TweetFollow Us on Twitter

MacTech Spotlight: Dave Hayden, Panic, Inc.

Volume Number: 24 (2008)
Issue Number: 06
Column Tag: MacTech Spotlight

MacTech Spotlight: Dave Hayden, Panic, Inc.

What do you do?

I usually call myself a "programmer", in quotes, because engineer seems a bit too button-down starched collar. Too... Dilbert, I guess. Most engineers I've met have honest engineering degrees, and always seem to wind up in management. Real hacker genius programmers usually didn't bother with college, going straight for real-world experience. But since I have a math degree from a liberal arts college, I'm not sure I fit in there, either. I'd call myself a "code artist" but that's just pretentious, even if fairly accurate.

At Panic, I do the coding for Unison, our Usenet client. I've also done most of the protocol support for Transmit, and some of the animation and graphics effects in Coda. I'm also the only guy in the office who remembers trigonometry, much less calculus, and I'm pretty good at hunting down the really scary bugs that make you consider religious conversion. (But maybe that's because I'm the one that caused them in the first place.)

Right now I'm hard at work on Unison 2, the app's first major update since we launched it five years ago – that means I get to go from supporting 10.2 to requiring 10.5, which is really exciting. I've fallen in love with Core Animation and it's getting pretty serious; we're even talking about moving in together. (Sorry, Core Data. It's not you, it's me.)

How long have you been doing what you do?

I started doing Mac programming (or "programming") when I joined Panic six and a half years ago, working in the living room of company founders Cabel and Steve's apartment. Before that, I got my first coding job right out of college, doing server-side web programming at a long-extinct web agency. That was before the era of PHP, so my first task was unraveling the worst nest of C code that's ever been written, left behind by a previous programmer of questionable sanity – he was fond of obscene function names, and at one point used negative array indexes. Between those two jobs, I worked freelance (that is, I was unemployed) and worked on open source projects dealing with the SWF Flash file format.

What was your first computer:

An Apple ][+, in 1980. I wrote a lot of BASIC code, and I rocked the BBSes with my 300 baud modem. In 1984 we got the original 128K Macintosh, but it seemed weird to me that it didn't have a programming environment built in like the Apple did so I still spent more time on the ][+. That was actually the last Apple computer I had until I bought a G3.

What's the coolest tech thing you've done using OS X?

The first project I worked on at Panic was a kind of 2D graphical environment thing, where you could create your own "home", fill it with handy widgets like a calendar and music player, friends could stop by and chat, and so on. It was cross platform – Steven was in OS X 10.0, Cabel still in OS 9, and I was running under Cygwin on my crusty old Windows laptop. The rendering engine was custom from the ground up, the whole thing was driven by a bytecode-compiled scripting language based on code I'd previously written (and abandoned) for a Flash runtime.

From an "engineering" standpoint, it was pretty cool. But it was also way over-complex, and had serious spec confusion. In short, it didn't solve a specific problem so it never really "clicked". We put it aside for a while to get Transmit 2 out, and by the time we came back it didn't make much sense to keep working on it. In retrospect it was definitely the right decision, but I always wonder what would have happened if...

Where can we see a sample of your work?

Besides Panic, I've been doing a lot of photography:

http://www.foveate.com/

and boatbuilding:

http://www.opaque.net/~dave/dory/

I try to avoid programming projects outside of work. I already spend too much time in front of the computer.

The next way I'm going to impact IT/OS X/the Mac universe is:

Just keep doing what we're doing, really. I'm extremely lucky to be working with such talented people here at Panic, and we've done pretty well so far.


If you or someone you know belongs in the MacTech Spotlight, let us know! Send details to editorial@mactech.com

 

Community Search:
MacTech Search:

Software Updates via MacUpdate

Latest Forum Discussions

See All

Six fantastic ways to spend National Vid...
As if anyone needed an excuse to play games today, I am about to give you one: it is National Video Games Day. A day for us to play games, like we no doubt do every day. Let’s not look a gift horse in the mouth. Instead, feast your eyes on this... | Read more »
Old School RuneScape players turn out in...
The sheer leap in technological advancements in our lifetime has been mind-blowing. We went from Commodore 64s to VR glasses in what feels like a heartbeat, but more importantly, the internet. It can be a dark mess, but it also brought hundreds of... | Read more »
Today's Best Mobile Game Discounts...
Every day, we pick out a curated list of the best mobile discounts on the App Store and post them here. This list won't be comprehensive, but it every game on it is recommended. Feel free to check out the coverage we did on them in the links below... | Read more »
Nintendo and The Pokémon Company's...
Unless you have been living under a rock, you know that Nintendo has been locked in an epic battle with Pocketpair, creator of the obvious Pokémon rip-off Palworld. Nintendo often resorts to legal retaliation at the drop of a hat, but it seems this... | Read more »
Apple exclusive mobile games don’t make...
If you are a gamer on phones, no doubt you have been as distressed as I am on one huge sticking point: exclusivity. For years, Xbox and PlayStation have done battle, and before this was the Sega Genesis and the Nintendo NES. On console, it makes... | Read more »
Regionally exclusive events make no sens...
Last week, over on our sister site AppSpy, I babbled excitedly about the Pokémon GO Safari Days event. You can get nine Eevees with an explorer hat per day. Or, can you? Specifically, you, reader. Do you have the time or funds to possibly fly for... | Read more »
As Jon Bellamy defends his choice to can...
Back in March, Jagex announced the appointment of a new CEO, Jon Bellamy. Mr Bellamy then decided to almost immediately paint a huge target on his back by cancelling the Runescapes Pride event. This led to widespread condemnation about his perceived... | Read more »
Marvel Contest of Champions adds two mor...
When I saw the latest two Marvel Contest of Champions characters, I scoffed. Mr Knight and Silver Samurai, thought I, they are running out of good choices. Then I realised no, I was being far too cynical. This is one of the things that games do best... | Read more »
Grass is green, and water is wet: Pokémo...
It must be a day that ends in Y, because Pokémon Trading Card Game Pocket has kicked off its Zoroark Drop Event. Here you can get a promo version of another card, and look forward to the next Wonder Pick Event and the next Mass Outbreak that will be... | Read more »
Enter the Gungeon review
It took me a minute to get around to reviewing this game for a couple of very good reasons. The first is that Enter the Gungeon's style of roguelike bullet-hell action is teetering on the edge of being straight-up malicious, which made getting... | Read more »

Price Scanner via MacPrices.net

Take $150 off every Apple 11-inch M3 iPad Air
Amazon is offering a $150 discount on 11-inch M3 WiFi iPad Airs right now. Shipping is free: – 11″ 128GB M3 WiFi iPad Air: $449, $150 off – 11″ 256GB M3 WiFi iPad Air: $549, $150 off – 11″ 512GB M3... Read more
Apple iPad minis back on sale for $100 off MS...
Amazon is offering $100 discounts (up to 20% off) on Apple’s newest 2024 WiFi iPad minis, each with free shipping. These are the lowest prices available for new minis among the Apple retailers we... Read more
Apple’s 16-inch M4 Max MacBook Pros are on sa...
Amazon has 16-inch M4 Max MacBook Pros (Silver and Black colors) on sale for up to $410 off Apple’s MSRP right now. Shipping is free. Be sure to select Amazon as the seller, rather than a third-party... Read more
Red Pocket Mobile is offering a $150 rebate o...
Red Pocket Mobile has new Apple iPhone 17’s on sale for $150 off MSRP when you switch and open up a new line of service. Red Pocket Mobile is a nationwide MVNO using all the major wireless carrier... Read more
Switch to Verizon, and get any iPhone 16 for...
With yesterday’s introduction of the new iPhone 17 models, Verizon responded by running “on us” promos across much of the iPhone 16 lineup: iPhone 16 and 16 Plus show as $0/mo for 36 months with bill... Read more
Here is a summary of the new features in Appl...
Apple’s September 2025 event introduced major updates across its most popular product lines, focusing on health, performance, and design breakthroughs. The AirPods Pro 3 now feature best-in-class... Read more
Apple’s Smartphone Lineup Could Use A Touch o...
COMMENTARY – Whatever happened to the old adage, “less is more”? Apple’s smartphone lineup. — which is due for its annual refresh either this month or next (possibly at an Apple Event on September 9... Read more
Take $50 off every 11th-generation A16 WiFi i...
Amazon has Apple’s 11th-generation A16 WiFi iPads in stock on sale for $50 off MSRP right now. Shipping is free: – 11″ 11th-generation 128GB WiFi iPads: $299 $50 off MSRP – 11″ 11th-generation 256GB... Read more
Sunday Sale: 14-inch M4 MacBook Pros for up t...
Don’t pay full price! Amazon has Apple’s 14-inch M4 MacBook Pros (Silver and Black colors) on sale for up to $220 off MSRP right now. Shipping is free. Be sure to select Amazon as the seller, rather... Read more
Mac mini with M4 Pro CPU back on sale for $12...
B&H Photo has Apple’s Mac mini with the M4 Pro CPU back on sale for $1259, $140 off MSRP. B&H offers free 1-2 day shipping to most US addresses: – Mac mini M4 Pro CPU (24GB/512GB): $1259, $... Read more

Jobs Board

All contents are Copyright 1984-2011 by Xplain Corporation. All rights reserved. Theme designed by Icreon.