Programming iOS 6, 3rd Edition

Part VII. Final Topics

This part of the book is a miscellany of topics.

• Chapter 36 is about files. It explains how your app can store data on disk to be retrieved the next time the app runs (including both standalone files and user defaults). It also discusses sharing files with the user through iTunes and with other apps, plus the document architecture and iCloud, and concludes with a survey of how iOS can work with some common file formats (XML, SQLite, Core Data, and image files).
• Chapter 37 introduces networking, with an emphasis on HTTP downloading of data, and giving a nod to other aspects of networks (such as Bonjour and push notifications) that you can explore independently if your app requires them.
• Chapter 38 is about threads. Making your code multithreaded can introduce great complexity and is not a beginner topic, but you still might need to understand the basic concepts of multithreading, either in order to prevent a lengthy task from blocking user interaction with your app, or because some framework explicitly relies on it. Special attention is paid to the advantages of NSOperation and (especially) Grand Central Dispatch.
• Chapter 39 describes how iOS supports Undo in your app.
• Chapter 40 lists additional frameworks and facilities that were found to be beyond the scope of this book. You are now a proud graduate of this book’s school of iOS programming fundamentals. You are fully prepared to proceed independently. Your mission, should you decide to accept it, is ...