I’m writing this sitting in the San Francisco airport waiting for my return flight after a great week at Apple’s annual developer conference. It’s been an amazing week and I’m still processing a lot of what I experienced. First off, let me say that I believe that WWDC 2014 will be considered a turning point when viewed in retrospect. As a developer, I am absolutely giddy with all of the possibilities that Apple has opened up with their announcements. There is a stark contrast between last year’s developer conference and this year’s conference. At the end of last year, I was thinking about all of the things that I HAD to do with iOS 7. With iOS 8, I am absolutely bubbling with ideas of things that I GET to do. iOS 8 is going to be a big deal. From HealthKit to HomeKit to Extensions to CloudKit, Apple has paved the way for some amazing things to be built.

And then there is Swift. Swift has taken my excitement about the new frameworks and cranked it to 11. Not only has Apple provided a sorely needed modern language to the platform, they have delivered it complete with a fantastic toolset. Clearly this has been in the works for a very long time. Swift development reminds me of the early days when I was first learning to program. Back in those ancient days, you simply turned on your computer and started typing. Swift very much has the same feel to it. In fact, I actually plan to have my 9 year old son sit down with me and learn it together.

This is big stuff. I am still processing a lot of what I have seen and learned and will post more as I unravel it. I think this is going to be a great year to be an iOS and Mac developer!