David Ashman este dezvoltatorul unuia dintre cele mai populare tweak-uri pentru iDevice-uri, LockInfo. Acest tweak ne permite sa adaugam in LockScreen tot felul de informatii care in mod normal nu le-am gasi disponibile prin vreun alt meniul al iOS. Tweak-ul este folosit de sute de mii de utilizatori din lumea intreaga si i-a adus lui David Ashman destul de multi bani avand in vedere ca se afla de foarte mult timp in Cydia. Pentru LockInfo au aparut si diverse plugin-uri de-a lungul timpului, unele facute chiar de catre David, altele facute de catre diversi dezvoltatori. Partea interesanta este ca David nu a facut doar tweak-uri pentru Cydia ci si aplicatii pentru App Store, aplicatii care se vand destul de bine si acolo.
Iata ce discutie au avut cei de la TiPB cu David.
What’s your name? David Ashman
What’s your company’s name? dab Technologies
Where are you located? Washington, DC
What’s your website address? http://www.dba-technologies.com/
What’s your Twitter name? @Stimpy5050 for general rambling, @LockInfo for LockInfo specific support and @dbaTechnologies for other dbaTech projects.
What apps do you make? LockInfo (+Plugins), Popup Blocker, WeatherIcon
What apps, other than your own, are currently among your favorites? TweetDeck, biteSMS, Reeder, WeekCal
How long have you been a developer? I started tinkering with programming on the Apple II with basic. I studied computer science in college and have been a working developer for the past 15 years.
How long have you been an iOS developer? I’ve only been developing in Objective-C and specifically on iOS for the past three years.
Do you develop for any other platform in addition to iOS? If so, which one(s)? I’ve been a Java developer for the last 15 years, mostly server-side, but some applets in the past. I also tinker in PHP (enough to be dangerous).
What primary computer setup do you use for your iOS development? My primary setup is a MacBook Pro i7 with 8GB of RAM. I generally plug that into a 30″ Apple Cinema Display but I like the portability of the laptop when I want to sit in front of the TV instead.
What iOS device(s) do you personally use most often? I use an iPhone4 as my primary personal device (also for development). I use an iPad (1st gen) nearly daily for watching videos, note taking and general web surfing. I have another 4 iPhones that I use for development. I also have an AppleTV at home (does that count?
). What mobile devices, other than iOS, do you currently use? I don’t. Everything I have is iOS at this point.
What’s your favorite thing about developing for iOS? The challenge of a tough problem to solve and the adrenaline rush from solving it. That holds true for any language or platform, but iOS has been particularly rewarding because it’s new and different from the server-side work I’ve done in the past.
What’s your least favorite thing about developing for iOS? Non-deterministic memory bugs. These are the bugs that are nearly impossible to reproduce, but when they happen, all hell breaks loose.
What feature would you most like Apple to add to the iOS SDK? I’d love to see Apple open up the Mail database APIs. The iOS mail app is fine, but I think that other developers could really come up with some great apps if they could get into there. I’d also like to see a widget API that would allow for more than static app icons on SpringBoard and a more usable lock screen natively in AppStore apps.
What feature would you most like Apple to add to the App Store? I’d like to see alternate profit-sharing models. The flat 30% Apple cut doesn’t work for some projects.
If we were to eavesdrop on you while you were coding, what curse word would we hear you use the most? I prefer the f-word, personally.
What do you do when you’re not coding iOS apps? When I’m not working on projects, I like to spend time with my family. I’m a bit of a TV addict and also like to go to concerts.
What should we look for from you next? I’m going back to my roots and spending some time on weather tweaks again. There’s also quite a bit still to do with LockInfo. I’m also thinking about some official AppStore app ideas, but nothing concrete enough to really talk about at this point.