make protocol for actions and at the same time include reducer. Define actions that represent events triggering state changes. Organize actions into separate files based on functionality. Defining Actions Implementing Reducers. Create reducers that handle actions and update the state immutably. Combine reducers to manage different parts of the state protocol Action {
    associatedtype StateType: Equatable
    func reduce(_ state: inout StateType)
} enum MainAction: Action {
    case user(UserAction)
    
    func reduce(_ state: inout MainState) {
        switch self {
        case let .user(action): action.reduce(&state)
        }
    }
} enum UserAction: Action {
    case getUserData
    case receiveUser(UserModel)
    
    func reduce(_ state: inout MainState) {
        switch self {
        case .getUserData: state.user = .loading
        case let .receiveUser(model): state.user = .result(model)
        }
    }
} . Make base elements and protocol for Middleware. Implement middleware to manage asynchronous actions. And create DTO with mapping to State model Managing Asynchronous Operations struct Box<Act> where Act: Action {
    let run: (@escaping (Act) -> Void) -> Void
    
    init(_ run: @escaping (@escaping (Act) -> Void) -> Void) {
        self.run = run
    }
}

extension Box {
    static func throwTask(
        _ run: @escaping (@escaping (Act) -> Void) async throws -> Void,
        catchError: @escaping (@escaping (Act) -> Void, Error) -> Void = { _, _ in }
    ) -> Self {
        Self { dispatcher in
            Task {
                do {
                    try await run(dispatcher)
                } catch {
                    catchError(dispatcher, error)
                }
            }
        }
    }
}

extension Box {
    static var zero: Self { Self { _ in }}
    
    static func +=(lhs: inout Self, rhs: Self) {
        let tmp = lhs
        lhs = Self { dispatcher in
            tmp.run(dispatcher)
            rhs.run(dispatcher)
        }
    }
} protocol Middleware {
    associatedtype Act where Act: Action
    func run(state: Act.StateType, action: Act) -> Box<Act>
}

extension Middleware {
    var asAnyMiddleware: AnyMiddleware<Act> {
        AnyMiddleware(self.run(state:action:))
    }
} struct AnyMiddleware<Act>: Middleware where Act: Action {
    private let runer: (Act.StateType, Act) -> Box<Act>
    
    init(_ run: @escaping (Act.StateType, Act) -> Box<Act>) {
        self.runer = run
    }
    
    func run(state: Act.StateType, action: Act) -> Box<Act> {
        runer(state, action)
    }
} struct UserMW: Middleware {
    private let net: UserNetProvider
    
    init(net: UserNetProvider) {
        self.net = net
    }
    
    func run(state: MainState, action: MainAction) -> Box<MainAction> {
        switch action {
        case let .user(userAction): return handleUser(state: state.user, action: userAction)
        default: return .zero
        }
    }
    
    func handleUser(state: ModelWrapper<UserModel>, action: UserAction) -> Box<MainAction> {
        switch action {
        case .getUserData: return Box.throwTask { dispatcher in
            let userDTO: UserDTO = try await net.getUserData()
            dispatcher(.user(.receiveUser(userDTO.convert)))
        } catchError: { dispatcher, error in
            // Handle error
        }
        default: return .zero
        }
    }
} struct UserDTO: Decodable {
    let name: String
    let age: Int
    
    var convert: UserModel {
        UserModel(name: name, age: age)
    }
} . Create State and Model wrapper for implementing all states. Create a store to manage the application state. Define the initial state and configure the store. Implementing the Store Of course Store implementation is very simple without corner cases enum ModelWrapper<Model> where Model: Equatable {
    case initialize
    case loading
    case error(Error)
    case result(Model)
}

extension ModelWrapper: Equatable {
    private var equatabeValue: String {
        return switch self {
        case .initialize: "initialize \(String(describing: Model.self))"
        case .loading: "loading \(String(describing: Model.self))"
        case let .error(error): error.localizedDescription
        case let .result(model): String(describing: model)
        }
    }
    
    static func == (lhs: ModelWrapper<Model>, rhs: ModelWrapper<Model>) -> Bool {
        lhs.equatabeValue == rhs.equatabeValue
    }
} struct MainState: Equatable {
    public internal(set) var user: ModelWrapper<UserModel> = .initialize
} struct UserModel: Equatable {
    let name: String
    let age: Int
} actor Store<Act> where Act: Action {
    nonisolated var statePublisher: AnyPublisher<Act.StateType, Never> {
        stateSubject.eraseToAnyPublisher()
    }
    
    private var state: Act.StateType {
        didSet {
            stateSubject.send(state)
        }
    }
    private let stateSubject: CurrentValueSubject<Act.StateType, Never>
    
    private let middlewares: [AnyMiddleware<Act>]
    
    init(initState: Act.StateType, middlewares: [AnyMiddleware<Act>]) {
        self.state = initState
        self.stateSubject = CurrentValueSubject(initState)
        self.middlewares = middlewares
    }
    
    func dispatch(action: Act) {
        var box = Box<Act>.zero
        
        for mw in middlewares {
            box += mw.run(state: state, action: action)
        }
        
        action.reduce(&state)
        
        box.run(dispatch(action:))
    }
} . Integrate Redux with view components to read state from the store. Create simple View with ViewController and dispatch actions to trigger state updates. Connecting Components to Redux class ReduxVC<Act>: UIViewController where Act: Action {
    private let store: Store<Act>
    private var box = Set<AnyCancellable>()
    
    init(store: Store<Act>) {
        self.store = store
        super.init(nibName: nil, bundle: nil)
    }
    
    required init?(coder: NSCoder) {
        fatalError("init(coder:) has not been implemented")
    }
    
    func sink<S: Equatable>(map: KeyPath<Act.StateType, S>, _ sink: @escaping (_ storeState: S) -> Void) {
        store
            .statePublisher
            .map(map)
            .removeDuplicates()
            .receive(on: DispatchQueue.main)
            .sink(receiveValue: sink)
            .store(in: &box)
    }
    
    func dispatch(_ action: Act) {
        Task { await store.dispatch(action: action) }
    }
} final class UserScreenView: UIView {
    
    private let spiner = {
        $0.isHidden = true
        $0.color = .black
        $0.translatesAutoresizingMaskIntoConstraints = false
        return $0
    }(UIActivityIndicatorView(style: .medium))
    
    private let dataView = {
        $0.isHidden = true
        $0.backgroundColor = .lightGray
        $0.clipsToBounds = true
        $0.layer.cornerRadius = 10
        $0.translatesAutoresizingMaskIntoConstraints = false
        return $0
    }(UIView())
    
    private let errorView = {
        $0.isHidden = true
        $0.backgroundColor = .lightGray
        $0.clipsToBounds = true
        $0.layer.cornerRadius = 10
        $0.translatesAutoresizingMaskIntoConstraints = false
        return $0
    }(UIView())
    
    private let nameLabel = {
        $0.font = .systemFont(ofSize: 22, weight: .regular)
        $0.textColor = .black
        $0.translatesAutoresizingMaskIntoConstraints = false
        return $0
    }(UILabel())
    
    private let ageLabel = {
        $0.font = .systemFont(ofSize: 22, weight: .regular)
        $0.textColor = .black
        $0.translatesAutoresizingMaskIntoConstraints = false
        return $0
    }(UILabel())
    
    private let errorLabel = {
        $0.font = .systemFont(ofSize: 22, weight: .regular)
        $0.textColor = .systemRed
        $0.translatesAutoresizingMaskIntoConstraints = false
        return $0
    }(UILabel())
    
    init() {
        super.init(frame: .zero)
        backgroundColor = .white
        
        addSubview(spiner)
        addSubview(dataView)
        dataView.addSubview(nameLabel)
        dataView.addSubview(ageLabel)
        addSubview(errorView)
        errorView.addSubview(errorLabel)
        
        NSLayoutConstraint.activate([
            spiner.centerXAnchor.constraint(equalTo: centerXAnchor),
            spiner.centerYAnchor.constraint(equalTo: centerYAnchor),
            spiner.heightAnchor.constraint(equalToConstant: 30),
            spiner.widthAnchor.constraint(equalToConstant: 30),
            
            dataView.centerXAnchor.constraint(equalTo: centerXAnchor),
            dataView.centerYAnchor.constraint(equalTo: centerYAnchor),
            nameLabel.leadingAnchor.constraint(equalTo: dataView.leadingAnchor, constant: 22),
            nameLabel.trailingAnchor.constraint(equalTo: dataView.trailingAnchor, constant: -22),
            nameLabel.topAnchor.constraint(equalTo: dataView.topAnchor, constant: 22),
            ageLabel.widthAnchor.constraint(equalTo: nameLabel.widthAnchor),
            ageLabel.centerXAnchor.constraint(equalTo: dataView.centerXAnchor),
            ageLabel.topAnchor.constraint(equalTo: nameLabel.bottomAnchor, constant: 22),
            ageLabel.bottomAnchor.constraint(equalTo: dataView.bottomAnchor, constant: -22),
            
            errorView.centerXAnchor.constraint(equalTo: centerXAnchor),
            errorView.centerYAnchor.constraint(equalTo: centerYAnchor),
            errorLabel.leadingAnchor.constraint(equalTo: errorView.leadingAnchor, constant: 22),
            errorLabel.trailingAnchor.constraint(equalTo: errorView.trailingAnchor, constant: -22),
            errorLabel.topAnchor.constraint(equalTo: errorView.topAnchor, constant: 22),
            errorLabel.bottomAnchor.constraint(equalTo: errorView.bottomAnchor, constant: -22)
        ])
    }
    
    required init?(coder: NSCoder) {
        fatalError("init(coder:) has not been implemented")
    }
    
    func loadingData() {
        dataView.isHidden = true
        errorView.isHidden = true
        spiner.isHidden = false
        spiner.startAnimating()
    }
    
    func errorSetup(_ error: String) {
        dataView.isHidden = true
        spiner.isHidden = true
        errorView.isHidden = false
        spiner.stopAnimating()
        
        errorLabel.text = error
    }
    
    func dataSetup(_ model: UserModel) {
        dataView.isHidden = false
        spiner.isHidden = true
        errorView.isHidden = true
        spiner.stopAnimating()
        
        nameLabel.text = model.name
        ageLabel.text = String(model.age)
    }
} final class UserScreenVC: ReduxVC<MainAction> {

    let mainView = UserScreenView()
    
    override func loadView() {
        self.view = mainView
    }
    
    override func viewDidLoad() {
        super.viewDidLoad()
        sink(map: \.user) { [unowned self] state in
            switch state {
            case .initialize: break
            case .loading: mainView.loadingData()
            case let .error(err): mainView.errorSetup(err.localizedDescription)
            case let .result(model): mainView.dataSetup(model)
            }
        }
        
        dispatch(.user(.getUserData))
    }
} And finally assembly all components together into SceneDelegate guard let windowScene = (scene as? UIWindowScene) else { return }

let netProvider = NetProvider()

let store = Store<MainAction>(
    initState: MainState(),
    middlewares: [
        UserMW(net: UserNetProvider(netProvider: netProvider)).asAnyMiddleware
    ]
)

window = UIWindow(frame: UIScreen.main.bounds)
window?.windowScene = windowScene
window?.rootViewController = UserScreenVC(store: store)
window?.makeKeyAndVisible() All structural folders Core, Flow, MW, Store, Services you can separate into separate elements e.g. Frameworks/Swift Packages/Libraries or something like this Conclusion: In conclusion, the adoption of Redux architecture in iOS app development offers a structured, scalable, and efficient approach to managing application state. This comprehensive guide has illuminated the core principles of Redux, emphasizing the importance of a single source of truth, state immutability, and unidirectional data flow. The step-by-step exploration of implementing Redux architecture has covered various key components

Building Testable and Maintainable iOS Apps with Redux

Protocol-oriented programming is one of the most powerful and flexible tools for competent composition and distribution of responsibility in Swift. In one of the previous articles, protocol-oriented programming was used to manage the state and build a safe sequence of state transitions without additional checks. If you have not read , then it is recommended to read as material that will show one of the ways to use this wonderful approach. the previous article In this article, we’ll explore another way to use protocol-oriented programming. As a bonus — we’ll write our extension for programming UI components in UIKit that mimics the experience. SwiftUI What is the task before us? As we all know, all graphical components in UIKit are direct descendants of UIView, each with its own unique properties. A protocol-oriented approach will help us to endow each of the heirs with their own unique properties while making it possible to combine these properties in case we want to use the properties of the parent and the properties of the child. In addition to the protocol-oriented approach, we will also use the design pattern to bring the SwiftUI declarative syntax experience to UIKit. Decorator Let’s start with the simplest. Select several basic UI classes with which we will start: — all graphical components are inherited from it UIView — all , and so on are inherited from it UIControl UIButton UISegmentedControl Final UI components like , , and so on UILabel UITextField The inheritance diagram can be seen below: Let’s start our task by creating an interface: protocol Stylable {} This protocol is the basis for all subsequent extensions for our case. Since all graphical components somehow inherit from to cover all components — it is enough to extend with this protocol: UIView UIView extension UIView: Stylable {} Some of the most used properties for customizing a are , , , , . Moreover, these properties are often used not only to configure the , but also for its descendants. UIView cornerRadius backgroundColor clipsToBounds contentMode isHidden UIView Let’s extend the possibilities of for all classes and their descendants: Stylable UIView extension Stylable where Self: UIView {
    @discardableResult
    func cornerRadius(_ value: CGFloat) -> Self {
        self.layer.cornerRadius = value

        return self
    }

    @discardableResult
    func backgroundColor(_ value: UIColor) -> Self {
        self.backgroundColor = value

        return self
    }

    @discardableResult
    func clipsToBounds(_ value: Bool) -> Self {
        self.clipsToBounds = value

        return self
    }

    @discardableResult
    func contentMode(_ value: UIView.ContentMode) -> Self {
        self.contentMode = value

        return self
    }

    @discardableResult
    func isHidden(_ value: Bool) -> Self {
        self.isHidden = value

        return self
    }
} Let’s check what this extension gave us: let customView = UIView()
    .backgroundColor(.red)
    .clipsToBounds(true)
    .cornerRadius(20)

let customButton = UIButton()
    .backgroundColor(.red)
    .clipsToBounds(true)
    .cornerRadius(20)

let segmentedControl = UISegmentedControl(items: ["One", "Two"])
    .backgroundColor(.red)
    .clipsToBounds(true)
    .cornerRadius(20)

let scrollView = UIScrollView()
    .backgroundColor(.red)
    .clipsToBounds(true)
    .cornerRadius(20)

let textField = UITextField()
    .backgroundColor(.red)
    .clipsToBounds(true)
    .cornerRadius(20) As we can see, thanks to the extension, we can declaratively change properties not only for but also for its descendants. UIView Let’s move on to configuring the . For all of its descendants, one of the most used customizable things is tap, properties — , , . UIControl isEnabled tintColor isUserInteractionEnabled Let’s extend the possibilities of for all classes and their descendants: Stylable UIControl extension Stylable where Self: UIControl {
    @discardableResult
    func action(_ value: (() -> Void)?, event: UIControl.Event = .touchUpInside) -> Self {
        let identifier = UIAction.Identifier(String(describing: event.rawValue))
        let action = UIAction(identifier: identifier) { _ in
            value?()
        }
        
        self.removeAction(identifiedBy: identifier, for: event)
        self.addAction(action, for: event)
        
        return self
    }
    
    @discardableResult
    func secondAction(_ value: ((Bool) -> Void)?, controlEvent: UIControl.Event = .valueChanged) -> Self {
        let identifier = UIAction.Identifier(String(describing: controlEvent.rawValue))
        let action = UIAction(identifier: identifier) { item in
            guard let control = item.sender as? UIControl else {
                return
            }
            value?(!control.isTracking)
        }
        
        self.removeAction(identifiedBy: identifier, for: controlEvent)
        self.addAction(action, for: controlEvent)
        
        return self
    }
    
    @discardableResult
    func isEnabled(_ value: Bool) -> Self {
        self.isEnabled = value
        
        return self
    }
    
    @discardableResult
    func isUserInteractionEnabled(_ value: Bool) -> Self {
        self.isUserInteractionEnabled = value
        
        return self
    }
    
    @discardableResult
    func tintColor(_ value: UIColor) -> Self {
        self.tintColor = value
        
        return self
    }
} After the extension for , an additional customization option became available for all its descendants: Stylable UIControl let customButton = UIButton()
    .backgroundColor(.red)
    .clipsToBounds(true)
    .cornerRadius(20)
    .tintColor(.red)
    .action {
       print(#function)
    }
    .isEnabled(true)
    .isUserInteractionEnabled(true)

    
let segmentedControl = UISegmentedControl(items: ["One", "Two"])
    .backgroundColor(.red)
    .clipsToBounds(true)
    .cornerRadius(20)
    .tintColor(.red)
    .action {
       print(#function)
    }
    .isEnabled(true)
    .isUserInteractionEnabled(true) It is worth noting that when calling the action method using a class method, you should initialize this component lazily to ensure that the class (self) is initialized before the component is initialized. lazy var customButton = UIButton()
    .backgroundColor(.red)
    .clipsToBounds(true)
    .cornerRadius(20)
    .tintColor(.red)
    .action { [weak self] in
         self?.actionTest()
    }
    .isEnabled(true)
    .isUserInteractionEnabled(true)
    
private func actionTest() {
    print(#function)
} Let’s also extend with some of the most popular custom properties: UITextField extension Stylable where Self: UITextField {
    @discardableResult
    func text(_ value: String?) -> Self {
        self.text = value

        return self
    }

    @discardableResult
    func font(_ value: UIFont) -> Self {
        self.font = value

        return self
    }

    @discardableResult
    func textAlignment(_ value: NSTextAlignment) -> Self {
        self.textAlignment = value

        return self
    }

    @discardableResult
    func textColor(_ value: UIColor) -> Self {
        self.textColor = value

        return self
    }

    @discardableResult
    func capitalizationType(_ value: UITextAutocapitalizationType) -> Self {
        self.autocapitalizationType = value

        return self
    }

    @discardableResult
    func keyboardType(_ value: UIKeyboardType) -> Self {
        self.keyboardType = value

        return self
    }

    @discardableResult
    func isSecureTextEntry(_ value: Bool) -> Self {
        self.isSecureTextEntry = value

        return self
    }

    @discardableResult
    func autocorrectionType(_ value: UITextAutocorrectionType) -> Self {
        self.autocorrectionType = value

        return self
    }

    @discardableResult
    func contentType(_ value: UITextContentType?) -> Self {
        self.textContentType = value

        return self
    }

    @discardableResult
    func clearButtonMode(_ value: UITextField.ViewMode) -> Self {
        self.clearButtonMode = value

        return self
    }

    @discardableResult
    func placeholder(_ value: String?) -> Self {
        self.placeholder = value

        return self
    }

    @discardableResult
    func returnKeyType(_ value: UIReturnKeyType) -> Self {
        self.returnKeyType = value

        return self
    }
    
    @discardableResult
    func delegate(_ value: UITextFieldDelegate) -> Self {
        self.delegate = value

        return self
    }

    @discardableResult
    func atributedPlaceholder(
        _ value: String,
        textColor: UIColor,
        textFont: UIFont
    ) -> Self {
        let attributedString = NSAttributedString(
            string: value,
            attributes: [
                NSAttributedString.Key.foregroundColor: textColor,
                NSAttributedString.Key.font: textFont
            ]
        )

        self.attributedPlaceholder = attributedString

        return self
    }
} Thanks to this extension, customizing has become even easier. To customize the GUI, the methods of its parents are available, as well as its own methods: UITextField lazy var textField = UITextField()
     .placeholder("Placeholder")
     .textColor(.red)
     .text("Text")
     .contentType(.URL)
     .autocorrectionType(.yes)
     .font(.boldSystemFont(ofSize: 12))
     .delegate(self) It’s worth noting that, similar to capturing self in the ’s action method, assigning a delegate, also requires to be lazy-initialized. UIControl textField By analogy, the rest of the graphical components are expanded with properties that will be used for customization. As a bonus for my readers, I’ve compiled some of the most requested properties in this . You need to copy the files to your project; they are ready to use. repository Don’t hesitate to contact me on if you have any questions. Also, you can always . Twitter buy me a coffee Also published . here

Protocol-Oriented Programming and Modifying UIKit Components Mimicking SwiftUI

I dream of hiking from Munich to Venice and trekking across the beautiful Alps. But as I still have to live my everyday life, my journey has to consist of multiple stages, with weeks, months, or even years between each adventure. That is okay, as it’s more about the journey than the destination. However, I always wanted a way to visually retrace these paths, to see how far I’ve come and how close I am to my goal. I wanted a way to celebrate the progress I’ve made and to motivate myself to take the journey further. Fortunately, many outdoor and sports apps, like Adidas Running, Komoot, Strava, and others, graciously allow us to export our activities as GPX files. However, there’s nowhere to go with those GPX files. That is where and come into play. I recently stumbled upon Folium, a powerful Python library for creating interactive maps. It can easily incorporate geographic data, such as the GPX files, and allows for customization and exploration. Drawing upon the wealth of GPS data I’ve gathered, I started experimenting with Folium to craft a map that brings my outdoor excursions to life. Python Folium After some research and a lot of testing, I came up with that allows me to revisit my past outdoor activities: a map So, if you are anything like me and have a treasure trove of GPS data without any purpose, you may wonder how I got there. So, in this article, I will explain how to breathe life into your GPX files. Let’s embark on an expedition of exploration and mapping! Getting Started with Jupyter Notebook To begin this adventure, we’ll be using Jupyter Notebook. Why Jupyter Notebook? It’s a fantastic interactive computing environment that allows us to combine code, visualizations, and text, making it perfect for experimenting with our data and the Folium library. If you haven’t installed Jupyter Notebook yet, follow the instructions on their . Once installed, you can create a new Jupyter Notebook and get ready for your journey. official website Parsing GPX Files for Trail Data Next, we need the raw material for our map — the GPX files. is a widely used file format that stores location data, such as latitude, longitude, elevation, and time, making it ideal for tracking outdoor activities. GPX (GPS Exchange Format) If you’re an avid hiker, runner, cyclist, or skier, chances are you already have tracked various excursions using an outdoor or sports app. Plenty of those apps allow you to export your activities in GPX format. So gather those GPX files, and let’s get started! In our , we’ll use the gpxpy library to parse the GPX files and extract the essential trail data, such as latitude, longitude, elevation, speed, and distance. The parse_gpx() function will do all the heavy lifting for us: Python code ### READ GPX FILES

import gpxpy
import pandas as pd
import numpy as np
import haversine as hs
from pathlib import Path


def parse_gpx(file_path):
    # parse gpx file to pandas dataframe
    gpx = gpxpy.parse(open(file_path), version='1.0')

    data = []
    points = []
    for track in gpx.tracks:
        for segment in track.segments:
            for point_idx, point in enumerate(segment.points):
                points.append(tuple([point.latitude, point.longitude]))

                # calculate distances between points
                if point_idx == 0:
                    distance = np.nan
                else:
                    distance = hs.haversine(
                        point1=points[point_idx-1],
                        point2=points[point_idx],
                        unit=hs.Unit.METERS
                    )

                data.append([point.longitude, point.latitude,point.elevation, point.time, segment.get_speed(point_idx), distance])

    columns = ['Longitude', 'Latitude', 'Elevation', 'Time', 'Speed', 'Distance']
    gpx_df = pd.DataFrame(data, columns=columns)

    return points, gpx_df


activities = {}
frames = []
for activity_type in ACTIVITY_TYPES:
    activities[activity_type] = {}

    pathlist = Path(activity_type).glob('**/*.gpx')
    for path in pathlist:
        # exclude hidden directories and files
        # will lead to performance issues if there are lots of hidden files
        if any(part.startswith('.') for part in path.parts):
            continue

        activity_group = path.parts[1]
        activity_name = path.parts[2]

        if activity_group not in activities[activity_type]:
            activities[activity_type][activity_group] = []

        points, gpx_df = parse_gpx(path)

        gpx_df['Elevation_Diff'] = np.round(gpx_df['Elevation'].diff(), 2)
        gpx_df['Cum_Elevation'] = np.round(gpx_df['Elevation_Diff'].cumsum(), 2)
        gpx_df['Cum_Distance'] = np.round(gpx_df['Distance'].cumsum(), 2)
        gpx_df['Gradient'] = np.round(gpx_df['Elevation_Diff'] / gpx_df['Distance'] * 100, 1)

        activities[activity_type][activity_group].append({
            'name': activity_name.replace('.gpx', '').replace('_', ' '),
            'points': points,
            'gpx_df': gpx_df
        })
        frames.append(gpx_df)

df = pd.concat(frames)
df That leaves us with all the necessary data of an activity: a list of all the GPS coordinates and a Pandas DataFrame containing all kinds of metrics. Plotting GPX Trails on the Interactive Map With our GPS data now organized in a Pandas DataFrame, we can visualize our outdoor activities on an interactive map. Folium makes this task a breeze: ### CONFIG

# LOCATION = None
LOCATION = [48.13743, 11.57549] # latitude, longitude
ZOOM_START = 10

ACTIVITY_TYPES = {
    'Hiking': {
        'icon': 'person-hiking',
        'color': 'green'
    },
    'Running': {
        'icon': 'person-running',
        'color': 'orange'
    },
    'Biking': {
        'icon': 'person-biking',
        'color': 'red'
    },
    'Skiing': {
        'icon': 'person-skiing',
        'color': 'blue'
    }
} We’ll create a map centered at a specific location (you can choose one or let the code determine the center based on your data). We’ll assign unique colors and icons to each activity type, such as hiking, running, biking, or skiing. The ACTIVITY_TYPES dictionary will help us with this. ### READ GPX FILES

import gpxpy
import pandas as pd
import numpy as np
import haversine as hs
from pathlib import Path


def parse_gpx(file_path):
    # parse gpx file to pandas dataframe
    gpx = gpxpy.parse(open(file_path), version='1.0')

    data = []
    points = []
    for track in gpx.tracks:
        for segment in track.segments:
            for point_idx, point in enumerate(segment.points):
                points.append(tuple([point.latitude, point.longitude]))

                # calculate distances between points
                if point_idx == 0:
                    distance = np.nan
                else:
                    distance = hs.haversine(
                        point1=points[point_idx-1],
                        point2=points[point_idx],
                        unit=hs.Unit.METERS
                    )

                data.append([point.longitude, point.latitude,point.elevation, point.time, segment.get_speed(point_idx), distance])

    columns = ['Longitude', 'Latitude', 'Elevation', 'Time', 'Speed', 'Distance']
    gpx_df = pd.DataFrame(data, columns=columns)

    return points, gpx_df


activities = {}
frames = []
for activity_type in ACTIVITY_TYPES:
    activities[activity_type] = {}

    pathlist = Path(activity_type).glob('**/*.gpx')
    for path in pathlist:
        # exclude hidden directories and files
        # will lead to performance issues if there are lots of hidden files
        if any(part.startswith('.') for part in path.parts):
            continue

        activity_group = path.parts[1]
        activity_name = path.parts[2]

        if activity_group not in activities[activity_type]:
            activities[activity_type][activity_group] = []

        points, gpx_df = parse_gpx(path)

        gpx_df['Elevation_Diff'] = np.round(gpx_df['Elevation'].diff(), 2)
        gpx_df['Cum_Elevation'] = np.round(gpx_df['Elevation_Diff'].cumsum(), 2)
        gpx_df['Cum_Distance'] = np.round(gpx_df['Distance'].cumsum(), 2)
        gpx_df['Gradient'] = np.round(gpx_df['Elevation_Diff'] / gpx_df['Distance'] * 100, 1)

        activities[activity_type][activity_group].append({
            'name': activity_name.replace('.gpx', '').replace('_', ' '),
            'points': points,
            'gpx_df': gpx_df
        })
        frames.append(gpx_df)

df = pd.concat(frames)
df

That leaves us with all the necessary data of an activity: a list of all the GPS coordinates and a Pandas DataFrame containing all kinds of metrics.
Plotting GPX Trails on the Interactive Map

With our GPS data now organized in a Pandas DataFrame, we can visualize our outdoor activities on an interactive map. Folium makes this task a breeze:

### CONFIG

# LOCATION = None
LOCATION = [48.13743, 11.57549] # latitude, longitude
ZOOM_START = 10

ACTIVITY_TYPES = {
    'Hiking': {
        'icon': 'person-hiking',
        'color': 'green'
    },
    'Running': {
        'icon': 'person-running',
        'color': 'orange'
    },
    'Biking': {
        'icon': 'person-biking',
        'color': 'red'
    },
    'Skiing': {
        'icon': 'person-skiing',
        'color': 'blue'
    }
}

    We’ll create a map centered at a specific location (you can choose one or let the code determine the center based on your data).

    We’ll assign unique colors and icons to each activity type, such as hiking, running, biking, or skiing. The ACTIVITY_TYPES dictionary will help us with this.

### CREATE MAP

import folium
from folium import plugins as folium_plugins

if LOCATION:
    location = LOCATION
else:
    location=[df.Latitude.mean(), df.Longitude.mean()]

map = folium.Map(location=location, zoom_start=ZOOM_START, tiles=None)
folium.TileLayer('OpenStreetMap', name='OpenStreet Map').add_to(map)
folium.TileLayer('Stamen Terrain', name='Stamen Terrain').add_to(map)


### MAP TRAILS

def timedelta_formatter(td):
    td_sec = td.seconds
    hour_count, rem = divmod(td_sec, 3600)
    hour_count += td.days * 24
    minute_count, second_count = divmod(rem, 60)
    return f'{hour_count}h, {minute_count}min, {second_count}s'

def create_activity_popup(activity):
    df = activity['gpx_df']
    attributes = {
        'Date': {
            'value': df['Time'][df.index[0]].strftime("%m/%d/%Y"),
            'icon': 'calendar'
        },
        'Start': {
            'value': df['Time'][df.index[0]].strftime("%H:%M:%S"),
            'icon': 'clock'
        },
        'End': {
            'value': df['Time'][df.index[-1]].strftime("%H:%M:%S"),
            'icon': 'flag-checkered'
        },
        'Duration': {
            'value': timedelta_formatter(df['Time'][df.index[-1]]-df['Time'][df.index[0]]),
            'icon': 'stopwatch'
        },
        'Distance': {
            'value': f"{np.round(df['Cum_Distance'][df.index[-1]] / 1000, 2)} km",
            'icon': 'arrows-left-right'
        },
        'Average Speed': {
            'value': f'{np.round(df.Speed.mean() * 3.6, 2)} km/h',
            'icon': 'gauge-high'
        },
        'Max. Elevation': {
            'value': f'{np.round(df.Elevation.max(), 2)} m',
            'icon': 'mountain'
        },
        'Uphill': {
            'value': f"{np.round(df[df['Elevation_Diff']>0]['Elevation_Diff'].sum(), 2)} m",
            'icon': 'arrow-trend-up'
        },
        'Downhill': {
            'value': f"{np.round(abs(df[df['Elevation_Diff']<0]['Elevation_Diff'].sum()), 2)} m",
            'icon': 'arrow-trend-down'
        },
    }
    html = f"<h4>{activity['name'].upper()}</h4>"
    for attribute in attributes:
        html += f'<i class="fa-solid fa-{attributes[attribute]["icon"]}" title="{attribute}">  {attributes[attribute]["value"]}</i></br>'
    return folium.Popup(html, max_width=300)

feature_groups = {}
for activity_type in activities:
    color = ACTIVITY_TYPES[activity_type]['color']
    icon = ACTIVITY_TYPES[activity_type]['icon']

    for activity_group in activities[activity_type]:      
        # create and store feature groups
        # this allows different activity types in the same feature group
        if activity_group not in feature_groups:
            # create new feature group
            fg = folium.FeatureGroup(name=activity_group, show=True)
            feature_groups[activity_group] = fg
            map.add_child(fg)
        else:
            # use existing
            fg = feature_groups[activity_group]

        for activity in activities[activity_type][activity_group]:
            # create line on map
            points = activity['points']
            line = folium.PolyLine(points, color=color, weight=4.5, opacity=.5)
            fg.add_child(line)

            # create marker
            marker = folium.Marker(points[0], popup=create_activity_popup(activity),
                                   icon=folium.Icon(color=color, icon_color='white', icon=icon, prefix='fa'))
            fg.add_child(marker)

map.add_child(folium.LayerControl(position='bottomright'))
folium_plugins.Fullscreen(position='topright').add_to(map)
map We’ll use Foliums FeatureGroup concepts to group the trails based on their group name. That will allow us to show and hide certain activity groups later. Now, we’ll iterate through our parsed data and plot each trail on the map using Folium’s PolyLine and Marker objects. The PolyLine will represent the actual trail, while the Marker will act as a starting point for each activity. When you click on a marker, a popup will display relevant information about the corresponding trail. Conclusion In this journey of exploration and mapping, we’ve learned how to use to transform mundane GPX files into a dynamic and interactive map. Now, you can relive your outdoor adventures, celebrate your progress, and stay motivated for the next stage of your journey. Python and Folium However, there are many ways to customize, extend, and improve your map. So grab your GPX files, fire up Jupyter Notebook, and let your past outdoor activities come to life on the map! Happy mapping! What’s next? Stay tuned because there is much more to come: deploying a website with your map using AWS plotting elevation and speed profiles using Python and Plotly enhancing trails with pictures taken one the way and much more References All the code, including the Jupyter Notebook, is on . my GitHub While doing my research on Folium, I found by Patrick, who did the same thing I planned to do. His work was a great base to build upon my solution, so please check it out. a great article Jupyter Notebook Folium Pandas Also published . here

How I Used Python and Folium to Visualize My Outdoor Activities

কিভাবে আমি আমার বহিরঙ্গন ক্রিয়াকলাপ কল্পনা করতে পাইথন এবং ফোলিয়াম ব্যবহার করেছি

Wie ich Python und Folium verwendet habe, um meine Outdoor-Aktivitäten zu visualisieren

Cómo utilicé Python y Folium para visualizar mis actividades al aire libre

Comment j'ai utilisé Python et Folium pour visualiser mes activités de plein air

मैंने अपनी बाहरी गतिविधियों को देखने के लिए पायथन और फोलियम का उपयोग कैसे किया

Python と Folium を使用してアウトドア活動を視覚化した方法

Python과 Folium을 사용하여 야외 활동을 시각화하는 방법

Como usei Python e Folium para visualizar minhas atividades ao ar livre

Как я использовал Python и Folium для визуализации своих занятий на свежем воздухе

Açık Hava Etkinliklerimi Görselleştirmek için Python ve Folium'u Nasıl Kullandım

Cách tôi sử dụng Python và Folium để hình dung các hoạt động ngoài trời của mình

我如何使用 Python 和 Folium 可视化我的户外活动

As app developers, we're not just coders – we're creators, builders, and sometimes, illusionists. The art of app development goes beyond just code and design. Sometimes, it's about crafting an element of surprise and illusion that captures users' attention and creates an immersive experience. This time around, we're stepping out of our comfort zone of the 2D world, and taking a bold leap into the captivating world of . 3D UIKit is more than a set of tools for building user interfaces. It's a powerful toolkit that, when used right, can create amazing visual effects. In this article, we'll dig deep into UIKit and showcase a technique to create a mirror-like reflection. This effect can give your app a visually impressive and engaging look that typically seems achievable only with complex graphical tools, yet it's crafted with nothing but code. The end result Check out this beautiful, shiny cube. It will never rust, as it doesn't use any Metal. Now, let's learn how to create it using code. Some basics first For our purposes, UIKit serves as a slim layer atop Quartz Core, providing us with free access to its 3D capabilities. A holds a reference to a object, which is the actual component the OS uses for on-screen rendering. There are three properties of that influence its on-screen presentation: position, bounds, and transform. The first two are fairly self-explanatory, while can be initialized with any arbitrary 4x4 matrix. When multiple 3D layers need to be presented simultaneously, we must employ a specialized CATransformLayer, which uniquely preserves the 3D space of its child layers instead of flattening them onto a 2D plane. UIView CALayer CALayer transform A cube Let's begin by drawing a simple cube. First, we'll create a helper function to adjust the position of each side: func setupFace(
    layer: CALayer,
    size: CGFloat,
    baseTransform: CATransform3D,
    translation: (x: CGFloat, y: CGFloat, z: CGFloat),
    rotation: (angle: CGFloat, x: CGFloat, y: CGFloat, z: CGFloat)
) {
    layer.bounds = CGRect(origin: CGPoint(), size: CGSize(width: size, height: size))
    
    var transform = baseTransform
    transform = CATransform3DTranslate(transform, translation.x, translation.y, translation.z)
    transform = CATransform3DRotate(transform, rotation.angle, rotation.x, rotation.y, rotation.z)
    layer.transform = transform
} Next, in the body of our ViewController's function, we will assemble all six sides of the cube: viewDidLoad let cubeLayer = CATransformLayer()
cubeLayer.position = CGPoint(x: view.bounds.midX, y: view.bounds.midY)
view.layer.addSublayer(cubeLayer)

let cubeSize: CGFloat = 200.0

var baseTransform = CATransform3DIdentity
baseTransform = CATransform3DRotate(baseTransform, 0.5, 0.0, 1.0, 0.0)
baseTransform = CATransform3DRotate(baseTransform, -0.5, 1.0, 0.0, 0.0)

let frontFace = CALayer()
frontFace.isDoubleSided = false
frontFace.backgroundColor = UIColor.blue.cgColor
setupFace(layer: frontFace, size: cubeSize, baseTransform: baseTransform, translation: (0.0, 0.0, cubeSize * 0.5), rotation: (0.0, 0.0, 1.0, 0.0))
cubeLayer.addSublayer(frontFace)

let backFace = CALayer()
backFace.isDoubleSided = false
backFace.backgroundColor = UIColor.red.cgColor
setupFace(layer: backFace, size: cubeSize, baseTransform: baseTransform, translation: (0.0, 0.0, -cubeSize * 0.5), rotation: (-.pi, 0.0, 1.0, 0.0))
cubeLayer.addSublayer(backFace)

let leftFace = CALayer()
leftFace.isDoubleSided = false
leftFace.backgroundColor = UIColor.green.cgColor
setupFace(layer: leftFace, size: cubeSize, baseTransform: baseTransform, translation: (-cubeSize * 0.5, 0.0, 0.0), rotation: (-.pi * 0.5, 0.0, 1.0, 0.0))
cubeLayer.addSublayer(leftFace)

let rightFace = CALayer()
rightFace.isDoubleSided = false
rightFace.backgroundColor = UIColor.yellow.cgColor
setupFace(layer: rightFace, size: cubeSize, baseTransform: baseTransform, translation: (cubeSize * 0.5, 0.0, 0.0), rotation: (.pi * 0.5, 0.0, 1.0, 0.0))
cubeLayer.addSublayer(rightFace)

let topFace = CALayer()
topFace.isDoubleSided = false
topFace.backgroundColor = UIColor.cyan.cgColor
setupFace(layer: topFace, size: cubeSize, baseTransform: baseTransform, translation: (0.0, -cubeSize * 0.5, 0.0), rotation: (.pi * 0.5, 1.0, 0.0, 0.0))
cubeLayer.addSublayer(topFace)

let bottomFace = CALayer()
bottomFace.isDoubleSided = false
bottomFace.backgroundColor = UIColor.gray.cgColor
setupFace(layer: bottomFace, size: cubeSize, baseTransform: baseTransform, translation: (0.0, cubeSize * 0.5, 0.0), rotation: (-.pi * 0.5, 1.0, 0.0, 0.0))
cubeLayer.addSublayer(bottomFace) Here's what this code looks like in action: It's undeniably 3D, but something feels off, doesn't it? The concept of 3D perspective in art was first mastered by Italian Renaissance painters in the 15th century. Fortunately, we can achieve a similar effect by just using a perspective projection matrix: var baseTransform = CATransform3DIdentity
baseTransform.m34 = -1.0 / 400.0
baseTransform = CATransform3DRotate(baseTransform, 0.5, 0.0, 1.0, 0.0)
baseTransform = CATransform3DRotate(baseTransform, -0.5, 1.0, 0.0, 0.0) Now let’s look at the result: Better, isn’t it? The term at m34 is what creates the perspective effect. For the actual math, see -1.0 / 400.0 https://www.scratchapixel.com/lessons/3d-basic-rendering/perspective-and-orthographic-projection-matrix/building-basic-perspective-projection-matrix.html Mapping the environment Our goal is to demonstrate a mirror effect, so we'll need something to reflect. In 3D graphics, cube maps are commonly used to simulate reflective surfaces. In our example, we can create one using the actual cube we made earlier. First, we assign images to the corresponding faces: frontFace.contents = UIImage(named: "front")?.cgImage
backFace.contents = UIImage(named: "back")?.cgImage
leftFace.contents = UIImage(named: "left")?.cgImage
rightFace.contents = UIImage(named: "right")?.cgImage
topFace.contents = UIImage(named: "up")?.cgImage
bottomFace.contents = UIImage(named: "down")?.cgImage Next, for every face, we set and increase the size of the cube to . This essentially places the "camera" inside the cube: isDoubleSided = true cubeSize: CGFloat = 2000.0 Next, since we're going to create several cubes at once, let's simplify the setup functions: enum CubeFace: CaseIterable {
    case front
    case back
    case left
    case right
    case top
    case bottom

    func translationAndRotation(size: CGFloat) -> (translation: (x: CGFloat, y: CGFloat, z: CGFloat), rotation: (angle: CGFloat, x: CGFloat, y: CGFloat, z: CGFloat)) {
        switch self {
        case .front:
            return ((0.0, 0.0, size * 0.5), (0.0, 0.0, 1.0, 0.0))
        case .back:
            return ((0.0, 0.0, -size * 0.5), (-.pi, 0.0, 1.0, 0.0))
        case .left:
            return ((-size * 0.5, 0.0, 0.0), (-.pi * 0.5, 0.0, 1.0, 0.0))
        case .right:
            return ((size * 0.5, 0.0, 0.0), (.pi * 0.5, 0.0, 1.0, 0.0))
        case .top:
            return ((0.0, -size * 0.5, 0.0), (.pi * 0.5, 1.0, 0.0, 0.0))
        case .bottom:
            return ((0.0, size * 0.5, 0.0), (-.pi * 0.5, 1.0, 0.0, 0.0))
        }
    }
    
    func texture() -> UIImage? {
        ...
    }
    
    func color() -> UIColor {
        ...
    }
}

func setupFace(
    layer: CALayer,
    size: CGFloat,
    baseTransform: CATransform3D,
    face: CubeFace,
    textured: Bool
) {
    layer.bounds = CGRect(origin: CGPoint(), size: CGSize(width: size, height: size))
    layer.isDoubleSided = textured
    
    let (translation, rotation) = face.translationAndRotation(size: size)
    var transform = baseTransform
    transform = CATransform3DTranslate(transform, translation.x, translation.y, translation.z)
    transform = CATransform3DRotate(transform, rotation.angle, rotation.x, rotation.y, rotation.z)
    layer.transform = transform
    
    if textured {
        layer.contents = face.texture()?.cgImage
    } else {
        layer.backgroundColor = face.color().cgColor
    }
}

func setupCube(
    view: UIView,
    size: CGFloat,
    textured: Bool,
    baseTransform: CATransform3D,
    faces: [CubeFace]
) -> CATransformLayer {
    let cubeLayer = CATransformLayer()
    cubeLayer.position = CGPoint(x: view.bounds.midX, y: view.bounds.midY)
    
    for face in faces {
        let faceLayer = CALayer()
        setupFace(layer: faceLayer, size: size, baseTransform: baseTransform, face: face, textured: textured)
        cubeLayer.addSublayer(faceLayer)
    }
    
    return cubeLayer
} Now, let's render both the cube map and a small cube simultaneously: var baseTransform = CATransform3DIdentity
baseTransform.m34 = -1.0 / 400.0
baseTransform = CATransform3DRotate(baseTransform, 0.5, 0.0, 1.0, 0.0)

view.layer.addSublayer(setupCube(view: view, size: 2000.0, textured: true, baseTransform: baseTransform))
view.layer.addSublayer(setupCube(view: view, size: 100.0, textured: false, baseTransform: baseTransform)) Reflections UIKit is a robust framework, yet it lacks built-in features for complex visual effects. However, it does offer the ability to apply arbitrary masks to objects, and that's precisely what we're going to exploit to create the mirror effect. Essentially, we will render the environment six times, each masked by the corresponding cube face. The tricky aspect is that we can't directly mask a . However, we can circumvent this limitation by nesting it inside a container: CATransformLayer CALayer func setupReflectiveFace(
    view: UIView,
    size: CGFloat,
    baseTransform: CATransform3D,
    face: CubeFace
) -> CALayer {
    let maskLayer = CALayer()
    maskLayer.frame = view.bounds
    maskLayer.addSublayer(setupCube(view: view, size: size, textured: false, baseTransform: baseTransform, faces: [face]))
    
    let colorLayer = CALayer()
    colorLayer.frame = view.bounds
    colorLayer.mask = maskLayer
    colorLayer.addSublayer(setupCube(view: view, size: 2000.0, textured: true, baseTransform: baseTransform, faces: [.front, .back, .left, .right, .top, .bottom]))
    
    return colorLayer
} And now, our viewDidLoad should look like this: var baseTransform = CATransform3DIdentity
baseTransform.m34 = -1.0 / 400.0
baseTransform = CATransform3DRotate(baseTransform, 0.5, 0.0, 1.0, 0.0)

for face in CubeFace.allCases {
    view.layer.addSublayer(setupReflectiveFace(view: view, size: 100.0, baseTransform: baseTransform, face: face))
} This image already closely resembles what we intended to achieve, but at this point, the cube is merely a 3D-esque mask over the cube map. So, how do we transform it into an actual mirror? The Mirror Dimension It turns out there's a straightforward method to mirror the world relative to an arbitrary plane in 3D space. Without delving into complex , this is the matrix we're seeking: mathematics func mirrorMatrix(planePoint: Vector4D, planeTransform: CATransform3D, planeNormal: Vector4D) -> CATransform3D {
    let pt = applyTransform(transform: planeTransform, point: planePoint)
    
    let normalTransform = CATransform3DInvert(planeTransform).transposed
    let normal = applyTransform(transform: normalTransform, point: planeNormal).normalized()
    
    let a = normal.x
    let b = normal.y
    let c = normal.z
    let d = -(a * pt.x + b * pt.y + c * pt.z)
    
    return CATransform3D([
        1 - 2 * a * a, -2 * a * b, -2 * a * c, -2 * a * d,
        -2 * a * b, 1 - 2 * b * b, -2 * b * c, -2 * b * d,
        -2 * a * c, -2 * b * c, 1 - 2 * c * c, -2 * c * d,
        0.0, 0.0, 0.0, 1.0
    ]).transposed
} Next, we incorporate the following code into the cube setup function: func setupCube(
    view: UIView,
    size: CGFloat,
    textured: Bool,
    baseTransform: CATransform3D,
    faces: [CubeFace],
    mirrorFace: CubeFace? = nil
) -> CATransformLayer {
    ...
    if let mirrorFace {
        let mirrorPlane = mirrorFace.transform(size: size, baseTransform: baseTransform)
        let mirror = mirrorMatrix(planePoint: Vector4D(x: 0.0, y: 0.0, z: 0.0, w: 1.0), planeTransform: mirrorPlane, planeNormal: Vector4D(x: 0.0, y: 0.0, z: 1.0, w: 1.0))
        cubeLayer.sublayerTransform = mirror
    }
} And finally, we can behold the shiny cube we've been striving for: Why UIKit? Sure, achieving the same effect might seem easier with Metal or a Metal-based framework like SceneKit. But those come with their own set of limits. The big one? You can't bring live UIKit views into the 3D content drawn by Metal. The method we've looked at in this article lets us display all sorts of content in a 3D setting. This includes maps, videos, and interactive views. Plus, it can smoothly blend with any UIKit animations you might want to use. The source code for this article, along with some helper functions, can be found at https://github.com/petertechstories/uikit-mirrors Happy coding!

Smoke and Mirrors in Pure UIKit

বিশুদ্ধ UIKit-এ ধোঁয়া ও আয়না

Rauch und Spiegel in Pure UIKit

Humo y espejos en UIKit puro

Fumée et miroirs dans Pure UIKit

शुद्ध UIKit में धुआँ और दर्पण

Pure UIKit の煙とミラー

Pure UIKit의 연기와 거울

Fumaça e espelhos em Pure UIKit

Pure UIKit'te Duman ve Aynalar

Khói và Gương trong Pure UIKit

纯 UIKit 中的烟雾和镜子

When you tend to use one library for a certain period of time, you get used to it. But, you need to evolve and learn something new every day. If you are still stuck up with Matplotlib(Which is amazing), Seaborn(This is amazing too), Pandas(Basic, yet easy Visualization) and Bokeh, You need to move on and try something new. Many amazing visualization libraries are available in python, which turns to be very versatile. Here, I’m going to discuss about these amazing libraries: Plotly Cufflinks Folium Altair + Vega D3.js (My best Pick, i code in JS too) If you are aware and use the libraries mentioned above then you are on the right track of evolution. They can help in generating some amazing visualizations and syntax ain’t difficult too. Generally, I prefer more of plotly+cufflinks and Alright, lets get back to the basics: D3.js. Plotly Plotly is an open-source, interactive and browser-based graphing library for ython. Plotly is a library that allows you to create interactive plots that you can use in dashboards or websites (you can save them as html files or static images). Plotly is built on top of plotly.js which in turn is built on D3.js and it is a high-level charting library. plotly comes with over 30 chart types, including scientific charts, statistical charts, 3D graphs, financial charts and more. The best things about plotly is that you can use it in Jupyter Notebooks, as well as stand alone HTML pages. You can also use it online on their site but i prefer more to use it offline and you can also save the visualization as an image. It’s pretty simple to use it and get it to work. — Method to use it in Jupyter Notebook (Offline) First, install the plotly library. pip install plotly Then open jupyter notebook and type this: from plotly import __version__
from plotly.offline import download_plotlyjs, init_notebook_mode, plot, iplot
init_notebook_mode(connected=True) The syntax is quite simpler or simplest, i say? In P_andas_, you use and here, you use This changes the whole definition of the visualization. dataframe.plot() dataframe.iplot(). “ i ” With just one line, i generated this scatter plot. You can customize it as you want. Remember to specify mode markers or you’ll just get some cluster of lines. Scatter plot generated using plotly Please note that as the data increases, plotly begins to choke. So, I would only use plotly when I have less than 500K data points. Try it all in your Jupyter Notebook. Cufflinks Cufflinks binds Plotly directly to pandas dataframes. The combination is just amazing, the power of plotly combined with flexibility of Pandas. It is more effective than plotly. The syntax is even simpler than plotly. With plotly’s Python library, you can describe figures with DataFrame’s series and index, but with cufflinks you can plot it directly. Here is an example: df = cf.datagen.lines()

py.iplot([{
    'x': df.index,
    'y': df[col],
    'name': col
}  for col in df.columns]) With Plotly df.iplot(kind='scatter') With Cufflinks Cufflinks makes it much easier to plot stuffs. You can also generated amazing 3D charts with cufflinks too. I have generated this 3D with just couple of lines of code. 3D chart with Cufflinks You can always try it out in your Jupyter Notebook. — Quick Hack: Set in the config: c.NotebookApp.iopub_data_rate_limit = 1.0e10 Import it the following way: import plotly.graph_objs as go
import plotly.plotly as py
import cufflinks as cf
from plotly.offline import iplot, init_notebook_mode
cf.go_offline()
# Set global theme
cf.set_config_file(world_readable=True, theme=’pearl’, offline=True)
init_notebook_mode() And it works inline. Next, I’m going to talk about yet another amazing Viz library. Folium Folium is built on the data wrangling strengths of the Python ecosystem and the mapping strengths of the Leaflet.js library. You can manipulate your data in python, then visualize it in a Leaflet map via folium. Folium is turning out be an amazing library for plotting spatial data. You can also generate heat maps and choropleth maps using folium. Let’s learn something about folium: Maps are defined as a object, addition of other folium objects on top of the to improve the map rendered folium.Map folium.Map can be done You can use different map tiles for the map rendered by Folium, such as MapBox, OpenStreetMap , and several other tiles, for that you can visit or . this github repo folder this documentation page You can also select different map projections. Many projections are available out there. Let’s generate a Choropleth map with Geojson of US unemployment. Here is the snippet: map = folium.Map([43, -100], zoom_start=4)

choropleth = folium.Choropleth(
    geo_data=us_states,
    data=state_data,
    columns=['State', 'Unemployment'],
    key_on='feature.id',
    fill_color='YlGn',
    name='Unenployment',
    show=False,
).add_to(m)

# The underlying GeoJson and StepColormap objects are reachable
print(type(choropleth.geojson))
print(type(choropleth.color_scale))

folium.LayerControl(collapsed=False).add_to(m)

map.save(os.path.join('results', 'GeoChoro.html'))

map This is just a basic one, you can add markers, pop ups and a lot more to it. Here is how it would look like. Map with leaflet and folium Altair + Vega Altair is a declarative statistical visualization library and it is based on Vega and Vega-Lite. Altair enables you to build a wide range of statistical visualizations quickly with a powerful and concise visualization grammar. You need to install it the following way, if you are using Jupyter Notebook. It also includes some example vega datasets. pip install -U altair vega_datasets notebook vega Altair’s main dependency is Vega, in order to make the plots to be visible on the screen, you need to install it and also, you need to run this command for every new session. alt.renderers.enable(‘notebook’) Data in Altair is built around the Pandas Dataframe. One of the defining characteristics of statistical visualization is that it begins with tidy Dataframes. You can also save the plot as an image or open it in vega editor for more options. It’s definitely not the best one out there, but definitely worth a try for the sake of creators hard work. Here is an example, I’m using cars dataset for this; import altair as alt
from vega_datasets import data

source = data.cars()

brush = alt.selection(type='interval')

points = alt.Chart().mark_point().encode(
    x='Horsepower:Q',
    y='Miles_per_Gallon:Q',
    color=alt.condition(brush, 'Origin:N', alt.value('lightgray'))
).add_selection(
    brush
)

bars = alt.Chart().mark_bar().encode(
    y='Origin:N',
    color='Origin:N',
    x='count(Origin):Q'
).transform_filter(
    brush
)

alt.vconcat(points, bars, data=source) Scatter plot and Histogram with Altair and Vega You can try it out in your own Notebook and let me know if you get stuck anywhere! D3.js (Data Driven Documents) is a JavaScript library for manipulation of documents based on the data. You can bring data to life using HTML, SVG, and CSS. D3 does not require you to tie tie yourself to any proprietary framework because modern browsers have it all that D3 needs and it is also used for combining powerful visualization components and for a data-driven approach to DOM manipulation. D3.js D3.js is the best data visualization library out in the market. I prefer to use it almost every time. You can use it with python and as well as with R. Originally, it works with JavaScript and that becomes quite tough because JS has wide range of functions and requires much learning and experience but if you are a JS pro then you don’t need to make a second thought. Although, and has made it a bit simpler, just a bit! But you get the best stuff out there with this library. Python R D3py has 3 three main dependencies: Numpy Pandas NetworkX I would suggest you to use it with JavaScript or R, not with python because the version is out of date and was last updated in 2016. Though, it was just a thin python wrapper for D3.js. R has an interface for D3 visualizations. With , you can bind data from R to D3 visualizations. D3 visualizations created with work just like R plots within RStudio, R Markdown documents, and Shiny applications. You can install the package from CRAN as follows: r2d3 r2d3 r2d3 install.packages(“r2d3”) You can make some amazing visualizations with this one, Let me show you a couple of it here. Sequences Sunburst — ’s Block (Source) Kerry Rodden Activity Status of an Year — Kunal Dhariwal (Me, lol) From basics to High end, you can build anything with D3.js, Don’t forget to try it out. If you encounter any error or need any help, you can always make a comment or ping me on LinkedIn. : LinkedIn https://bit.ly/2u4YPoF : Github https://bit.ly/2SQV7ss P.S- Special Thanks to the creators and contributors of those amazing libraries. I hope that this has helped you to enhance your knowledge base :) Follow me for more! Thanks for your read and valuable time!

Taking Data Visualization to Another Level

Algorithms are a common question in every interview. They became so widespread, that nobody even thinks about a reason for asking them. Every developer has to know how to solve random HackerRank task. Many companies believe it is the default requirement, so candidates do. But are you sure it’s a must-have skill for maintaining projects and meeting deadlines? I would say, it’s the most useless for these goals. TL;DR — I do not know how to solve algorithmic tasks, I don’t want to have that skill and I believe that mobile developers should ignore vacancies that require it. I had twenty interviews over the past year. Not all of them were successful. Typical examples of failed interviews: There were four steps of an interview in one company: knowledge of the language, platform, architectural patterns, and algorithms. I failed only the last one, which was solving of two algorithmic problems of Easy/Medium level from HackerRank. In another company, there were few questions about iOS SDK. And by “ ” I mean something like: . One of the most memorable questions was: specific specific “During my career, I have successfully solved ALL tasks without even knowing such a question, let alone answering it” “How does the Git diff algorithm works?” Mobile Developer tasks IMO 99% is layout, simple REST requests to a server, parsing JSON and flush it to UI. Of course, I heard about augmented reality, blockchain and machine learning, which require specific mathematical skills. I leave the abstract 1% on them. But I went through 200 vacancies and only once saw AR. There were no blockchain or ML at all. These technologies are used, yes. But do not be mistaken, they are far from ubiquitous. The typical tasks of a mobile developer are here: read and understand a lot of legacy code commit changes to it without complicating its understanding for colleagues and without creating new bugs request to a server, parsing, output to UI, change fonts, color, corner radius Where most of the time go? — the idea is obvious and not invented by me. , articles and talks about proof that this is really important. “Reading someone else’s code takes 80% of the programmer’s time” The number of books “How to make your code clean?” You spent most of the time on understanding someone’s code, so any optimization should be started from that place. This is the bottleneck of a whole development process, thus improvements somewhere else just are not that important. How to reduce the time required to understand b̶u̶l̶l̶s̶h̶i̶ code written by your predecessor? It is necessary to make everyone write the code . The meaning of the word is defined by the IT gurus and their endless discussions about best practices. Static code analyzers have been invented a long time ago, new syntax checking rules are constantly being added for them. Every famous company has a public style guide. Modern languages ​​(Swift, Kotlin) allow out of the box Optionals, functional programming elements and other things that allow writing code more succinctly. clear “clear” Surprisingly, I meet shit code every day… But its creators perfectly know how to balance a binary tree. How many interviewers asked me about style guides or experience with linters? Fucking zero. Building an abstraction Someone say_: “But there are complicated things in mobile development too! It is very difficult to send data over the network, process the swipe-gesture or save data to the device memory. This should be done only by people with advanced algorithmic thinking.”_ This point of view is opposite to the real situation. I know the history of not only mobile development. There is a clear development trend of simplification by creating high-level abstractions. Programmers find it convenient to use abstractions to do common tasks. There was a time when we thought the line was the most comfortable pattern in the world. Now there is even no operator in Swift at all. It was deprecated to prevent people make stupid off-by-one errors, using , and instead. for(int i = 0; i < N; i++) ++ .map .sort .reduce don’t trust built-in sort, u can make it better are working on tools for your projects. Creating languages, frameworks and services. These tools are thoroughly tested by developers and users. Just think about it. Stop for a minute and look at your life. It is not necessary to be a programmer to realize that the idea of doing something based on the achievements of other people is good. Special people If you still do not believe me: — abstraction above other abstractions. The meaning of that project — make configuration and usage as simple as possible Spring Boot — you still sure that every developer has to know the difference between lock and recursive_lock? C++17 Checkout and shut up I even don’t want to talk about something concrete_._ Just whole JS. JS+html -> React; callback -> promise -> async/await; CSS -> flexbox Javascript — Everything proves that trend. The invention of OOP. C -> С++. Plane autopilot. Conveyor. McDonald’s. Car-sharing. Do less, get more People really want to be able to do more, contributing less effort. You can train super-specialists, and they will perform your complex tasks perfectly, implement it with assembly language without mistakes. You can train the pilot to have an immediate reflex to any event. But it will take more time and more money and will not bring any benefits. Obviously, you are not able to achieve even an acceptable level of skills in all areas necessary for life. Therefore, the only right way is to become an expert in one of them and convert your skill to the services of other people. These are not just my stupid hypothesis, this is the evolution. Reuse someone else’s work. Outsource. Share responsibility. It is faster. It is better. This is how the world works. The сognitive bias of people lies in the usual unwillingness to recognize a simple truth: a programmer should not overdo digging into the depth of his tools. He has to trust them. If a security bug is found in the private library your company wrote, only you are to blame. No one will help you, because you took all the responsibility on you. Take people from important projects, send them to repair, lose money. If a security bug is detected in … Well, a big part of iOS community will try to fix it simultaneously, because this is a shared problem. Alamofire Alamofire code is public, which means everyone can find errors in it, criticize the architecture and submit an issue. Thus, there are permanent patches, fixes, improvements. But with your own private library, you will detect a bug only after users’ data leak. They say to me: . I hear instead: . People know algorithms and sure that they are the gods of programming who will make everything much better. This prevents the rational use of time, increases risks for a company and costs of developers who imagined themselves to be gods of program design. “we will not use this dependency with 10,000 stars on Github; we do not trust it and do not know how it works” “I consider myself smarter than 10,000 developers. I will implement my own wheel, I don’t need any help” Leaking abstraction Popular opinion is**:** “ Without deep knowledge of how your tools work, you cannot consider yourself a professional. In case of a problem, you can not figure out where to look for its reason. You depend on the manufacturer of your tool.” When you just hit your finger by a hammer of a well-known company — you have only two choices: You start to dig into materials of the hammer, studying alloys, chemical composition. Then you buy a small quantum physics textbook for dummies and learn that the atom is not the smallest particle. You now understand a lot about how a hammer works. But your finger still hurts and a nail is not clogged. You realize you are a fucking retard and problem is you, and with the second try carefully hammer a nail. Okay, forget about metaphors. A situation in which your tool crashes may occur. But even without knowing exactly how the hammer works, you will understand that reason is inside of it. If you are able to read and understand code, you get the ability to locate the place of an error. If there is your tool usage near an error, it makes sense to contact the manufacturer Should you dig into and correct the error yourself? In my opinion, no. When your car breaks down, you go to a service center. When your health breaks, you go to the doctor. When breaks, you submit a . This is the advantage of our century — you could get help by professionals at any time. UIKit radar But if you still really want — dig into. But only after a necessity occurs! Until that moment just run more often and do not think about anything. It is scary to not have full control, but you get used to it. You trust someone every day a hundred times. Telephone manufacturers, taxi driver, restaurant chefs, public utilities. [pod update](https://guides.cocoapods.org/using/the-podfile.html) What is the problem The requirement to understand the in-depth structure of all your tools is counterproductive. Regressive, I would say. A cook can be a professional without any knowledge in the knife smelting technique. A racer can be a professional, not knowing where gasoline comes from. There are no prerequisites for this, it is not necessary. A professional is a person who knows how to use his tools to produce high-quality output. Whether it is a tasty dish, the best time on the track or 5-star mobile application. The thing is the ability to solve algorithmic problems will not help you to quickly understand code or write it in a clean way. And, there is an opinion, the code for solving an algorithmic problem is the least readable code in the world. These companies demanded me to have a counter-productive mindset. The mindset that literally contradicts progress, evolution and rationality. At the same time, skills that could really improve the quality and speed of my work (using third-party tools and linters) were ignored and even perceived negatively. One minute of rationality I know that the gods of programming really exist. They create amazing things that everyone uses without any doubt. And these things are really complicated, far from just painting a button with a new color or . But these people are unique, they are just tenths of a percent of the total number of developers. And please do not compare other developers with them. view.layer.cornerRadius = 4 Business rarely needs to create something revolutionary new. It almost always wants and . Business is not interested in your new wrapper over . If you want to develop tools, you can go to work in this area. Read complicated books, gain all the necessary skills and go to the Swift Core team, for instance. BUT THERE IS NO NEED OF ALGORITHMIC SKILLS FOR E-COMMERCE APPLICATIONS. We are not going to send fucking Tesla to space here, ok? “like in those project” “stable and scalable” NSURLSessionTask thinking about variable naming It is very comfortable to believe that being a programmer means being an inventor, creator and architect. Spend every day in the deepest fabrication of abstract matters and concepts. But that’s just … it’s self-deception. The industry needs code monkeys which can perform monotonous work with required quality and speed. And it is a very big question: does industry need your creative potential. Maybe you just want it to be true? Competency examination There is my question: “ ”. A man answered me with Churchill quote: Do every iOS dev really needs to know algorithms? “Indeed it has been said that democracy is the worst form of Government except for all those other forms that have been tried from time to time…” meaning that this is better than any other ways of checking a level of dev’s knowledge. I totally disagree with that. The best answer of an ordinary developer on the question should sound like: . And no quick or bubble sort. “Which ways of sorting an array do you know” “Just call .sort and pass comparing closure” With the same success we can call the ability to solve integrals the main criterion of “competence”. Or, for instance, the ability to make your own motherboard. Well, that is about logic and computers too. Wozniak knew how to do it, why can’t you? Interviewers have to check employee for corresponding with business REAL NEEDS. If the business needs me to quickly repair the bug and implement a new feature clearly, give me a test task to find & fix a bug. Give me a task to refactor a class and make it readable for others devs. Famous and rich companies can afford any illogical shit. Require candidates to be a dovahkiin. But the problem is that other not very smart people look at these stars and believe everything. “ . This is the way the cult of a is created and maintained. That is why we have devs who despises usage of someone else’s decision. They just come to any project and invents their wheel, which nobody understands. And two years later business wonders why is it easier to rewrite a project from scratch than fix all issues. Do they hire only Harvard graduates for scrubwoman job? LET’S ADD THIS REQUIREMENT RIGHT NOW” fucking cowboy engineer genius It’s not so bad to consider the sky is green as trying to convince everyone in this. Let’s be honest. Call me at least three algorithms that are needed in iOS. Except for the diff algorithm, which is already approved for adding into Swift. Fuck the algorithms. Learn rules from by heart. Swiftlint/Rules.md If you enjoyed the story, please give it a clap (50) and share to help others find it! Feel free to leave a comment below. Follow me to read more about RxSwift.

Does business care about algorithmic skills?

Back in 2014 I started my career as android application developer, I worked on many projects including core android apps which required deep knowledge of android SDKs and also NDK. Other than that I also worked on IOT projects which included connecting with external and on-device sensors. I enjoy being challenged and engaging with projects that require me to work outside my comfort and knowledge set, therefore I started looking into iOS development later in 2017. Knowing the mobile eco-system, it wasn’t much difficult for me to getting along and thanks to the sister languages, kotlin and swift, there was almost zero effort to work on swift. TL;DR From Android to iOS development — highlighting the better things Root view controller I was writing a network wrapper for iOS to manage all network calls.Whenever network request is made, loader dialog is shown and is removed when call is ended. Imagine doing it in android :@ What would you do? pass a context in every function, function by function or putting it in a constants file? using application context (which introduces a new set of problems). (Not the ideal way, but it was a small app) currentVC = rootVC.presentedViewController ?? rootVC!currentVC.present(screenLoader, animated: ) let false Creating custom views Ever created custom view for android? Some heavy chart? Remember problems with onDraw? It being fired more than once? or do you remember onLayoutSubviews where you request for the view size?Well, iOS manages it beautifully. It’s not like we don’t have onDraw in iOS but it is different, frame and bounds are really powerful. draw( rect: CGRect) { .draw(rect) override func _ super **self**.layer.borderColor = UIColor.blue.cgColor  
**self**.layer.cornerRadius = **self**.frame.height/2  
**self**.layer.borderWidth = 2.0  
**self**.clipsToBounds = **true  
self**.setTitleColor(.white, for: .highlighted)  
(buttonColor = buttonColor) } Or you can also use auto layout in custom view. . See example here Storyboard Android developers have been away from this blessing, anyhow they are catching up now.There is to learn such as XML. You don’t have to see the code for sometime which is also a good feeling. Drag and drop is lot easy, you can say, common sense is required for building simple UIs.No view ids — phew. are something from heaven, well kotlinx synthetic has also made it a lot easier but aren’t mature enough.Another beautiful thing about storyboard are the , the navigation between the view controllers, a proper, better backstack and understanding of the app flow.Ever implemented bottom bar/tab bar? Had to work with the fragments? Maintaining multiple lifecycles? Try doing it on iOS :) no markup language IBOutlets and IBActions seagues Dependency Injection Dagger and Koin are the most popular dependency injection libraries in android, they require a tricky setup and lots of code, specially autogenerated, and they come with their own set of bugs and errors.In iOS, we do not require any library but technique which is less prone to errors and easier to implement. Call Kit We worked on a chat application which included audio/video call. There were tons of things we had to take care of in android. Setting the wake-lock, proximity sensor to disable the screen, keep screen on, running the timer etc.Whereas iOS comes with call kit which already handle all these cases :) Anyhow, call kit helps but it also limit developers. Target Devices Apple has the limited number of devices running on iOS: iPhone, iPod and iPad. Moreover, the shows, that over 50% of users updated their operating systems to the latest version (iOS 11) during the first 3 weeks after the release. It makes lives of iOS developers easier. A development process flows faster because you have to build your app for a narrow range of devices and operating systems. most recent statistics But if we talk about Android, it’s just a mess. There are dozens of smartphones and tablets on Android with different screen sizes and aspect ratios. It means your app should be suitable for all of them. Or at least for the biggest part.The same thing is about operating systems. Here you can’t find any, which is used by of Android device owners. And it means that you again have to consider this difference while building your app. more than 50% XCode IDE When it comes to the IDE, android studio is lot better in many things, such as giving suggestions, navigation by clicking on the class, improving code snippet etc. but when it comes to speed, XCode is way better, android studio is memory hungry. It takes lot of time to import a project or even running the project can be very frustrating at times specially in debug mode. Conclusion It is not like that iOS is better than Android for development aspect, both have their own pros and cons. This post focuses on few pros I have experienced in last year. If there are any other things I missed, please comment and if you liked it please clap :)

A journey from android development to iOS development in 2018 — Kotlin and Swift

Build a floating hearts effect in Swift

Build a ride sharing iOS app with push notifications.

Understand the basics of Xcode . You will become more efficient in programming, just by knowing how your environment works. That's why I would like to dedicate some time around the new 9. This is a perfect tutorial if you are a beginner in Development. Let's start… 🚀 Part of being a great software developer is mastering your IDE Xcode iOS Left Sidebar On the top left sidebar, we can see many tabs available. This is probably the most used area as it contains many key features that Xcode offers called . I would start explaining them one by one (from left to right). navigators - your file manager. Whatever you need to do with your files it's done here. This navigator enables you to add, remove, edit or group files. Always keep this tab in focus. Project Navigator ( ) ⌘ + 1 A super-useful navigator meant for source control. It has an integrated support for GitHub accounts, which enables you to manage your repositories directly from your sidebar, and push changes to the cloud without having to use other tools. This is only available from Xcode 9. Source Control Navigator ( ) - ⌘ + 2 This navigator will enable you to quickly jump to a specific method or a property definition**.** Instead of going through your files to find the method you are looking for, just click on the file you need and then click the desired method or property definition. Useful for files that contain lots of lines of code. You can display the symbols in a hierarchical or flat list. Symbol Navigator ( ) - ⌘ + 3 Something that I use quite often. This makes a global search for the given text and returns results that are matching. You can also include various filters in the search. Find Navigator ( ) - ⌘ + 4 It's a place that keeps all the errors and warnings that appeared as a result of your coding. Errors are shown with a red color, while warnings are yellow. It will provide you with a detailed log of what is going on. You can display Buildtime or Runtime issues. Issue Navigator ( ) - ⌘ + 5 Is used for running the written test cases. This navigator is a shortcut for your . Test Navigator ( ) - ⌘ + 6 XCTest's **Debug Navigator (**⌘ + 7) - Whenever the app crashes, this tab gets automatically opened. It will provide you with exact lines where the app has stopped and provide you with a reason in the console. Also, you can find useful information about your app's Memory, CPU, Disk and Network consumption. Another tab that I use a lot for debugging**.** From here, you can easily set breakpoints and monitor their activities. I really love how clean this feature is. Breakpoint Navigator ( ) - ⌘ + 8 Control your continuous integration from here. You should create a bot, and it will provide you access to a detailed information about your bots and the integrations performed on the server. Report Navigator ( ) - ⌘ + 9 _Many iOS apps use Google Maps. This is a very common feature, so I have decided to prepare an ultimate guide on Google…_theappspace.com Google Maps SDK for iOS using Swift 4 - The App Space Right Sidebar Moving on the other side of Xcode. On the right side, you can see another sidebar with various tabs. But, unlike the left sidebar, this one contains a different set of tabs (depending on your location). On this side, the tabs are called . inspectors Swift/Objective-C File If you click on a Swift/Objective-C file you will see the following tabs. You will use these tabs to less than 10% of your projects, but let's cover them. this inspector provides basic details and settings about the selected file. It's divided into three main sections. File Inspector - - provides you with an information where the file is located in the directory and gives you a possibility to open it in Finder. Also, you can set the location of the file whether it should be an absolute or relative path. Identity and Type - if your file doesn't get recognized in the project, the first place you should search is here. This tells the project that the file belongs to its target. Make sure your target is always checked, otherwise the file won't be found. Target Membership Personally, I have never used this part. You can set up indentation and other text settings from here. These settings are only for the selected file. Text Settings - 2. - provides you with a documentation for a selected class. For example, find a class inside your file, and move the cursor to that word. A quick explanation about the class will appear. Quick Help Inspector String Storyboard File If you click on a .storyboard file, in the right corner you will see a new set of tabs. this inspector contains the same details that I have explained above, just with a few new sections. File Inspector — enables the Auto Layout, Trait Variations, and Safe Area. Also, you can set the Global Tint color for the whole storyboard and decide if you want to use the selected UIViewController as a Launch Screen. Interface Builder Document - shows all your localization files. You can enable/disable languages that you want to appear in the storyboard. Localization - 2. same info as above. Quick Help Inspector - 3. controls the identity of the UIViewController. By identity we understand, assigning a custom class, providing a storyboard ID so you can access the view controller via code, and where you can add various styling properties, instead of adding them via code (example: ). Identity Inspector - User Defined Runtime Attributes layer.cornerRadius 4. this inspector is used for adjusting the properties of the selected object. Each object contains its own set of properties. For example, the contains settings like adjusting text, text color, font, background color etc. You can also add your own properties, by using . Attributes Inspector - UILabel @IBInspectable 5. I think the name explains it all. Anything related to the sizing of the object can be found here. Despite the x, y, width and height values you can find the Auto Layout constraints, or Autoresizing if you aren't using Auto Layout. Size Inspector - 6. used for communication between the code and the view controller using and assigning actions via . Connections Inspector - @IBOutlet @IBAction I will go through the .xcassets file which can be found in any project. It's used for storing your assets. Two of the three tabs are already familiar to you from the previous points above. - from here, you can adjust the properties for the selected asset. Most common properties are image compression, rendering type, device support, scale (vector or individual) etc. Attributes Inspector Header Next on the list is the header. We are going a little bit above the left and right sidebar, at the very top of Xcode. **Left Side**You can find actions like run and stop your project from building, managing your target's schemes, or picking and downloading a new simulator. **Right Side**A place where you can apply different options to the editor. I would start explaining them from left to right. this control represents the default view of the editor. Standard Editor - By using the assistant editor, your coding area will split into two parts. The left side represents your file, and the right side represents only your method definitions. What it does is, it ignores the code written inside your methods, and just shows you the method definitions. Useful if your class contains lots of code. Assistant Editor - Splits your coding area and adds a replica of your class which tells you what you have changed from the last commit. This is used for version control, providing you with a comparison of what was changed. Version Editor - The next three icons that are located in the top right corner, represent the showing and hiding of the sidebars and the debug area. It is used if you lack space on your screen (i.e. working on a MacBook Pro 13" screen) and want to give more focus on the coding area. 🤓 Project Settings We have finished exploring the coding area. Now let's proceed with something more complex. Something that doesn't involves code. We will go through the project settings. I am sure you have seen this screen before, so I will start explaining the tabs directly.👇 . I will explain only the most used ones General the name explains it all. Here, you can find settings that are general for the specific target. General - controls the app name, bundle identifier, version number and build. number, Identity - a section that handles the provisioning profiles. Basically, it signs the app for sending versions of the app for testing or production. Signing - from here, you can add minimal iOS version support, decide if the app is going to be Universal or only iPhone or only IPad, and add the default Storyboard file. Deployment Info - assign app icon and splash screen assets. App Icons and Launch Images - contains switches with various services that you can use. By default, all the services are OFF and you need to activate what you need, by going to your . So if you want to use Push Notifications, Background Services or , make sure that the switch is set to ON. Capabilities - App ID In-App Purchases Capabilities 3. you can assign tags to resources, and they will all end up here. I have never used this feature, but if you want to find out more about it, you can check . Resource Tags - here 4. this tab shows the properties from your active file. From here, you can add/edit/remove the property information. Info - .plist 5. the official Apple documentation explains this part well… "This tab contains many settings that are related to the build process. From assigning provisioning profiles to adding directory paths for 3rd party libraries. Each target has its own Build Settings. Build Settings - "A build setting is a variable that contains information about how a particular aspect of a product’s build process should be performed. For example, the information in a build setting can specify which options Xcode passes to the compiler. Build Settings 6. provides you a list of all your files that will be included in the compile. All your frameworks, assets, .swift files, storyboards will be shown here, with an option to add or remove. Also, there is a Run Script feature where you can add your own shell script. Build Phases - 7. Xcode gives you a possibility to write your own rules. If you got decent scripting skills you can write almost anything. For example, converting .css files into .c, or add formatting rules to the text inside the .rtf file. Build Rules - I hope that you enjoyed this tutorial and that it helped you understand more about the basic functionalities in Xcode. If you found this tutorial helpful, please 👏 or share this story so others can find it. 🙇 Check out my latest project: _This app is only available on the App Store for iOS devices. Increase your profits by following our professional BET…_apple.co ‎VIP Sports Bet Tips & Scores on the App Store Read more of my writing on Medium: _Forget MVC, now!_hackernoon.com Introducing Clean Swift Architecture (VIP) _Many iOS apps use Google Maps. This is a very common feature, so I have decided to prepare an ultimate guide on the…_medium.freecodecamp.org Your ultimate guide to the Google Maps SDK on iOS, using Swift 4 _Custom UIView with XIB file is a very common practice in iOS Development. Custom UIView classes don’t contain XIB files…_medium.com SWIFT — Custom UIView with XIB file _A Swift tutorial that will make your app available in Spotlight search_hackernoon.com How to add Spotlight support to your iOS app _Understanding One-to-One and One-To-Many relationships_hackernoon.com Core Data Relationships _All you need to know about Auto Layout_hackernoon.com Understanding Auto Layout in Xcode 9 Subscribe to my Newsletter:

Introduction to Xcode 9

When I first heard about Nervos Network's dedication to building a BTC Layer 2, I wasn't surprised. That's because the CKB public blockchain technology not only matches but also goes beyond BTC. It not only maintains BTC's native UTXO features but also allows for more complex programmable extensions. While surpassing BTC may seem challenging for CKB public chain, aiming to be a top-notch BTC Layer 2 seems like a smart choice. Why? Let's delve into my take on CKB. The current BTC Layer 2 market is constrained by the mainnet’s limited validation capabilities, resulting in diverse alternative solutions. The simplicity of BTC's scripting language, combined with its near-zero computation and validation power, has created significant opportunities for market innovation. As of now, aside from limited transaction validation and multisig functionalities within UTXO unlocking conditions, the BTC mainnet is incapable of directly handling more complex transaction logic involving data validation, state changes, etc. It relegates BTC to an asset settlement layer, relying on extending through a powerful public chain for local consensus and computational validation capabilities. This leads to a lack of uniform standards or 'orthodoxy' for BTC Layer 2 solutions, making it challenging to rank them. However, distinctions can be made based on the community's perception between narrow and broad interpretations: Narrowly defined, only solutions like the Lightning Network state channels and the one-time seal approach of RGB qualify as truly 'orthodox' BTC Layer 2s. They effectively utilize BTC's limited script validation capacity without relying on or minimally depending on external local consensus. In a more general sense, any extension chain that gains acceptance for its local consensus, along with a cross-chain bridge solution that ensures the safe migration of assets, can theoretically serve as a BTC Layer 2. This includes contemporary Ethereum EVM chains, Solana with its high-concurrency capabilities, and others. Clearly, the BTC Layer 2 market is divided: on one end are highly-specific solutions like the slowly evolving Lightning Network and RGB, facing substantial challenges; on the other end are broadly defined solutions, where any performance chain capable of securely interacting with the BTC mainnet qualifies as a BTC Layer 2. But is there a 'middle-of-the-road' option? Yes, and it lies in the Nervos Network, which adheres to the UTXO model at its core, enhancing its performance. Notable features include: The CKB Network aligns closely with BTC, sharing the same 'UTXO model and mining consensus mechanism,' unlike the account balance model of mainstream public blockchains like Ethereum. The UTXO model has distinct advantages in transaction privacy, flexible transaction structuring, and parallel processing capabilities to prevent double-spending, which may be one of Satoshi Nakamoto’s most brilliant inventions. This is why post-Ethereum projects like Sui and Aptos have also adopted similar UTXO models. Bitcoin's capacity and block speed may be constrained by its era, but the UTXO model is remarkably forward-thinking. CKB adopts this UTXO model, evolving it into the 'Cell model', which preserves the pure transactional nature of Bitcoin’s UTXO model while also supporting the data states found in account models like Ethereum’s. To simplify: In the Bitcoin UTXO model, the creation and destruction of coins resemble a continuous minting and melting process. The Cell model, however, omits the destruction aspect, focusing on verifying and persistently storing states. Each Cell includes Capacity and Data: Capacity measures the balance in bytes, similar to UTXO, while Data holds any kind of information, including the history of transaction states. Thus, the Cell model can accurately represent balances and manage asset transfers, and also handle a variety of complex smart contract states. In summary, the Cell model is a more persistent and flexible transaction model that greatly broadens the scope of the UTXO model. It is crucial for CKB’s ability to maintain the security of the BTC mainnet while offering a 'speed boost' to slower Bitcoin expansion initiatives like the Lightning Network and RGB. For instance, the recent rollout of RGB++ by CKB illustrates this. In the BTC ecosystem, developing a mature RGB solution involves challenges that are not so much about the one-time sealing process of the BTC mainnet, but rather the communication, coordination, and mutual state maintenance among off-chain client validation nodes, particularly in a decentralized setting. In simpler terms, RGB's theory might seem straightforward, but its practical implementation is hindered by foundational infrastructural limitations and various barriers.
Recognizing this, CKB integrates these off-chain client validation nodes into its on-chain public validation process. This approach significantly accelerates the intended UTXO client extension pathway that RGB aims to achieve. Complex P2P consensus among off-chain nodes is notoriously challenging, fraught with complexity and obstacles such as potential data synchronization delays or inconsistencies, and susceptibility to fraud and attacks. Transposing this process onto the blockchain can simplify these issues. With the increasing discussions around RGB++, let’s also look at CKB's Open Transaction data format, showcasing the chain's forward-thinking features. Open Transaction allows multiple participants to collaboratively build and aggregate different transactions over time. It supports partial construction, amendability, and incremental build-up and aggregation. For example, Alice initiates an Open Transaction to exchange a certain amount of Token A for Token B with Bob. The transaction, once started, remains in an editable state. Bob, upon agreeing to the transaction terms, can then add his Token B and finalize the conditions. It might initially seem abstract. Take cross-chain scenarios as an example: Alice and Bob could independently execute asset trades on various distinct chains, significantly boosting the CKB chain's cross-chain interaction capabilities. In the realm of complex DeFi transactions, where market-driven dynamic adjustments are often necessary, Open Transaction allows contract participants to adapt trading conditions fluidly during the contract's execution. This undoubtedly enhances the ability to manage transactional complexities. From my perspective, Open Transaction mirrors the UTXO transaction unlocking conditions, capable of amalgamating intricate unlocking conditions, multi-party signatures, and complex transactional environments. This represents an evolutionary and valuable innovation that builds on the foundational principles of the BTC main chain. Interestingly, Jan Xie, a core developer from the Ethereum team, chose to embrace the BTC UTXO model for his inaugural major project. Despite the broader application of Ethereum's smart contract model, Jan and his Nervos team decisively chose to expand and refine the BTC UTXO model. This choice reflects a deep respect for Satoshi Nakamoto’s simplistic UTXO transaction model and also subtly lays the groundwork for its transformation into a native BTC Layer 2. In conclusion, I am quite bullish about CKB’s potential as a BTC Layer 2. In the short term, it certainly has the potential to expedite the implementation of projects like the Lightning Network and RGB within UTXO-based chains, offering valuable insights for these 'orthodox' expansion solutions on the BTC mainnet. Looking long-term, the inherent features of CKB's chain and its innovative architectural compatibility may enable it to excel in the complex and standardless arena of BTC Layer 2s. Note: There’s much more to explore regarding the technical nuances and standout features of CKB, which I plan to analyze in greater depth later. It's fascinating to see how BTC Layer 2 not only provides a platform for new chains to rise but also opens up endless possibilities for rejuvenation within established chains. Author: Haotian, Independent Researcher This article is the translation of a Haotian’s tweet. When I first heard about Nervos Network's dedication to building a BTC Layer 2, I wasn't surprised. That's because the CKB public blockchain technology not only matches but also goes beyond BTC . It not only maintains BTC's native UTXO features but also allows for more complex programmable extensions. While surpassing BTC may seem challenging for CKB public chain, aiming to be a top-notch BTC Layer 2 seems like a smart choice. Why? Let's delve into my take on CKB. BTC The current BTC Layer 2 market is constrained by the mainnet’s limited validation capabilities, resulting in diverse alternative solutions. The simplicity of BTC's scripting language, combined with its near-zero computation and validation power, has created significant opportunities for market innovation. As of now, aside from limited transaction validation and multisig functionalities within UTXO unlocking conditions, the BTC mainnet is incapable of directly handling more complex transaction logic involving data validation, state changes, etc. It relegates BTC to an asset settlement layer, relying on extending through a powerful public chain for local consensus and computational validation capabilities. This leads to a lack of uniform standards or 'orthodoxy' for BTC Layer 2 solutions, making it challenging to rank them. However, distinctions can be made based on the community's perception between narrow and broad interpretations: However, distinctions can be made based on the community's perception between narrow and broad interpretations: Narrowly defined, only solutions like the Lightning Network state channels and the one-time seal approach of RGB qualify as truly 'orthodox' BTC Layer 2s. They effectively utilize BTC's limited script validation capacity without relying on or minimally depending on external local consensus. In a more general sense, any extension chain that gains acceptance for its local consensus, along with a cross-chain bridge solution that ensures the safe migration of assets, can theoretically serve as a BTC Layer 2. This includes contemporary Ethereum EVM chains, Solana with its high-concurrency capabilities, and others. Clearly, the BTC Layer 2 market is divided: on one end are highly-specific solutions like the slowly evolving Lightning Network and RGB, facing substantial challenges; on the other end are broadly defined solutions, where any performance chain capable of securely interacting with the BTC mainnet qualifies as a BTC Layer 2. Clearly, the BTC Layer 2 market is divided: But is there a 'middle-of-the-road' option? Yes, and it lies in the Nervos Network, which adheres to the UTXO model at its core, enhancing its performance. Notable features include: The CKB Network aligns closely with BTC, sharing the same 'UTXO model and mining consensus mechanism,' unlike the account balance model of mainstream public blockchains like Ethereum. The UTXO model has distinct advantages in transaction privacy, flexible transaction structuring, and parallel processing capabilities to prevent double-spending, which may be one of Satoshi Nakamoto’s most brilliant inventions. This is why post-Ethereum projects like Sui and Aptos have also adopted similar UTXO models. Bitcoin's capacity and block speed may be constrained by its era, but the UTXO model is remarkably forward-thinking. CKB adopts this UTXO model, evolving it into the 'Cell model', which preserves the pure transactional nature of Bitcoin’s UTXO model while also supporting the data states found in account models like Ethereum’s. To simplify : In the Bitcoin UTXO model, the creation and destruction of coins resemble a continuous minting and melting process. The Cell model, however, omits the destruction aspect, focusing on verifying and persistently storing states. Each Cell includes Capacity and Data: Capacity measures the balance in bytes, similar to UTXO, while Data holds any kind of information, including the history of transaction states. Thus, the Cell model can accurately represent balances and manage asset transfers, and also handle a variety of complex smart contract states. To simplify In summary, the Cell model is a more persistent and flexible transaction model that greatly broadens the scope of the UTXO model. It is crucial for CKB’s ability to maintain the security of the BTC mainnet while offering a 'speed boost' to slower Bitcoin expansion initiatives like the Lightning Network and RGB. For instance, the recent rollout of RGB++ by CKB illustrates this. In the BTC ecosystem, developing a mature RGB solution involves challenges that are not so much about the one-time sealing process of the BTC mainnet, but rather the communication, coordination, and mutual state maintenance among off-chain client validation nodes, particularly in a decentralized setting. In simpler terms, RGB's theory might seem straightforward, but its practical implementation is hindered by foundational infrastructural limitations and various barriers.
Recognizing this, CKB integrates these off-chain client validation nodes into its on-chain public validation process. This approach significantly accelerates the intended UTXO client extension pathway that RGB aims to achieve. Complex P2P consensus among off-chain nodes is notoriously challenging, fraught with complexity and obstacles such as potential data synchronization delays or inconsistencies, and susceptibility to fraud and attacks. Transposing this process onto the blockchain can simplify these issues. With the increasing discussions around RGB++, let’s also look at CKB's Open Transaction data format, showcasing the chain's forward-thinking features. Open Transaction allows multiple participants to collaboratively build and aggregate different transactions over time. It supports partial construction, amendability, and incremental build-up and aggregation. For example, Alice initiates an Open Transaction to exchange a certain amount of Token A for Token B with Bob. The transaction, once started, remains in an editable state. Bob, upon agreeing to the transaction terms, can then add his Token B and finalize the conditions. It might initially seem abstract. Take cross-chain scenarios as an example: Alice and Bob could independently execute asset trades on various distinct chains, significantly boosting the CKB chain's cross-chain interaction capabilities. In the realm of complex DeFi transactions, where market-driven dynamic adjustments are often necessary, Open Transaction allows contract participants to adapt trading conditions fluidly during the contract's execution. This undoubtedly enhances the ability to manage transactional complexities. From my perspective, Open Transaction mirrors the UTXO transaction unlocking conditions, capable of amalgamating intricate unlocking conditions, multi-party signatures, and complex transactional environments. This represents an evolutionary and valuable innovation that builds on the foundational principles of the BTC main chain. Interestingly, Jan Xie , a core developer from the Ethereum team, chose to embrace the BTC UTXO model for his inaugural major project. Despite the broader application of Ethereum's smart contract model, Jan and his Nervos team decisively chose to expand and refine the BTC UTXO model. This choice reflects a deep respect for Satoshi Nakamoto’s simplistic UTXO transaction model and also subtly lays the groundwork for its transformation into a native BTC Layer 2. Jan Xie Jan Xie In conclusion , I am quite bullish about CKB’s potential as a BTC Layer 2. In the short term, it certainly has the potential to expedite the implementation of projects like the Lightning Network and RGB within UTXO-based chains, offering valuable insights for these 'orthodox' expansion solutions on the BTC mainnet. Looking long-term, the inherent features of CKB's chain and its innovative architectural compatibility may enable it to excel in the complex and standardless arena of BTC Layer 2s. In conclusion Note: There’s much more to explore regarding the technical nuances and standout features of CKB, which I plan to analyze in greater depth later. It's fascinating to see how BTC Layer 2 not only provides a platform for new chains to rise but also opens up endless possibilities for rejuvenation within established chains. Author: Haotian, Independent Researcher Author: Haotian , Independent Researcher Author: Haotian Haotian This article is the translation of a Haotian’s tweet. This article is the translation of a Haotian’s tweet. This article is the translation of a Haotian’s tweet . tweet tweet

How CKB's Public Blockchain Tech Accelerates Bitcoin's Orthodox Layer 2  

কিভাবে CKB এর পাবলিক ব্লকচেইন টেক বিটকয়েনের অর্থোডক্স লেয়ার 2কে ত্বরান্বিত করে

Wie die öffentliche Blockchain-Technologie von CKB die orthodoxe Schicht 2 von Bitcoin beschleunigt

Cómo la tecnología blockchain pública de CKB acelera la capa 2 ortodoxa de Bitcoin

Comment la technologie de blockchain publique de CKB accélère la couche orthodoxe 2 de Bitcoin

सीकेबी की सार्वजनिक ब्लॉकचेन तकनीक बिटकॉइन की रूढ़िवादी परत 2 को कैसे गति देती है

CKBのパブリックブロックチェーン技術がビットコインのオーソドックスなレイヤー2を加速させる方法

CKB의 퍼블릭 블록체인 기술이 비트코인의 정통 레이어 2를 가속화하는 방법

Como a tecnologia Blockchain pública da CKB acelera a camada ortodoxa 2 do Bitcoin

Как публичная технология блокчейна CKB ускоряет ортодоксальный уровень Биткойна 2

CKB'nin Halka Açık Blockchain Teknolojisi Bitcoin'in Ortodoks Katman 2'sini Nasıl Hızlandırıyor?

Công nghệ Blockchain công cộng của CKB tăng tốc lớp 2 chính thống của Bitcoin như thế nào

CKB 的公共区块链技术如何加速比特币正统的第 2 层

PANAMA CITY, Panama, May 7th, 2024/Chainwire/--Silent Protocol, a forefront innovator in blockchain privacy technology, has announced the release of the Ghost Layer, a cutting-edge modular Layer 1.5 designed for the Ethereum ecosystem. This new solution is engineered to provide compliant privacy enhancements to public blockchains, suitable for both retail and institutional applications. The Ghost Layer is using a zero-knowledge (ZK) based system alongside its proprietary 0VM technology. These advancements allow for the private storage of assets and enable the omnidirectional flow of value across various blockchains. It facilitates the seamless integration of existing applications into private workflows through its ability to open access channels to different execution layers. The founder of Silent Protocol, Novachrono, explains the unique position of the Ghost Layer in the blockchain hierarchy: “If you create a ledger whose state is decided by the base ledger but the computation is stored elsewhere—you can call it a Layer 1.5.” This innovative positioning combines the robustness of base layer processing with enhanced privacy and interoperability functions. In 2023, Silent Protocol launched EZEE, addressing the challenge of state denial and introducing a fully composable architecture that supports functional privacy. This framework allows developers to build an ecosystem of applications without the constraints of isolated systems. Furthermore, Silent Protocol has developed the Silent Compliance VM, a decentralized protocol that selectively reveals data to prevent misuse by bad actors. Isa Sertkaya, Co-founder and CTO of Silent Protocol, emphasized the strategic advantage of the Ghost Layer: "Rooted out of Ethereum and supporting Ethereum assets, the Ghost Layer achieves modularity not by capturing value vertically but by enabling horizontal composability across different chains." The implementation of 0VM technology allows the Ghost Layer to advance the state of the system while verifying updates and utilizing the base ledger for state validation through zksnarks. This launch signifies Silent Protocol’s commitment to building a compliant and composable framework that enables institutions to securely and privately leverage Ethereum. Developers across various blockchains will now have the opportunity to transform their existing applications into privacy-preserving applications, known as 0dapps while maintaining the liquidity available on the mainnet. About Silent Protocol Silent Protocol is a leader in blockchain privacy technology, dedicated to enhancing security and compliance in blockchain applications without sacrificing performance. Founded by a team of blockchain innovators, Silent Protocol develops scalable, privacy-centric frameworks like the EZEE framework and Silent Compliance VM. These tools empower developers and institutions to transform existing applications into secure, privacy-preserving platforms while fostering interoperability across different blockchain systems. Contact Co-Founder & CTO İsa Sertkaya isa@silentdao.org This story was distributed as a release by Chainwire under HackerNoon’s Business Blogging Program. Learn more about the program here. PANAMA CITY, Panama, May 7th, 2024/Chainwire/--Silent Protocol, a forefront innovator in blockchain privacy technology, has announced the release of the Ghost Layer, a cutting-edge modular Layer 1.5 designed for the Ethereum ecosystem. This new solution is engineered to provide compliant privacy enhancements to public blockchains, suitable for both retail and institutional applications. The Ghost Layer is using a zero-knowledge (ZK) based system alongside its proprietary 0VM technology. These advancements allow for the private storage of assets and enable the omnidirectional flow of value across various blockchains. It facilitates the seamless integration of existing applications into private workflows through its ability to open access channels to different execution layers. The founder of Silent Protocol, Novachrono, explains the unique position of the Ghost Layer in the blockchain hierarchy: “If you create a ledger whose state is decided by the base ledger but the computation is stored elsewhere—you can call it a Layer 1.5.” The founder of Silent Protocol, Novachrono, explains the unique position of the Ghost Layer in the blockchain hierarchy: “If you create a ledger whose state is decided by the base ledger but the computation is stored elsewhere—you can call it a Layer 1.5.” This innovative positioning combines the robustness of base layer processing with enhanced privacy and interoperability functions. In 2023, Silent Protocol launched EZEE, addressing the challenge of state denial and introducing a fully composable architecture that supports functional privacy. This framework allows developers to build an ecosystem of applications without the constraints of isolated systems. Furthermore, Silent Protocol has developed the Silent Compliance VM, a decentralized protocol that selectively reveals data to prevent misuse by bad actors. Isa Sertkaya, Co-founder and CTO of Silent Protocol, emphasized the strategic advantage of the Ghost Layer: "Rooted out of Ethereum and supporting Ethereum assets, the Ghost Layer achieves modularity not by capturing value vertically but by enabling horizontal composability across different chains." Isa Sertkaya, Co-founder and CTO of Silent Protocol, emphasized the strategic advantage of the Ghost Layer: "Rooted out of Ethereum and supporting Ethereum assets, the Ghost Layer achieves modularity not by capturing value vertically but by enabling horizontal composability across different chains." The implementation of 0VM technology allows the Ghost Layer to advance the state of the system while verifying updates and utilizing the base ledger for state validation through zksnarks. This launch signifies Silent Protocol’s commitment to building a compliant and composable framework that enables institutions to securely and privately leverage Ethereum. Developers across various blockchains will now have the opportunity to transform their existing applications into privacy-preserving applications, known as 0dapps while maintaining the liquidity available on the mainnet. About Silent Protocol Silent Protocol is a leader in blockchain privacy technology, dedicated to enhancing security and compliance in blockchain applications without sacrificing performance. Founded by a team of blockchain innovators, Silent Protocol develops scalable, privacy-centric frameworks like the EZEE framework and Silent Compliance VM. These tools empower developers and institutions to transform existing applications into secure, privacy-preserving platforms while fostering interoperability across different blockchain systems. Contact Co-Founder & CTO İsa Sertkaya isa@silentdao.org isa@silentdao.org This story was distributed as a release by Chainwire under HackerNoon’s Business Blogging Program. Learn more about the program here. This story was distributed as a release by Chainwire under HackerNoon’s Business Blogging Program. Learn more about the program here . here here

Silent Protocol To launch ‘Ghost layer’: The First Modular L1.5 For Ethereum

**TEL AVIV, Israel, May 2nd, 2024/CyberNewsWire/--**Early adoption by Fortune 100 companies worldwide, LayerX already secures more users than any other browser security solution and enables unmatched security, performance and experience. LayerX, pioneer of the LayerX Browser Security platform, today announced $26 million in Series A funding led by Glilot+, the early-growth fund of Glilot Capital Partners, with participation from Dell Technologies Capital and other investors. Lior Litwak, Managing Partner at Glilot Capital and Head of Glilot+, and Yair Snir, Managing Partner at Dell Technologies Capital, will join the LayerX board. The new capital will be used for corporate growth across talent and increasing global market presence. This round brings the company’s total investment to $34 million. Today’s modern enterprise employees rely heavily on browser-based services and SaaS applications. Yet, these fundamental work activities expose organizations to a wide range of security risks, like data leaks, identity and password theft, malicious browser extensions, phishing sites and more. LayerX was purpose-built to secure and govern browser-based work, from both managed and unmanaged devices. “We’ve transformed workforce protection for organizations without requiring the transition to a dedicated secure browser. Unlike other solutions, installed in a matter of minutes, the LayerX Browser Extension does not impact employee efficiency, speed, privacy or the browsing experience, ” said Or Eshed, co-founder and CEO, LayerX. “As the browser becomes more central to the employee, we anticipate it becomes more attractive to the attacker, particularly in the wake of GenAI tools used in browser-related activities,” he continues. “Today’s funding round is a testament to our increasing market opportunity and the innovation behind our platform’s user-friendly approach to a more secure browser experience.” LayerX's Enterprise Browser Extension is compatible with all commonly used browsers, including Chrome, Firefox, Edge and others, without requiring agents, a VPN or network modifications. Once deployed, the information security or IT team gains visibility into user activities and can block or restrict any threat in real-time, without impacting the user experience. LayerX protects against all threats, whether they were inadvertently or maliciously caused by the employee, or whether they were originated by the attacker. The solution includes an AI engine that granularly monitors the code run by the browser and automatically generates a variety of insights related to user behavior in the browser. "Since inception, LayerX showed super fast growth and adoption by the world’s leading enterprises. The company is at the forefront of defense for modern organizations. By protecting the browser, the central productivity application in organizations, from a wide range of new-generation security risks, LayerX can solve acute security problems that have remained unanswered until now,” said Kobi Samboursky, Founding and Managing Partner at Glilot Capital “We believe that this novel solution for securing browsers will replace most SASE and SSE solutions prevalent today in organizations. At an estimated market size of $7 billion, the potential inherent in LayerX’s technology is tremendous." "Similar to other successful entrepreneurs in the cybersecurity field we've collaborated with, Or and David bring significant experience and knowledge in understanding the technical issues involved in threats to organizations and the motivations of attackers. Consequently, they recognize that effective security measures should adapt to real-world user behaviors, rather than the other way around,” said Yair Snir, Managing Director at Dell Technologies Capital. “In a world where most computer operations are conducted through browsers, LayerX introduces a creative approach to corporate security that is user-friendly, robust, and easily implementable in large organizations. This approach transforms the browser from a major vulnerability to a strength, facilitating secure work across devices. Our investment in LayerX isn't just driven by the promising opportunity but also by the potential impact of the company's solution on organizations, regardless of where employees conduct their tasks." About LayerX LayerX was founded in 2022 by Or Eshed, CEO, and David Weisbrot, CTO, who developed web attack and defense systems during their military service. In 2017, Eshed led the exposure of the largest attack campaign in history on the Chrome browser, which involved tens of millions of compromised browsers and even led to the capture and trial of the hackers. LayerX has Fortune 100 clients worldwide. LayerX Enterprise Browser Extension natively integrates with any browser, turning it into the most secure and manageable workspace, with no impact on the user experience. Enterprises use LayerX to secure their devices, identities, data, and SaaS apps from web-borne threats and browsing risks that endpoint and network solutions can’t protect against. Those include data leakage over the web, SaaS apps and GenAI Tools, malicious browser extensions, phishing, account takeovers, shadow SaaS, and more. Contact Dori Harpaz LayerX dori@layerxsecurity.com This story was distributed as a release by Cyberwire under HackerNoon’s Business Blogging Program. Learn more about the program here. **TEL AVIV, Israel, May 2nd, 2024/CyberNewsWire/--**Early adoption by Fortune 100 companies worldwide, LayerX already secures more users than any other browser security solution and enables unmatched security, performance and experience. LayerX, pioneer of the LayerX Browser Security platform, today announced $26 million in Series A funding led by Glilot+, the early-growth fund of Glilot Capital Partners, with participation from Dell Technologies Capital and other investors. Lior Litwak, Managing Partner at Glilot Capital and Head of Glilot+, and Yair Snir, Managing Partner at Dell Technologies Capital, will join the LayerX board. The new capital will be used for corporate growth across talent and increasing global market presence. This round brings the company’s total investment to $34 million. Today’s modern enterprise employees rely heavily on browser-based services and SaaS applications. Yet, these fundamental work activities expose organizations to a wide range of security risks, like data leaks, identity and password theft, malicious browser extensions, phishing sites and more. LayerX was purpose-built to secure and govern browser-based work, from both managed and unmanaged devices. “We’ve transformed workforce protection for organizations without requiring the transition to a dedicated secure browser. Unlike other solutions, installed in a matter of minutes, the LayerX Browser Extension does not impact employee efficiency, speed, privacy or the browsing experience, ” said Or Eshed, co-founder and CEO, LayerX. “We’ve transformed workforce protection for organizations without requiring the transition to a dedicated secure browser. Unlike other solutions, installed in a matter of minutes, the LayerX Browser Extension does not impact employee efficiency, speed, privacy or the browsing experience, ” said Or Eshed, co-founder and CEO, LayerX. “As the browser becomes more central to the employee, we anticipate it becomes more attractive to the attacker, particularly in the wake of GenAI tools used in browser-related activities,” he continues. “Today’s funding round is a testament to our increasing market opportunity and the innovation behind our platform’s user-friendly approach to a more secure browser experience.” “As the browser becomes more central to the employee, we anticipate it becomes more attractive to the attacker, particularly in the wake of GenAI tools used in browser-related activities,” he continues. “Today’s funding round is a testament to our increasing market opportunity and the innovation behind our platform’s user-friendly approach to a more secure browser experience.” LayerX's Enterprise Browser Extension is compatible with all commonly used browsers, including Chrome, Firefox, Edge and others, without requiring agents, a VPN or network modifications. Once deployed, the information security or IT team gains visibility into user activities and can block or restrict any threat in real-time, without impacting the user experience. LayerX protects against all threats, whether they were inadvertently or maliciously caused by the employee, or whether they were originated by the attacker. The solution includes an AI engine that granularly monitors the code run by the browser and automatically generates a variety of insights related to user behavior in the browser. "Since inception, LayerX showed super fast growth and adoption by the world’s leading enterprises. The company is at the forefront of defense for modern organizations. By protecting the browser, the central productivity application in organizations, from a wide range of new-generation security risks, LayerX can solve acute security problems that have remained unanswered until now,” said Kobi Samboursky, "Since inception, LayerX showed super fast growth and adoption by the world’s leading enterprises. The company is at the forefront of defense for modern organizations. By protecting the browser, the central productivity application in organizations, from a wide range of new-generation security risks, LayerX can solve acute security problems that have remained unanswered until now,” said Kobi Samboursky, Founding and Managing Partner at Glilot Capital “We believe that this novel solution for securing browsers will replace most SASE and SSE solutions prevalent today in organizations. At an estimated market size of $7 billion, the potential inherent in LayerX’s technology is tremendous." Founding and Managing Partner at Glilot Capital “We believe that this novel solution for securing browsers will replace most SASE and SSE solutions prevalent today in organizations. At an estimated market size of $7 billion, the potential inherent in LayerX’s technology is tremendous." "Similar to other successful entrepreneurs in the cybersecurity field we've collaborated with, Or and David bring significant experience and knowledge in understanding the technical issues involved in threats to organizations and the motivations of attackers. Consequently, they recognize that effective security measures should adapt to real-world user behaviors, rather than the other way around,” said Yair Snir, "Similar to other successful entrepreneurs in the cybersecurity field we've collaborated with, Or and David bring significant experience and knowledge in understanding the technical issues involved in threats to organizations and the motivations of attackers. Consequently, they recognize that effective security measures should adapt to real-world user behaviors, rather than the other way around,” said Yair Snir, Managing Director at Dell Technologies Capital. “In a world where most computer operations are conducted through browsers, LayerX introduces a creative approach to corporate security that is user-friendly, robust, and easily implementable in large organizations. This approach transforms the browser from a major vulnerability to a strength, facilitating secure work across devices. Our investment in LayerX isn't just driven by the promising opportunity but also by the potential impact of the company's solution on organizations, regardless of where employees conduct their tasks." Managing Director at Dell Technologies Capital. “In a world where most computer operations are conducted through browsers, LayerX introduces a creative approach to corporate security that is user-friendly, robust, and easily implementable in large organizations. This approach transforms the browser from a major vulnerability to a strength, facilitating secure work across devices. Our investment in LayerX isn't just driven by the promising opportunity but also by the potential impact of the company's solution on organizations, regardless of where employees conduct their tasks." About LayerX LayerX was founded in 2022 by Or Eshed, CEO, and David Weisbrot, CTO, who developed web attack and defense systems during their military service. In 2017, Eshed led the exposure of the largest attack campaign in history on the Chrome browser, which involved tens of millions of compromised browsers and even led to the capture and trial of the hackers. LayerX has Fortune 100 clients worldwide. LayerX Enterprise Browser Extension natively integrates with any browser, turning it into the most secure and manageable workspace, with no impact on the user experience. Enterprises use LayerX to secure their devices, identities, data, and SaaS apps from web-borne threats and browsing risks that endpoint and network solutions can’t protect against. Those include data leakage over the web, SaaS apps and GenAI Tools, malicious browser extensions, phishing, account takeovers, shadow SaaS, and more. Contact Dori Harpaz LayerX dori@layerxsecurity.com This story was distributed as a release by Cyberwire under HackerNoon’s Business Blogging Program. Learn more about the program here. This story was distributed as a release by Cyberwire under HackerNoon’s Business Blogging Program. Learn more about the program here . here here

LayerX Security Raises $26M For Its Browser Security Platform, Enabling Employees To Work Securely 

BTC Layer2 project BEVM has officially disclosed an investment from Bitmain, the leading manufacturer of cryptocurrency mining servers globally. The precise amount of the investment remains undisclosed. Established in 2013, Bitmain still stands today as a significant figure in the digital asset mining hardware production space. Its Bitcoin mining machines previously commanded over 70% of the global market share. Notably, this marks Bitmain's sole investment in the Bitcoin Layer2 domain to date. Gavin Guo, Core Builder of BEVM Foundation, remarked, "Next, BEVM will delve into exploring Bitcoin hashrate and the PoW ecosystem's application on BEVM, that could help facilitate the migration of trillions of dollars in PoW hashrate assets and a substantial quantity of $BTC to BEVM. This will empower Bitmain assets and unlock liquidity and more diverse financial application scenarios within the BTC Layer2 network." BEVM serves as the pioneer EVM-compatible Bitcoin L2 network founded on the Taproot Consensus, utilizing BTC as Gas. Leveraging native Bitcoin technologies such as Schnorr Signature, MAST, and Bitcoin Light Node Network, it achieves fully decentralized BTC cross-chain functionality, thereby enabling the trustless integration of BTC into a broader spectrum of applications and facilitating genuine BTC liquidity circulation. BEVM launched its mainnet on March 28th, boasting over 700,000 user addresses and hosting more than 30 ecosystem projects. BEVM also recently announced it had secured tens of millions of dollars in financing, with investors including RockTree Capital, Waterdrip Capital, Arkstream Capital, ViaBTC Capital, and nearly 20 other institutions, resulting in a post-investment valuation of $200 million for the company. For further information about BEVM, please visit www.bevm.io or contact business@bevm.io Media Contact: Jhon Zhang Email: business@bevm.io This story was distributed as a release by Btcwire under HackerNoon’s Brand As An Author Program. Learn more about the program here: https://business.hackernoon.com/brand-as-author BTC Layer2 project BEVM has officially disclosed an investment from Bitmain, the leading manufacturer of cryptocurrency mining servers globally. The precise amount of the investment remains undisclosed. Established in 2013, Bitmain still stands today as a significant figure in the digital asset mining hardware production space. Its Bitcoin mining machines previously commanded over 70% of the global market share. Notably, this marks Bitmain's sole investment in the Bitcoin Layer2 domain to date. Gavin Guo, Core Builder of BEVM Foundation, remarked, "Next, BEVM will delve into exploring Bitcoin hashrate and the PoW ecosystem's application on BEVM, that could help facilitate the migration of trillions of dollars in PoW hashrate assets and a substantial quantity of $BTC to BEVM. This will empower Bitmain assets and unlock liquidity and more diverse financial application scenarios within the BTC Layer2 network." Gavin Guo, Core Builder of BEVM Foundation, remarked, "Next, BEVM will delve into exploring Bitcoin hashrate and the PoW ecosystem's application on BEVM, that could help facilitate the migration of trillions of dollars in PoW hashrate assets and a substantial quantity of $BTC to BEVM. This will empower Bitmain assets and unlock liquidity and more diverse financial application scenarios within the BTC Layer2 network." BEVM BEVM Bitmain Bitmain BEVM serves as the pioneer EVM-compatible Bitcoin L2 network founded on the Taproot Consensus, utilizing BTC as Gas. Leveraging native Bitcoin technologies such as Schnorr Signature, MAST, and Bitcoin Light Node Network, it achieves fully decentralized BTC cross-chain functionality, thereby enabling the trustless integration of BTC into a broader spectrum of applications and facilitating genuine BTC liquidity circulation. BEVM launched its mainnet on March 28th, boasting over 700,000 user addresses and hosting more than 30 ecosystem projects. BEVM also recently announced it had secured tens of millions of dollars in financing, with investors including RockTree Capital, Waterdrip Capital, Arkstream Capital, ViaBTC Capital, and nearly 20 other institutions, resulting in a post-investment valuation of $200 million for the company. announced announced For further information about BEVM, please visit www.bevm.io or contact business@bevm.io www.bevm.io www.bevm.io business@bevm.io business@bevm.io Media Contact: Jhon Zhang Email: business@bevm.io This story was distributed as a release by Btcwire under HackerNoon’s Brand As An Author Program. Learn more about the program here: https://business.hackernoon.com/brand-as-author This story was distributed as a release by Btcwire under HackerNoon’s Brand As An Author Program. Learn more about the program here: https://business.hackernoon.com/brand-as-author Btcwire https://business.hackernoon.com/brand-as-author https://business.hackernoon.com/brand-as-author

Bitcoin Layer2 BEVM Announces Investment From Bitmain

**BRITISH VIRGIN ISLANDS, British Virgin Islands, April 29th, 2024/Chainwire/--** DeFi lending and borrowing protocol Dolomite has announced that it is launching on X Layer, OKX’s innovative and secure Ethereum-based Zero Knowledge (ZK) Layer-2 (L2) network. This move brings powerful asset lending capabilities to users of the Polygon-powered X Layer. Dolomite seeks to replicate its success on Arbitrum, where it quickly became the 4th largest lending market and the lending market with the most supported assets. Dolomite will bring that same advanced infrastructure to X Layer, where it will be able to integrate many of the yield-generating assets that have accelerated the growth of DeFi over the past year. Dolomite’s expansion to X Layer will transform it into a multi-chain protocol and introduce X Layer users to sophisticated tools for unlocking dormant capital. Initially, Dolomite will launch on X Layer with support for OKB, WETH, USDT, USDC, and WBTC. OKB serves as the native token of X layer and is used for transaction fees and other network services. The deployment of Dolomite on X Layer will add a vital DeFi primitive to the L2 that will form a foundation for other economic activities. This collaboration will establish Dolomite as the preeminent lending protocol on X Layer and provide incentives for users to explore the protocol’s advanced features. Corey Caplan, co-founder of Dolomite said: “We are very excited to launch on top of X Layer. We're big fans of the OKX team and their commitment to building a L2 using zk tech. We're happy to be early supporters of their ecosystem and to help bring DeFi to the masses."
Developed using Polygon’s Chain Development Kit (CDK), X Layer utilizes zero-knowledge technology. Through its connection with AggLayer, Polygon’s liquidity aggregation layer, X Layer can draw liquidity from other Polygon chains, resulting in an optimal user experience. Dolomite is one of the first dApps to launch on X Layer but will soon be joined by hundreds of others that are currently preparing to deploy on the L2. As a result, OKX’s 50 million users will have an array of applications to choose from, including Dolomite, after onboarding to X Layer. About Dolomite Dolomite is a next-generation decentralized money market protocol and DEX that offers broad token support and capital efficiency with its virtual liquidity system. Dolomite combines the strengths of a DEX and lending protocol with a capital-efficient and highly modular DeFi protocol. Learn more: https://dolomite.io/ About X Layer X Layer is a ZK-powered Layer 2 network that connects the OKX and Ethereum communities to allow anyone to take part in a truly global on-chain ecosystem. X Layer operates as a zkEVM Layer 2 solution based on Polygon CDK, ensuring near-instant finality, unified liquidity, and independent data availability. Learn more: https://www.okx.com/xlayer Contact MarketAcross pr@marketacross.com This story was distributed as a release by Chainwire under HackerNoon’s Business Blogging Program. Learn more about the program here. **BRITISH VIRGIN ISLANDS, British Virgin Islands, April 29th, 2024/Chainwire/--** DeFi lending and borrowing protocol Dolomite has announced that it is launching on X Layer, OKX’s innovative and secure Ethereum-based Zero Knowledge (ZK) Layer-2 (L2) network. This move brings powerful asset lending capabilities to users of the Polygon-powered X Layer. Dolomite seeks to replicate its success on Arbitrum, where it quickly became the 4th largest lending market and the lending market with the most supported assets. Dolomite will bring that same advanced infrastructure to X Layer, where it will be able to integrate many of the yield-generating assets that have accelerated the growth of DeFi over the past year. Dolomite’s expansion to X Layer will transform it into a multi-chain protocol and introduce X Layer users to sophisticated tools for unlocking dormant capital. Initially, Dolomite will launch on X Layer with support for OKB, WETH, USDT, USDC, and WBTC. OKB serves as the native token of X layer and is used for transaction fees and other network services. The deployment of Dolomite on X Layer will add a vital DeFi primitive to the L2 that will form a foundation for other economic activities. This collaboration will establish Dolomite as the preeminent lending protocol on X Layer and provide incentives for users to explore the protocol’s advanced features. Corey Caplan, co-founder of Dolomite said: “We are very excited to launch on top of X Layer. We're big fans of the OKX team and their commitment to building a L2 using zk tech. We're happy to be early supporters of their ecosystem and to help bring DeFi to the masses." Developed using Polygon’s Chain Development Kit (CDK), X Layer utilizes zero-knowledge technology. Corey Caplan, co-founder of Dolomite said: “We are very excited to launch on top of X Layer. We're big fans of the OKX team and their commitment to building a L2 using zk tech. We're happy to be early supporters of their ecosystem and to help bring DeFi to the masses." Developed using Polygon’s Chain Development Kit (CDK), X Layer utilizes zero-knowledge technology. Through its connection with AggLayer, Polygon’s liquidity aggregation layer, X Layer can draw liquidity from other Polygon chains, resulting in an optimal user experience. Dolomite is one of the first dApps to launch on X Layer but will soon be joined by hundreds of others that are currently preparing to deploy on the L2. As a result, OKX’s 50 million users will have an array of applications to choose from, including Dolomite, after onboarding to X Layer. About Dolomite Dolomite is a next-generation decentralized money market protocol and DEX that offers broad token support and capital efficiency with its virtual liquidity system. Dolomite combines the strengths of a DEX and lending protocol with a capital-efficient and highly modular DeFi protocol. Learn more: https://dolomite.io/ https://dolomite.io/ https://dolomite.io/ About X Layer X Layer is a ZK-powered Layer 2 network that connects the OKX and Ethereum communities to allow anyone to take part in a truly global on-chain ecosystem. X Layer operates as a zkEVM Layer 2 solution based on Polygon CDK, ensuring near-instant finality, unified liquidity, and independent data availability. Learn more: https://www.okx.com/xlayer https://www.okx.com/xlayer https://www.okx.com/xlayer Contact MarketAcross pr@marketacross.com This story was distributed as a release by Chainwire under HackerNoon’s Business Blogging Program. Learn more about the program here. This story was distributed as a release by Chainwire under HackerNoon’s Business Blogging Program. Learn more about the program here. here. here.

Dolomite Collaborates With X Layer To Launch Its Lending Protocol

Comparative Analysis of Layer-1 Blockchain Economies

While Bitcoin has gained greater institutional acceptance with the recent ETF launches in the US, it is still not a pure institutional asset, and it is not a pure commodity like gold. It is so much more: secure, decentralized, and programmable value. Zulu Network believes that Bitcoin can be so much more. The Bitcoin Ecosystem is ready to evolve by adding BitFi (Bitcoin Native DeFi), integrating existing infrastructure, and advanced programmability to take Bitcoin from a store of value into a new economy with native yield, exciting innovations, and sophisticated DeFi applications. Zulu Network is the first Bitcoin Layer 2 with a Dual-Layer architecture (L2+L3). ZuluPrime L2 is EVM compatible for Bitcoin scaling and BitFi (Bitcoin DeFi); ZuluNexus L3 offers UTXO programmability, a unique solution to continuously support Bitcoin native innovation, making transactions cheaper, fast, extendable, and programmable. Zulu’s other innovations also include the first Bitcoin decentralized bridge (with a working demo coming in the next couple of weeks) and its unique hybrid PoS / PoW mining design. BitFi has the potential to reshape the financial industry and offer individuals greater control over their financial assets. However, its scalability capacity is currently limited. There is clearly massive demand, but poor infrastructure and limitations for mass adoption, like scalability issues, to foster new Bitcoin native format innovations. Zulu Network is building a new infrastructure to solve these limitations with a programmable, extendable, and innovative new approach to the Bitcoin Ecosystem. Zulu wants to unlock the Bitcoin Economy for all developers and users. Zulu Network’s Ground-Breaking Architecture Zulu Network’s unique Two-Tier architecture (L2+L3) aims to move the Bitcoin Network forward with a new infrastructure that solves the limitations of the current Bitcoin ecosystem, such as big demand but poor infrastructure, scalability issues, and lack of native innovations that limit the potential for mass adoption. Zulu’s Bitcoin Layer 2 solution offers a unique two-tiered architecture, supporting both EVM and UTXO, paving the way for revolutionary advancements within the Bitcoin ecosystem: ZuluPrime L2 is EVM compatible, for Bitcoin scaling and BitFi (Bitcoin DeFi). ZuluNexus L3 offers UTXO programmability to support Bitcoin native innovation, making transactions cheaper, faster, extendable, and programmable. Zulu’s other innovations also include the first trust-minimized Bitcoin bridge (with a working demo coming soon) and its unique hybrid PoS / PoW mining design. Zulu Lwazi Alpha Testnet Highlights ZGP Points Campaign: https://medium.com/@zulu_network/earn-zulu-genesis-points-zgp-now-phase-1-lwazi-c69323fd3ea1
25k+ users and 52k+ transactions in the first 48 hours.
40k+ users and 287k+ transactions in the first week.
Currently, 140k+ registered users and 1M+ transactions!
Social Media: 40k+ Twitter followers, 35k+ Discord members, 56k+ Telegram members. Zulu Network Architecture With a dual-layer architecture on Bitcoin (L2 & L3), Zulu Network offers: ZuluPrime (EVM): EVM-compatible L2 platform aimed at building a new BitFi (Bitcoin DeFi) ecosystem through smart contracts and decentralized applications (dApps). ZuluNexus (UTXO): L3 integrates the scalability of UTXO and focuses on the innovation of Bitcoin’s original ecosystem and native assets. The Bitcoin Network is used as an L1 finality for Zulu. Zulu Network is also building the first trust-minimized Bitcoin bridge to connect all Bitcoin Layer 2s and the entire crypto ecosystem to the Bitcoin ecosystem. Like most of the blockchain world, the Zulu team was captivated by the immense possibilities that Robin Linus put forth in the white paper for BitVM. Zulu believes in Satoshi's ethos of true decentralization. That is why, to fully realize the vision of Zulu in its entirety, a trust-minimized bridge with both inflows and outflows to and from the Bitcoin Network and Ethereum ecosystem is necessary. Therefore, in the interest of further advancement of the Bitcoin ecosystem, Zulu has taken it upon themselves to implement the first trust-minimized Bitcoin bridge. Zulu uniquely enhances the Bitcoin network by integrating a dual-layer architecture that supports both traditional UTXO and advanced programmable features, allowing for the development of sophisticated decentralized applications (DApps), expanding Bitcoin’s capabilities while maintaining its foundational principles of security and reliability. For a more in-depth look at the Zulu Network architecture, click here: https://medium.com/@zulu_network/architecture-deep-dive-how-zulu-will-move-bitcoin-forward-837d2492c234 Zulu Network Key Achievements First Dual-Layer Architecture on Bitcoin (L2+L3).
First implementation of a decentralized Bitcoin bridge.
Unique PoW + PoS mining
First Bitcoin Layer 3 (ZuluNexus)
Solving UTXO and BitFi (Bitcoin Native DeFi) limitations through programmability, extendibility, and advanced capabilities.
$3m raised in Pre-Seed Funding from top VCs
Launch of Zulu Lwazi Alpha Testnet and Zulu Genesis Points Moving the Bitcoin Economy Forward Zulu invites everyone to move Bitcoin forward with them. Explore, innovate, and contribute to the evolution of blockchain technology with Zulu. Learn More About Zulu Network Website: https://zulunetwork.io/ Whitepaper: https://zulunetwork.io/whitepaper.pdf Gitbook: https://docs.zulunetwork.io/ Github: https://github.com/zulu-network/ Zulu Lwazi Testnet: https://testnet.zulunetwork.io/lwazi Testnet Points Guide: https://medium.com/@zulu_network/earn-zulu-genesis-points-zgp-now-phase-1-lwazi-c69323fd3ea1 ZuluScan: https://testnet.zuluscan.io/ Bridge: https://testnet.zulunetwork.io/bridge/ This story was distributed as a release by Btcwire under HackerNoon’s Business Blogging Program. Learn more about the program here. While Bitcoin has gained greater institutional acceptance with the recent ETF launches in the US, it is still not a pure institutional asset, and it is not a pure commodity like gold. It is so much more: secure, decentralized, and programmable value. Zulu Network believes that Bitcoin can be so much more. The Bitcoin Ecosystem is ready to evolve by adding BitFi (Bitcoin Native DeFi), integrating existing infrastructure, and advanced programmability to take Bitcoin from a store of value into a new economy with native yield, exciting innovations, and sophisticated DeFi applications. Zulu Network is the first Bitcoin Layer 2 with a Dual-Layer architecture (L2+L3). ZuluPrime L2 is EVM compatible for Bitcoin scaling and BitFi (Bitcoin DeFi); ZuluNexus L3 offers UTXO programmability, a unique solution to continuously support Bitcoin native innovation, making transactions cheaper, fast, extendable, and programmable. Zulu’s other innovations also include the first Bitcoin decentralized bridge (with a working demo coming in the next couple of weeks) and its unique hybrid PoS / PoW mining design. BitFi has the potential to reshape the financial industry and offer individuals greater control over their financial assets. However, its scalability capacity is currently limited. There is clearly massive demand, but poor infrastructure and limitations for mass adoption, like scalability issues, to foster new Bitcoin native format innovations. Zulu Network is building a new infrastructure to solve these limitations with a programmable, extendable, and innovative new approach to the Bitcoin Ecosystem. Zulu wants to unlock the Bitcoin Economy for all developers and users. Zulu Network’s Ground-Breaking Architecture Zulu Network’s unique Two-Tier architecture (L2+L3) aims to move the Bitcoin Network forward with a new infrastructure that solves the limitations of the current Bitcoin ecosystem, such as big demand but poor infrastructure, scalability issues, and lack of native innovations that limit the potential for mass adoption. Zulu’s Bitcoin Layer 2 solution offers a unique two-tiered architecture, supporting both EVM and UTXO, paving the way for revolutionary advancements within the Bitcoin ecosystem: ZuluPrime L2 is EVM compatible, for Bitcoin scaling and BitFi (Bitcoin DeFi). ZuluNexus L3 offers UTXO programmability to support Bitcoin native innovation, making transactions cheaper, faster, extendable, and programmable. Zulu’s other innovations also include the first trust-minimized Bitcoin bridge (with a working demo coming soon) and its unique hybrid PoS / PoW mining design. Zulu Lwazi Alpha Testnet Highlights ZGP Points Campaign: https://medium.com/@zulu_network/earn-zulu-genesis-points-zgp-now-phase-1-lwazi-c69323fd3ea1 25k+ users and 52k+ transactions in the first 48 hours. 40k+ users and 287k+ transactions in the first week. Currently, 140k+ registered users and 1M+ transactions! Social Media: 40k+ Twitter followers, 35k+ Discord members, 56k+ Telegram members. ZGP Points Campaign: https://medium.com/@zulu_network/earn-zulu-genesis-points-zgp-now-phase-1-lwazi-c69323fd3ea1 https://medium.com/@zulu_network/earn-zulu-genesis-points-zgp-now-phase-1-lwazi-c69323fd3ea1 https://medium.com/@zulu_network/earn-zulu-genesis-points-zgp-now-phase-1-lwazi-c69323fd3ea1 25k+ users and 52k+ transactions in the first 48 hours. 40k+ users and 287k+ transactions in the first week. Currently, 140k+ registered users and 1M+ transactions! Social Media: 40k+ Twitter followers, 35k+ Discord members, 56k+ Telegram members. Zulu Network Architecture With a dual-layer architecture on Bitcoin (L2 & L3), Zulu Network offers: ZuluPrime (EVM): EVM-compatible L2 platform aimed at building a new BitFi (Bitcoin DeFi) ecosystem through smart contracts and decentralized applications (dApps). ZuluNexus (UTXO): L3 integrates the scalability of UTXO and focuses on the innovation of Bitcoin’s original ecosystem and native assets. The Bitcoin Network is used as an L1 finality for Zulu. Zulu Network is also building the first trust-minimized Bitcoin bridge to connect all Bitcoin Layer 2s and the entire crypto ecosystem to the Bitcoin ecosystem. Like most of the blockchain world, the Zulu team was captivated by the immense possibilities that Robin Linus put forth in the white paper for BitVM. Zulu believes in Satoshi's ethos of true decentralization. That is why, to fully realize the vision of Zulu in its entirety, a trust-minimized bridge with both inflows and outflows to and from the Bitcoin Network and Ethereum ecosystem is necessary. Therefore, in the interest of further advancement of the Bitcoin ecosystem, Zulu has taken it upon themselves to implement the first trust-minimized Bitcoin bridge. Zulu uniquely enhances the Bitcoin network by integrating a dual-layer architecture that supports both traditional UTXO and advanced programmable features, allowing for the development of sophisticated decentralized applications (DApps), expanding Bitcoin’s capabilities while maintaining its foundational principles of security and reliability. For a more in-depth look at the Zulu Network architecture, click here: https://medium.com/@zulu_network/architecture-deep-dive-how-zulu-will-move-bitcoin-forward-837d2492c234 https://medium.com/@zulu_network/architecture-deep-dive-how-zulu-will-move-bitcoin-forward-837d2492c234 https://medium.com/@zulu_network/architecture-deep-dive-how-zulu-will-move-bitcoin-forward-837d2492c234 Zulu Network Key Achievements First Dual-Layer Architecture on Bitcoin (L2+L3). First implementation of a decentralized Bitcoin bridge. Unique PoW + PoS mining First Bitcoin Layer 3 (ZuluNexus) Solving UTXO and BitFi (Bitcoin Native DeFi) limitations through programmability, extendibility, and advanced capabilities. $3m raised in Pre-Seed Funding from top VCs Launch of Zulu Lwazi Alpha Testnet and Zulu Genesis Points First Dual-Layer Architecture on Bitcoin (L2+L3). First implementation of a decentralized Bitcoin bridge. Unique PoW + PoS mining First Bitcoin Layer 3 (ZuluNexus) Solving UTXO and BitFi (Bitcoin Native DeFi) limitations through programmability, extendibility, and advanced capabilities. $3m raised in Pre-Seed Funding from top VCs Launch of Zulu Lwazi Alpha Testnet and Zulu Genesis Points Moving the Bitcoin Economy Forward Zulu invites everyone to move Bitcoin forward with them. Explore, innovate, and contribute to the evolution of blockchain technology with Zulu. Learn More About Zulu Network Website: https://zulunetwork.io/ https://zulunetwork.io/ https://zulunetwork.io/ Whitepaper: https://zulunetwork.io/whitepaper.pdf https://zulunetwork.io/whitepaper.pdf https://zulunetwork.io/whitepaper.pdf Gitbook: https://docs.zulunetwork.io/ https://docs.zulunetwork.io/ https://docs.zulunetwork.io/ Github: https://github.com/zulu-network/ https://github.com/zulu-network/ https://github.com/zulu-network/ Zulu Lwazi Testnet: https://testnet.zulunetwork.io/lwazi https://testnet.zulunetwork.io/lwazi https://testnet.zulunetwork.io/lwazi Testnet Points Guide: https://medium.com/@zulu_network/earn-zulu-genesis-points-zgp-now-phase-1-lwazi-c69323fd3ea1 https://medium.com/@zulu_network/earn-zulu-genesis-points-zgp-now-phase-1-lwazi-c69323fd3ea1 https://medium.com/@zulu_network/earn-zulu-genesis-points-zgp-now-phase-1-lwazi-c69323fd3ea1 ZuluScan: https://testnet.zuluscan.io/ https://testnet.zuluscan.io/ https://testnet.zuluscan.io/ Bridge: https://testnet.zulunetwork.io/bridge/ Bridge: https://testnet.zulunetwork.io/bridge/ https://testnet.zulunetwork.io/bridge/ https://testnet.zulunetwork.io/bridge/ This story was distributed as a release by Btcwire under HackerNoon’s Business Blogging Program. Learn more about the program here. This story was distributed as a release by Btcwire under HackerNoon’s Business Blogging Program. Learn more about the program here. here. here.

Zulu Network: Moving The Bitcoin Economy Forward With a Two-Tiered Bitcoin Layer 2 Architecture

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