It’s no secret that India has one of the largest and most talented pool of working software engineers. What most people don’t know, is that India is also home to some of the largest communities of enthusiast software engineers, people who don’t necessarily code for work, but do it because they are passionate about it. Apple’s iOS, MacOS and iPadOS communities in particular, have many people working on things that one cannot even imagine.
Take Jaagrav Seal & Aayush Singh, two student enthusiasts who recently won the Apple WWDC24 Swift Student Challenge. Apple’s Swift Student Challenge is a programme that the tech giant runs to nurture emerging software talents. Over the years, several students have come up with real-life solutions in the form of apps and software to some very real and tangible problems.
In an exclusive chat with Firstpost, Jaagrav and Aayush reveal how programmes like Apple’s Swift Student Challenge encourage more and more students to take up coding, and how Apple’s hardware and software ecosystem makes it the platform of choice for software engineers and coders.
Seal, for his project, created GraphIt, an app that makes complex graphs and flowcharts along with the necessary documentation to go with it, based on text inputs as the form of code. Singh, on the other hand, made a drone simulation app based on augmented reality and has gamified the process of learning to fly drones. Both, are real-life problems that have been solved in a rather unique way. Edited excerpts:
Firstpost: Aayush, how did your fascination with drones come about? Instead of flying drones, what made you decide that you wanted to code and create apps for drones?Aayush Singh: ?I’ve always loved drones and finally got one this year. I enjoy exploring different places and capturing great shots to add to my iMovies template.
So ?I created a drone simulation app based on augmented reality, which has several unique games to help people learn about drones. It mimics real drone functionalities with fun games and multiple levels.
Originally, I wanted to control the drone using the mobile apps but because of time constraints and limited knowledge of IoT, I started exploring a lot it, which eventually evolved into an idea for a cool learning simulation AR drone app.
?Thanks to RealityKit, I could add 3D objects like drones, obstacles, and sound effects to make the app more lifelike.
I often check if my ideas are unique before diving in, which got me creating 7 apps (including my last three WWDC projects). Although they’re not published yet because I hope to refine them and make them better and more engaging, but I would love to release some this year.
Firstpost: Jaagrav, tell us something about Graphlt, how did the project come to be?Jaagrav Seal: There are multiple reasons why I personally wanted an app like GraphIt. I found use cases for both my college and work life. This app is not a necessity but rather a lifesaver, as it makes creating complex graphs much easier and also helps in learning how to create them with fairly easy and straightforward documentation.
In college, we faced issues where teachers would ask us to create flowcharts for the code we wrote and various other diagrams like pie charts, bar graphs, etc., for presentations that required visualisation of metrics. Similarly, at the place I intern, I often have to build flowcharts to explain algorithms to our engineering managers for problem solutions I am working on.
This became a hassle, especially because existing solutions are over-complicated. You need to sign up to use the app and be familiar with the platform’s UI, and you don’t even get multiple types of graphs to create on the same platform. Doing the same with a visualisation coding language would make users’ lives much easier, as with just a few lines of code, they can create complex graphs and flowcharts.
FP: Jaagrav, Graphlt is compatible with the iPad, the iPhone, as well as the MacBook. What is it about Apple’s ecosystem that makes porting apps between these three platforms so easy?JS: With SwiftUI’s simple syntax, you can easily alter the UI, and execute code based on the device your app is running in.
So I won’t say it’s Apple’s ecosystem that helped me port apps easily but rather the beautifully designed framework, that allows developers to do things that won’t be possible on other platforms, and when I say things that won’t be possible on other platforms, I really do mean it, like haptics on MacBook touchpad is a genius idea, on iPhones Multipeer connectivity is an amazing framework that I will be using in the next challenge, and on Watches, the Core Motion framework, it gives you access to impressive amounts of data that I am super excited to experiment with.
One more cool feature about Xcode that I want to highlight, where Apple’s ecosystems make porting apps easier is the fact that you can build, test and preview apps on your iPhone wirelessly. I can’t express in words how hard my mind was blown when I accidentally found out about this feature.
FP: Aayush, the Apple Vision Pro has a lot of potential for drone pilots. How do you plan to integrate your app with VisionOS?AS: ?Apple Vision Pro opened up more possibilities for the app, like better simulations, fun combat shooting games, and exploring ways to control a drone via a joystick in Vision Pro.
I’m still figuring it out to ensure users can control the drone comfortably. It will not be helpful for users if they are trying to control a drone using the default gestures of the Vision Pro. I am looking at some possibilities on how to make it more fun and engaging.
FP: Aayush, you have won the Swift Student Challenge in 2021, 2022, 2023 and again this year. What would you say makes your ideas click? What’s your secret?AS: I don’t have any specific strategy for winning. The only thing can think of is that I like to learn new things, and try using Apple’s latest APIs. Of course, you need to have a good idea, something that helps you and helps others. If you can crack that, you improve your chances of winning. You need to stand out so don’t restrict yourself. When an idea clicks, I write the code and see what happens. If I don’t like it, I delete the code.
FP: Jaagrav, has Swift Student Challenge helped you grow as a software engineer and coder? How?JS: Yes, definitely, the Swift Student Challenge pushes you to build highly creative and valuable apps, even as a learner. Knowing it’s approaching next year, once your project gets selected, you feel encouraged to start earlier.
Becoming a Swift developer involves a steep learning curve, and Apple offers a vast array of impressive frameworks for each of its devices. So, as a coder, don’t wait too long to come up with a perfect idea, because your own idea will never feel perfect. Instead, invest more time at first in exploring frameworks and trying to implement them in your code to gain more knowledge. The more knowledge you acquire, the more problems you’ll notice, leading to more valuable ideas.
That’s what SSC respects, a valuable or a super creative idea; it doesn’t restrict you to a certain range of ideas but rather allows you to build anything you want and be recognised for your critical thinking skills as an engineer understanding and building valuable apps for any users out there, unlike other hackathons.
In case if it’s not obvious this is what I learnt from this SSC. You are a student, and SSC treats you as a student for your idea and not coding skills, cause anyone can learn coding and get amazing at it, but coming up with good ideas is the hard part. It’s like knowing how to cook versus coming up with the recipe for a dish that doesn’t exist.
FP: What opportunity do events like WWDC hold for students like yourself?JS: Students like me can only wonder how things are in the real world, as our schools and colleges already do a great job of that. It’s one thing to learn how to code in isolation versus meeting up with a group of students like yourself who are also learning, coming up with ideas, and fascinated by technology. Events like WWDC make that happen.
They’re even useful for students unlike myself, who don’t already know how to create iOS apps, who don’t come from an engineering background, and who are just young users of Apple trying to figure out their career. These events help those kinds of students discover what Apple is building and allow them to become part of Apple’s journey to building cool products.
FP: Will you be attending WWDC this year? What are you looking forward to at WWDC?Jaagrav Seal: I will indeed be attending WWDC virtually this year. Every WWDC means a new look, a new feature, a new change, and the one and only Hair Force One, Craig Federighi. Apple’s design language has always fascinated me, to the extent, that I use it as an inspiration in some of my other personal projects.
And trust me, it’s not just me stealing Apple’s design ideas. Other than new updates to the OSes, I am more excited about what they introduce for the developers, the SDKs and APIs that get unveiled after they release a new feature, like the Live Activities or the Dynamic Island SDKs in the past, developers loved it.
Every WWDC brings an opportunity for developers that just adds to the UX of every app, every organisation out there has their own list of features in their pipeline, and then WWDC announces a feature so good like Live Activities, that these organisations have to make changes to their plans just to add support for a feature that previously was not even there in their pipeline.
Kind of like the integration of LLMs in various apps out there, and speaking of LLMs, I can only wonder if this WWDC would finally get us a first look at the LLM built by Apple. Also now that VisionOS is out in production for a while now, I wonder what updates we have there, I wish playgrounds was also supported by VisionOS devices because I’d totally scratch my current idea and build something for VisionOS for the next Swift Student Challenge if it becomes a thing.
Plus wouldn’t it be amazing if you could learn SwiftUI on VisionOS, I am not sure if it’s already possible or not, but it’d be an awesome addition if it’s not already. Also, I wonder what the new macOS be called. There’s plenty of stuff I can only wonder now, so super excited for the upcoming WWDC!
Aayush Singh: Yes, I’ll be attending WWDC in person this year. I’m hoping to see Apple get more into AI. I am also hoping to see some massive changes in iOS18 and yes, a calculator app for iPadOS. I’m also excited about Apple’s latest APIs as they unlock new opportunities for developers to create AI-based apps.
Lastly, I’m looking forward to connecting with my fellow developers and meeting some of the people who really inspire me, Tim Cook and Craig Federighi. I hope I get to showcase my WWDC projects. It’s been my dream for the past 3 years to win at WWDC but I haven’t been able to make it to an in-person Apple event. Finally this year I have a chance and I want to make the most of it.
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