2020 Review

I've never done a yearly review before. Mostly because I'm a guy with no plan, I have no new year resolution. This year, I happen to keep writing this blog every week for a whole year, so I think it is a good time to jot down some progress as a milestone for my future self.

So, this is a look back in 2020.

The stats

2019

Users: 86,876
Pageviews: 146,859
Twitter Followers: ~630*
Email subs: ~78*

(* I can't remember the exact numbers.)

2020

Users: 306,778 (+253%)
Pageviews: 583,616 (+297%)
Twitter Followers: 1337 (+112%)
Email subs: 465 (+496%)
Book (Practical Sign in with Apple): 29 (+∞%)
Mac App (Codeshot): 6 (+∞%)

The number can't tell the whole story, so let’s do a quick recap of the story behind these numbers.

You can easily support sarunw.com by checking out this sponsor.

AI Grammar: Correct grammar, spell check, check punctuation, and parphrase.

Try it for Free

The Beginning

I started my blog back in 2014. I wrote my first post when Swift was first introduced in WWDC2014. That was my only post for the whole year. After my first post, I took a break for two years to find inspiration. Then I returned to a writing habit in 2017, where I started my yearly blog post during 2017-2019.

• 2017 Codable in Swift 4.0
• 2018 Enum & custom type from primitive JSON type
• 2019 Introduction to Coordinator

The Redemption

Then in the middle of 2019, there is something that broke my yearly writing habit.

In the WWDC2019 in June 2019, Apple introduced us to SwiftUI, a new shiny declarative UI framework. This new framework brings a refreshing feeling to the iOS community, including me. I feel like a newbie again. I want to share what I learn about SwiftUI. This little boost helps me keep writing every week. I begin writing again and here is my redemption post.

My first book

I never plan to write a book before, but after blogging for a year, I decided to give it a try. It took me months to finish my book, Practical Sign in with Apple. It is not a pleasant moment for me. Writing is hard, and knowing someone paying for it makes me very nervous and causes me stress. I have sold a total of 29 copies so far. I seem like a failure (It is), but I somehow want to write another one next year.

My first macOS app and new app in three years

The last iOS app I created was in September 2017. I always want to create a new app, especially a macOS app. I manage to release a macOS app, Codeshot, at the end of this year. Again it is quite a failure money-wise with six units sold, but it gives me a chance to get hands-on experience developing the Catalyst app (I use UIKit mixed with SwiftUI).

You can easily support sarunw.com by checking out this sponsor.

AI Grammar: Correct grammar, spell check, check punctuation, and parphrase.

Try it for Free

Conclusion

There are good and bad this year. It is a good ride. I appreciated all the help I got from people in the iOS community that shares and support my writing, including you, all the readers. Without readers, I might stop writing or going back into a yearly interval. That’s all for now. See you in the next one.