iPhone® Application Development For Dummies®, 2nd Edition

Chapter 4. Getting to Know the SDK

In This Chapter

• Getting a handle on the Xcode project

• Compiling an application

• Peeking inside the Simulator

• Checking out the Interface Builder

• Demystifying nib files

I've said it before and I'll say it again: One of the things that really got me excited about the iPhone was how easy it was to develop applications. The Software Development Kit (SDK) comes with so many tools, you'd think developing must be really easy. Well, to be truthful, it's relatively easy.

In this chapter, I introduce you to the SDK. It's going to be a low-key, get-acquainted kind of affair. I'll show you the real nuts-and-bolts stuff in later chapters, when I actually develop the two sample applications.

Developing Using the SDK

The Software Development Kit (SDK) supports the kind of development process that's after my own heart: You can develop your applications without tying your brain up in knots. The development environment allows you to rapidly get a user interface up and running to see what it looks like. The idea here is to add your code incrementally — step by step — so you can always step back and see how what you just did affected the Big Picture. Your general steps in development would look something like this:

1. Start with Xcode, Apple's development environment for the OS X operating system.

2. Design the user interface.

3. Write the code.

4. Build and run your application.

5. Test your application.

6. Measure and tune your application's performance.

7. Do it all again until you are done.

In this ...