Subscribe to Apple Developer Program
The first step you will have to take is to
register an Apple
Developer account, go to Mac App Store,
download the latest version of the Xcode and install it on your Mac computer. The Apple Developer
membership gives you access to many official tools, services and resources for iOS development, enables
you to test your programs on your personal Apple devices and provides you with an opportunity to publish
your apps to the App Store. The membership costs $99 per year, but you can wait until you have enough
programming skills to register the account. Now, let’s talk about the tools Apple offers to iOS
developers.
1
XCODE
Xcode is an integrated development environment (IDE) that contains development tools to create
apps for OS X and iOS. It is not a simple code editor - it is packed with a great amount of
advanced tools such as autocomplete, static analysis that automatically finds bugs and memory
issues in your program before you compile the code, bug fixing and performance enhancement.
Xcode substitutes a whole bunch of app development tools for iOS: you do not need to use
code editors to write code and then switch to command line instruments to compile it.
Xcode is a universal tool for app development that
incorporates all important functionality.
2
Interface Builder
To create well balanced interface design is a complicated task, which require a professional
knowledge and good visualisation skills.
Interface Builder is an app that enables you to create create interfaces visually. All necessary
design elements are ready for use - buttons, navigation bars, sliders, icons, etc. - all you
have to do is drag them onto your project and the customise its size, colour and style.
Moreover, Interface Builder can be used to manage interactions within elements, in other words,
you can use it to set an action that happens when a user interact with a certain object, and
also define object bindings and configure controllers.
3
Why You Need To Learn The UIKit Code
Despite a rich functionality of Interface Builder, developers who work on bespoke
interface elements prefer to use other programs because building custom objects in iNterface
Builder requires a lot of coding. That is why our iOS experts advise you to learn how to use
Interface Builder, but at the same time get familiar with the UIKit code that is generated by
it. You need to fully understand all the
processes behind the elements and their interaction to be able to create outstanding digital
products.
Frameworks for iOS App Development
Frameworks are probably the most crucial instruments that allow you to build and manage iOS apps.
Without frameworks, it would probably take years for the developers to design simple programs that
run on Apple devices. Apple offers dozens of ready solutions that allow developers to easily solve
such time-consuming tasks as code user interfaces, encrypt confidential data, write networking code,
incorporate media players, draw graphical elements, take pics, view websites, save passwords and
other information and so on.
The Advantages Of Cocoa
Apple frameworks are a large collection of tools and commands that lay a foundation for your future
app. If there were no frameworks, developers would reinvent the wheel every time they start a new
project. The Cocoa frameworks provide you with so many advantages that even when you face a very
complicated problem, which you do not know how to solve, you are most likely to find the ready
solution in there. For instance, if you need to automatically fetch a file by its web address, then
parse it and put into a data structure that you can easily manage, Cocoa will provide you with a
single line of code to perform this. Xcode, Cocoa and Interface Builder are the core set of tools
for any iOS developer, but of course, there are many other efficient instruments to explore. So do
not waste time - download Xcode right now and start playing around, learning the basics of iOS
development.
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Getting Started With Cocoa
When people speak of iOS and OS X development, they often refer to it using such terms as Cocoa
development or Objective-C programming, and everyone that has any experience in programing perfectly
understands that they talk about creating iOS apps.
Cocoa is a UI framework for building software
for such devices as iPhone, iPad, Mac and others. The frameworks are primarily written in
Objective-C, and this programming language is mostly used by programmers to work with the Cocoa when
building apps for iOS and Macs. Some time ago Cocoa frameworks also supported Java, but now it is
not used any longer to access the frameworks. Of course, there are many different ways to access the
APIs: through bindings for Perl, C#, Python, Ruby, but they are not officially supported by Apple.
AppKit Classes And Objects
The Cocoa frameworks are comprised of AppKit (application Kit) and Foundation when you build apps
for OS X, and UIKit and Foundation in the case of iOS app development. The Foundation framework
consists of several groups of basic classes for data storages, test and strings, dates and times,
sortings and filters, application coordination and timing, and more. The objects in the frameworks
include NSArray, NSData, NSString, NSMutableString, NSDictionary and more. AppKit consists of more
than 125 classes that are used to create interfaces for Mac software with elements like buttons,
windows, menus, etc. The object in AppKit includes NSApplication, NSWindows, NSCIImageRep, NSView,
NSCollectionViewLayoutAttributes and others.
Developing iOS Apps
If you are not experienced in developing iOS apps, let us help you. Our professional team of
Apple-targeted programmers, are always ready to back up your idea and to implement an advanced iOS
software.
Let's discuss your future app functionality. We'll estimate all the pros of using
Swift programming language or Objective C and share the thoughts, how to implement your application
into the reality.
Get in Touch and Let Professionals Do the Job
If all the elaborate web development terminology is too much for you, Magora iOS app developers are
ready to help - we have a broad expertise in guiding businesses towards
digital success. Contact us for a free IT consulting, project cost estimation or audit of your
existing software solutions.
