Start developing IOS apps today (Chinese)

ArticleDirectory

• Read the following tutorials to explore IOS Application Development
• Read the following documents to learn more about IOS application development.

Introduction

Creating IOS apps is both fun and rewarding. If you are new to development, you may be confused about where to start. This roadmap provides a perfect start for iOS app development. You can create IOS apps on your Mac and install and use them on your iPad, iPhone, and iPod Touch. Following the guidance of this roadmap, you will know where to obtain the tools you need, understand the main concepts and conduct effective practices, and how to obtain more information in the future.

When using this road map, the development tools you need are xcode and iOS sdks provided by Apple. You will learn how to use objective-C, which provides basic programming for all IOS apps and frameworks, and will have a Preliminary Exploration of the cocoa touch framework. You will write a simple iOS app and learn how to test it on a real device. In the end, you will learn how to submit your applications to the app store.

Each page of this roadmap will introduce a new topic, and there will be one or more links to this topic. This roadmap provides you with a wide range of knowledge to help you get started. The last page, "start from here", contains the link to the document you should learn more about next. After reading this road map, you can learn more about any specific field. You will have the knowledge, tools, and skills required to develop IOS apps!   Installation Tools

To develop an application, you must use IOS software development kit (SDK) and Apple's integrated development environment (IDE) xcode. To create an excellent iPhone, iPod Touch, and iPad app, xcode can meet all your needs. Its contents include:Source codeEditor, graphical user interface editor, and other functions, from customizable build to sourceCodeWarehouse Management. Xcode uses a single window and calls it a "workspace window". Most of the data you need is in this workspace window. After you are familiar with xcode, you can easily write code, debug debugging, and change the interface design without switching the window back and forth. The ios sdk can expand the xcode tool group, including the creation of specialized tools, compilers, and frameworks for iOS applications.

As the first step, you need:

1. Download the latest version of xcode.Open the Mac app store on the Mac computer, search for xcode, and click "free" to start downloading. When you download xcode, the ios sdk is included. (Mac App Store is pre-installed in Mac OS X 10.7 or later versions. If you are using the old version of Mac OS X, you need to upgrade the operating system first .)
2. Join the IOS Developer Program to become an apple developerIf you just write and test the application in the simulator, you do not have to join the Developer Program. But when you need to test and even release applications on real devices, you need to join the Developer Program. After joining the program, you can access all the resources of the iOS development center and the IOS provisioning portal. Of course, if you join the plan now, you can follow all the steps in this roadmap, including testing applications on your own devices.

  Formal Learning

To create an excellent iOS app, you need to learn a lot, but you can easily create an app that can run with development tools and iOS SDK. These tools, basic design patterns, and application development processes are introduced in the "your first iOS app" tutorial. Follow this tutorial to create a simple application: it can accept text entered by the user and display it on the screen. You will also learn how to use simulators to run applications on Mac computers. Several Simple Steps in the tutorial introduce you to many elegant and effective ideas, which will become the ideas you have practiced repeatedly during the development process.

"Your first iOS app" is the longest article in this road map, but don't hesitate. You need to learn more about the basic concepts later. Every subsequent article will focus on the concepts in this long article.

BytesPlease read the article now (translated by Guo Fan ):"Your first iOS app" tells you how to create a simple app using the iOS development environment. After completing the tutorial, go back to this page to continue learning the roadmap of the IOS Application Development Getting Started Guide. (Click here to read the original English version)

 

Tools

Xcode provides a series of tools for managing the entire development process, from creating an application to testing and optimizing the application to uploading the application to the app store. The "your first iOS app" tutorial shows how to create a new project, add a user interface, and write source code. After creating your own application, you need to use xcode to test and debug the source code, analyze and improve the application performance, perform source code control, archive, and submit applications to the app store.

Xcode can be customized according to your own style, allowing you to focus more on development.

Refer to the following link for more information ):"Using xcode to manage workflows" shows you the additional functions of xcode for iOS application development.

Language

Behind all IOS applications, objective-C is an elegant object-oriented language. Objective-C is a superset of C language, which means that you can use both C language and objective-C language in projects. Although you can use other languages for development, you must rely on objective-C to build IOS applications.

The syntax and conventions of objective-C are very easy to learn, especially for object-oriented methods such as Java or C ++.Programming LanguageFriends. If you are a C-language developer and you are familiar with object-oriented programming and objective-C, you will find it easier to design and improve applications.

BytesPlease read the article now (in English ):"Compiling objective-C code" tells you the basic syntax of objective-C, including class declaration, method, message transmission, and declared attributes.

Basic Task

For example, a painter must master how to use a brush, and a musician must be familiar with scales and chords. Developers must understand what is the most basic task for coding.

To create an iOS app, you must first understand how to create objects, compare objects, query objects to obtain their information, and how to access a series of objects, such as arrays. These are common tasks in IOS apps. After you have mastered these skills, you can continue to study more complex objective-C code.

BytesPlease read the article now (in English ):"Mastering basic programming skills" describes basic tasks in objective-C programming.

Framework

Each application is composed of two parts: one is the code you write, and the other is the framework provided by Apple ). The Framework contains the repository that can be called by your application. A framework can be accessed by multiple applications at the same time.

Any application you develop will be connected to multiple frameworks. Applications provided through the frameworkProgramThe programming interface (API) can use it. APIs are declared in header files, specifying available objects, classes, data structures, and protocols. The framework written by Apple estimates the basic functions you may need to implement in advance. By using the framework, you can save time and energy and ensure code efficiency and stability. Only the system framework can access the underlying hardware.

BytesPlease read the article now (in English ):

• The "main framework overview" describes the most common frameworks used in application development.
• "Introduce the framework in your code" describes several methods in the objective-C framework and how to integrate your code with the Framework Code.

Design Mode

The design model provides solutions to solve common software development problems. Patterns are abstract designs, not code. When you adopt a design, you will think of a general pattern suitable for your needs.

No matter which application you want to create, you need to understand the basic design patterns used in the framework. After understanding the design pattern, you can use the Framework to create programs with high reusability, scalability, and ease of modification.

BytesPlease read the article now (in English ):"Using design patterns to streamline application development" describes the key of design patterns and explains how to use them in application development.

Human-Machine Interface Design

It is not enough to create a running application. Users want IOS apps to be more intuitive, interactive, and attractive. Keep thinking about the user experience in all aspects of the application design, from the features you choose to how the application responds to a certain gesture.

Although people may not be aware of the human-machine interface design guidelines, they can tell which applications comply with the guidelines and which do not. Follow the IOS Man-Machine Interface Guide to design a good user interface and provide the best user experience for your product.

BytesPlease read the article now (in English ):"More users are taken into account during design" explains how to create applications that bring a good user experience to users. This document describes the principles to be followed during programming. It does not involve how to implement your design in code.

Application Design

Before writing code, you have to make several extremely important decisions. Consider as much details as possible about what your application is going to do and what features it will implement. Select the data model that your application will use. Determines the user interface style of the application. For example, whether to use the master-slave structure mode or write a tool application? Do you want to design a general application that can run on both iPad and iPhone and iPod Touch? Decisions that include these questions will help you design your application structure.

But before starting to design the structure, familiarize yourself with the cocoa touch framework. After all, your application is not a single tree. It relies on objects created through these frameworks. Learn the framework objects used to implement the Basic Structure of an application. They are the bricks in your data structure, and they make your application provide users with a unique experience.

BytesPlease read the article now (in English ):

• "Designing your application with caution" tells you which questions should be asked at the beginning of the design. It also helps you understand how to turn design ideas into reality.
• "Understand the core objects in your app" describes important framework objects that constitute all IOS apps and how these objects work together.

App Store

You have been learning how to use xcode to create applications. To publish your application to the App Store, you still need to do something else.

To make the application shine, you must put the application on the real device during the development process for testing, rather than just running it in the simulator. To run an application on an iOS device, you need to register the device for testing, create a certificate so that the developer can sign the application, and create an ID code used to identify the application.

After testing and improvement, You need to submit the application through iTunes connect. The app store can be officially released only after it passes the evaluation.

BytesPlease read the article now (in English ):The "prepare to submit to App Store" section describes how to manage the applications to be submitted to app store during development.

Search for materials

During application development, you need a detailed description that can be easily accessed.Technical materialsLibrary. Xcode has prepared these materials for you when writing code.

The quick help of xcode can display a concise data query result without affecting your efforts to edit the code. Click a symbol, interface object, or build configuration to view more information. Press Control and click the xcode interface to view the task-based help documentation and guide you on how to perform basic operations. Each help document provides step-by-step instructions and usually contains a video or image for further explanation.

Xcode documentation manager provides in-depth programming guidance, guided tutorials, sample code, development tool user guide, and detailed framework api reference, all from the IOS developer database. In the document manager, you can search, browse, and view all Developer documents provided by Apple on an integrated interface. The IOS developer database can also be viewed on the web page.

BytesPlease read the article now (in English ):"Quick documentation" describes how to use these necessary document resources.

Start from here

Congratulations! Now you have read all the pages of the IOS Application Development Getting Started Guide and some recommended short documents. Now you need to create IOS APPs by yourself. You may also download an example application project from the IOS developer database to learn how each part works collaboratively. However, to become an efficient and productive IOS developer, you must first join the IOS Developer Program and continue to gain insight into your knowledge and skills.

Read the following tutorials to explore IOS Application Development

Learn these tutorials to accumulate experience in other fields of application development (English ):

• The "submit application to app store for the first time" tells you the process of registering a device and submitting an application to app store.
• "Your second iOS app: storyboards" tells you how to use storyboard to create a master-slave application.
• "Your third iOS app: iCloud" tells you how to integrate iCloud into document-based apps.

Read the following documents to learn more about IOS application development.

These documents are essential for iOS developers (English ):

• the "iOS technology overview" describes the frameworks and other technologies that your iOS applications can use.
• the "iOS Man-Machine Interface Guide" shows you how to make your applications comply with user interface conventions.
• "develop for App Store" shows you how to develop apps, register test devices, and submit applications to app store.
• "objective-C programming language" describes the object-oriented programming method and the main language used for application development.
• "objective-C Programming philosophy" describes the design pattern, structure, and other important concepts in the application development process.
• the "iOS Application Programming Guide" describes what you must do when developing IOS applications.
• the "App Store review Guide" lists all precautions for submitting applications to the app store.