Bill Burgess Lead Developer at Simply Made Apps

Who are you and what do you do?

I’m Bill Burgess, 33, and I am the Lead (and only) iOS developer for Simply Made Apps. I got started in programming pretty late in life. Most programmers get started in high school or even early in college. I did a lot of things before getting around to programming. Some of these include fast food, Walmart, Best Buy, a furniture store, a Schwan’s man, insurance sales, and a tech support desk. None of these things were what I truly wanted to be doing. So after spending the decade after high school bouncing around, I went back to school to become a computer programmer.



My first job out of college was a COBOL programmer for a local insurance company. It was a good job, paid me more than I had ever made in my life, and taught me a lot about working in a team environment. But after learning so many different languages in college, it was hard to stay motivated and excited developing legacy COBOL programs on a daily basis.



The iPhone came out 2 months after I started, and it fascinated the hell out of me. Sadly, AT&T wasn’t available in Fargo, ND, so there would be no iPhone for me... yet.

How did you get started in iOS Development?

A co-worker that lived out of town far enough to get AT&T service was selling her first generation iPhone for $75. I knew a good deal when I saw it and snapped it up right away. I used it on WiFi around the house and the office, but was very sad when I couldn’t text and call from it as well, so I set out to do something about it. I called AT&T and gave them a phony address (Radio Shack in Fergus Falls, MN about 50 miles away) and signed up for service. They were overnighting me a SIM card and I was about to be loyal disgruntled AT&T customer.

As soon as I had service, I was hooked. Everything I did revolved around the iPhone. And just buying apps and using it wasn’t enough. I needed more, so a work buddy (and future SMA business partner) pooled our money and bought a developer package. This was right around 2.1 or 2.2 and the the 3.0 beta. I got my start developing little apps, practice apps, failed apps, and anything you can think of. I did release one app, but it wasn’t none too pretty. I can’t say I’m proud of it, but it did get approved and moved a few copies. It was good experience for my later development years.

Fast forward 3 more years, and my buddy suggested that we create an app over a weekend in 48 hours. He had the idea, I had the experience with iOS, and I also had a friend that could work on Android, and Simply Made Apps was born. From this weekend, our first app Simple In/Out was born.

What does your computer and workspace setup look like while developing?

My workstation is probably one of the most ridiculous setups in history. I bought a late 2007 24” iMac from a friend, but didn’t have any room for it, so I set it up on my kitchen table. The plan was to move one of my kids in to the new room we built and turn the old room into an office. To date, that plan has not been implemented and my iMac still sits on the kitchen table. The hope is one day to have an actual office in the house where I can get my work done. I use a Drobo with FW800 for my Time Machine backups. And yes, the Drobo sits on the table too.

What are your favourite Apple iOS API's to use within apps that you develop?

One of my favorite API’s to work with is CoreLocation. Granted a big portion of my app relies on it, but having heard from my Android friends, the location tracking doesn’t work quite as slick as it does for Apple. With iOS 5, it has really gotten quick and painless. We utilize region monitoring that makes tracking location in or out of points super easy. There are a few drawbacks to it, but so far, none have impacted me enough to change anything.

Another great API is NSNotificationCenter. It works really well for passing messages off to other parts of your app. They work a lot like delegate methods without all the hassle of coding them in. You have to be careful that you don’t leave them hanging out there or you will see some pretty weird stuff happen in your app, but if used sparingly, they can save you a few lines of code.

What is some essential software that you use outside of Xcode for development?

I use Git for my version control. It isn’t really software, but my life has been forever changed since I started using Git. We won’t get into specifics, but suffice to say I probably don’t need as big a Drobo since Git has come into my life.


I’m currently using AppCode from JetBrains. It is an Objective-C IDE replacement for Xcode. There is a lot to like about it, but having used Xcode for so long, the learning curve is kind of steep. I’m about a week into it and I enjoy it a lot. Just a matter of finding out where everything is at. I really enjoy it that the auto-complete doesn’t fail on an hourly basis, so it has that going for it. 


If you had two minutes to tell another developer your favourite iOS development tip, what would it be?

I’ve actually given the 2 minute drill to some fellow developers looking to dip their toes into the Apple pool. What really helped me get going with iOS development was just create something. Anything. It doesn’t matter if someone else is already doing it better than you think you ever could, just make it. Find out how they made it the way they did. I’m very hands on, so looking for code snippets online (StackOverflow is your friend) or hacking an example up from a book helps tremendously. You will learn a lot along the way and hopefully, you will gain some appreciation for all the hard work and attention to detail that goes into a great app.

From a developer's perspective, what are your hopes for the next major iOS update?

If I could get one wish for the next iOS update, it would be for a revamp of Apple’s code signing. It can be very frustrating at first learning all the nuances of getting your app profile set up just right. It can be extremely frustrating getting things working across multiple machines. I will admit they are getting better, but they still have a long way to go.

If I could get second wish, it would be for expanded Siri support. Being able to tap into those possibilities would open up a ton of opportunity for new and existing apps. The developers have driven progress forward, so hopefully we can get access to that powerful tool and see what we can come up with./p>

Finally, what is your favourite app?

I’m a huge Twins fan, so my favorite app by far has been MLB at Bat. I look forward to its release every spring. They have made a ton of improvements to it over the years and works very well. I can’t do anything about MLB Blackouts, but I don’t hold that against the app.


I’m also a big fan of Echofon. I love twitter and I’m constantly checking it, starting up conversations with friends, and just socializing. Echofon allows you to keep your phone and desktop in sync, which is important to me since I read almost every tweet in my timeline. I don’t like missing anything. I’ve been told there are better phone clients and better desktop clients, but none have been able to pull off both the way Echofon has.