Staying Open

Paris Buttfield-Addison & Chris Neugebauer, University of Tasmania

Audience: All

Abstract:

The Apple iOS environment has developed a reputation for being a closed ecosystem, unwelcoming to those who also want to participate in open source development (license complications surrounding VLC being a recent example). This reputation is undeserved and the use of open source software in iOS development is flourishing—numerous useful frameworks, tools, applications and libraries are available under a variety of open source licenses.

Using open source code in an iOS project, whilst maintaining healthy links to open source projects, can help improve the open source world while helping you build a better iOS app. This session will demonstrate how best to navigate the open source world when building an app for Apple’s mobile platform, how to contribute back to the community, as well as how to understand your license obligations in the context of distribution via the app store (and avoid the VLC debacle).

  • Learn the best licenses to use when creating open source iOS code
  • Learn how to submit to the App Store while maintaining your project’s open source status without incurring the wrath of Apple
  • Learn about the best open source iOS libraries and frameworks
  • Find out how to apply open source tools to iOS development
  • This session is a highly informative discussion of iOS development from an open source perspective. It is not a tutorial and participants will not need a laptop to enjoy its meaty goodness (vegetarians welcome too).

Speaker Bios:

Paris is a PhD Student at the University of Tasmania (HCI and Information Management), and founder of Secret Lab.  He is coauthor of ‘iPhone and iPad Game Development for Dummies’, and ‘Unity Mobile Game Development for Dummies’ (out in 2011).  Paris is currently working on Meebo Apps for iPhone, Android and BlackBerry, and tie-in games for the ‘Tiki Bar TV’ and ‘Heroes of the North’ podcasts.

Christopher is a semi-professional nerd, and recent first-class Honours graduate in Computer Science of the University of Tasmania. Previously an intern at Google in Sydney, he currently works in mobile and web development for Secret Lab, a boutique development studio based in Hobart.  Since he likes it when developers share their experiences, he has twice organised application development miniconfs at Linux.conf.au (in 2010 and 2011).

When not coding, Christopher can be found taking long, artificially-lit walks down fake beaches, arguing the benefits of Python to anyone who won’t listen, and watching other people drinking beer. He also enjoys presenting on Open Source development at Mobile development conferences, and presenting on Mobile development at Open Source conferences.

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *