Objective C, XCode, Interface Builder and iOS - all terms in the world of iPhone application development. In the first quarter of 2012, Apple reported selling over 37 M iPhones. This is more than any other manufacturer. Mobile devices are literally on almost every street corner and the iPhone dominates. The App Store was launched in the summer of 2008; four years later over 500,000 apps are available for download.
If a developer is serious about developing for the iOS platform, go out and buy a Macintosh computer (Intel based processor required). Apple probably is never going to release a software development kit that works on Windows. If a PC is what a developer has then develop for the Android platform. Even though there are hacks for emulating the OSX operating system on a PC, the software development kit is continuously updated and this will lead to lost productivity and frustration.
To begin, visit the Apple developer's site and enter "iOS Dev Center". This center is rich in various downloads, getting started videos, documentation, sample code and more. Registration with Apple is free and required to download the integrated development environment, XCode. This is an all-inclusive environment that is the starting point for iPhone application development.
Downloading XCode is straight forward, but a word of caution, be clear that the correct version of XCode is downloaded based on your Macintosh operating system; XCode 4.2 for Snow Leopard, XCode 4.3 for Lion and XCode 4.4 for Mountain Lion.
The XCode compressed file (1.6 GB to 2 GB) takes time to download. XCode is optimized for designing, coding, building and testing iOS applications, but can also be used to develop Cocoa applications for the Macintosh computer.
Begin by creating a new XCode project; the Single View Application for the iOS is the best template. It is beyond the scope of this article to explain this template - the app delegate verses the view controller; nevertheless, Objective C is the language of iOS development. If the developer is not familiar with Objective C, go to a site with sample code and work through the tutorials for iPhone application development. Download an XCode sample project, build and run in the iOS simulator. Much can be gained by reverse engineering class and interface builder files.
Once an application is completed, the developer needs to join the iOS Developer Program for a reasonable cost. This allows the registration of up to 100 devices for final testing and submission to the App Store for distribution.
Web development is also an option for iOS. Many companies are moving toward web development for the mobile marketplace. In deciding to develop web applications, the developer does not need to learn Objective C. The easier HTML5, CSS, JavaScript languages can be implemented for iOS as well as Android and Blackberry. By going down this path, there is no requirement for the Apple approval process or the need to share revenue with Apple. Web development is offering more control of payment, promotion and distribution. Though there are disadvantages, some features that are native to the iOS devices are not available. Installing the application on the device is also a little bit trickier.
The details of web development for the iOS platform are beyond the scope of this article. Developers are advised to download sample code, coding How-To and videos from the "Safari Dev Center" on the Apple developer's site.
The journey into iphone application development for applications or web sites is exciting for a developer. There are many choices for development in this adventure of discovery.
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