Do you already write iOS apps? Then you should be aware of different development options. And if the idea of developing mobile apps for iOS just popped into your head, it should be followed by the following questions:
What iOS programming language should you learn?
Where can I get materials to study?
Do I need a Mac?
Do I need an iOS device?
which editor is suitable for writing code?
Where can I learn to be an iOS developer?
This article will answer these questions and help you achieve your goal.
The iOS operating system was released by Apple in 2007. It is not limited to the iPhone and iPad, but I will talk about app development for these devices only. The article is divided into several parts:
Native App Development.
Programming languages for creating iOS apps.
Development environment for iOS.
Developing iOS apps and augmented reality games using ARKit framework.
Game development using the SpriteKit framework.
In addition to native development, there is also cross-platform, when the application is written simultaneously for iOS and Android in a language other than native. We will talk about it another time, but you can satisfy your curiosity now and read the article by Leonid Bogolyubov, Editor in Chief of Apptractor, written for Live Tipip.
Developing native apps
The process of developing a native app is writing a program in one of the main iOS development languages: Objective-C or Swift. This path was created by Apple Corporation and involves following all of its ideas. Apple provides developers with the latest versions of the SDK (software development kit), documentation, and the Xcode development environment.
The advantages of native development:
The app is optimized for the iOS platform, which means it will work quickly and correctly;
The application responds instantly to taps, there are no delays in animation and when scrolling content;
clear and easy access to the device hardware – camera, microphone, accelerometer, geolocation, address book, player, etc. On these and other features of the device you can base the functionality of the application;
platform native interface. Native apps usually operate with “platform-specific” interface elements: menus, navigation, forms and all other design elements are taken from the operating system and are therefore familiar and understandable to the user;
Syntax of Objective-C language does not change with each update of iOS, so support of the application is virtually painless – you will have to change or rewrite only a small amount of code.
Disadvantages:
Swift language application support. Regular updates of iOS platform versions make it necessary to update the code, but with the arrival of the fifth version of Swift, Apple promises to make this process easier;
Most current projects are written in Objective-C. Every year it becomes more and more difficult to find a programmer willing to write in it, and many companies refuse to rewrite projects in Swift, because this is a huge and incredibly time-consuming process.
For clients of development studios, the question of what kind of development to pay for – native or cross-platform – is also relevant. Cross-platform development can be advised when the budget is limited, you need to know the demand for a mobile application, or if the client has their own web programmer. In other cases, it is better to opt for native development. Live Tipiping can help with both. Send us a request if you intend to start working on your mobile app for iOS – we’re ready to discuss everything.
What language iOS apps are written in
Apple developers provided two options:
Objective-C. A veteran with a long history, gradually receding into the background;
Swift. Very young and rapidly gaining popularity among developers.
Both languages for creating iOS applications belong to object-oriented programming (OOP) and successfully implement its basic paradigms: inheritance, polymorphism, encapsulation and abstraction. In simple terms, OOP is a style of writing code that allows a developer to group similar tasks into classes. The code conforms to the DRY principle (don’t repeat yourself) and becomes easy to maintain.