iOS 15 Programming Fundamentals with Swift

Part II. IDE

By now, you’re doubtless anxious to jump in and start writing an app. To do that, you need a solid grounding in the tools you’ll be using. The heart and soul of those tools can be summed up in one word: Xcode. In this part of the book we explore Xcode, the IDE (integrated development environment) in which you’ll be programming iOS. Xcode is a big program, and writing an app involves coordinating a lot of pieces; this part of the book will help you become comfortable with Xcode. Along the way, we’ll generate a simple working app through some hands-on tutorials.

• Chapter 7 tours Xcode and explains the architecture of the project, the collection of files from which an app is generated.

• Chapter 8 is about nibs. A nib is a file containing a drawing of your interface. Understanding nibs — how they work and how they relate to your code — is crucial to your use of Xcode and to development of just about any Cocoa app.

• Chapter 9 pauses to discuss the Xcode documentation and other sources of information on the API.

• Chapter 10 explains editing your code, testing and debugging your code, and the various steps you’ll take on the way to submitting your app to the App Store. You’ll probably want to skim this chapter quickly at first, returning to it as a detailed reference later while developing and submitting an actual app.