Chapter 1. Building your first iOS application

 

This chapter covers

  • Understanding the iOS development environment
  • Learning how to use Xcode and Interface Builder
  • Building your first application

As a developer starting out on the iOS platform, you’re faced with learning a lot of new technologies and concepts in a short period of time. At the forefront of this information overload is a set of development tools you may not be familiar with and a programming language shaped by a unique set of companies and historical events.

iOS applications are typically developed in a programming language called Objective-C and supported by a support library called Cocoa Touch. If you’ve already developed Mac OS X applications, you’re probably familiar with the desktop cousins of these technologies. But it’s important to note that the iOS versions of these tools don’t provide exactly the same capabilities, and it’s important to learn the restrictions, limitations, and enhancements provided by the mobile device. In some cases, you may even need to unlearn some of your desktop development practices.

1.1. Introducing the iOS development tools

1.2. Adjusting your expectations

1.3. Using Xcode to develop a simple Coin Toss game

1.4. Hooking up the user interface

1.5. Compiling the Coin Toss game

1.6. Taking Coin Toss for a test run

1.7. Summary

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