Difference between revisions of "Start Here iOS 8"

Revision as of 20:39, 1 February 2016

The goal of this book is to teach the skills necessary to create iOS applications using the iOS 8 SDK, Xcode 6 and the Swift programming language.

How you make use of this book will depend to a large extent on whether you are new to iOS development, or have worked with iOS 7 and need to get up to speed on the features of iOS 8 and the Swift programming language. Rest assured, however, that the book is intended to address both category of reader.

For New iOS Developers

If you are entirely new to iOS development then the entire contents of the book will be relevant to you.

Beginning with the basics, this book provides an outline of the steps necessary to set up an iOS development environment. An introduction to the architecture of iOS 8 and programming in Swift is provided, followed by an in-depth look at the design of iOS applications and user interfaces. More advanced topics such as file handling, database management, in-app purchases, graphics drawing and animation are also covered, as are touch screen handling, gesture recognition, multitasking, iAds integration, location management, local notifications, camera access and video and audio playback support. Other features are also covered including Auto Layout, Twitter and Facebook integration, App Store hosted in-app purchase content, collection views, Sprite Kit-based game development, local map search and user interface animation using UIKit dynamics.

The key new features of the iOS 8 SDK and Xcode 6 are also covered, including Swift playgrounds, universal user interface design using size classes, app extensions, Interface Builder Live Views, embedded frameworks, CloudKit data storage and TouchID authentication.

The aim of this book, therefore, is to teach you the skills necessary to build your own apps for iOS 8. Assuming you are ready to download the iOS 8 SDK and Xcode, have an Intel-based Mac and ideas for some apps to develop, you are ready to get started.

For iOS 7 Developers

All chapters have been updated to reflect the changes and features introduced as part of iOS 8 and Xcode 6. Chapters included in this edition that were not contained in the previous edition, or have been significantly rewritten for iOS 8 and Xcode 6 are as follows:

• An Introduction to Swift Playgrounds
• Swift Data Types, Constants and Variables
• Swift Operators and Expressions
• Swift Flow Control
• The Swift Switch Statement
• An Overview of Swift Functions and Closures
• The Basics of Object Oriented Programming in Swift
• An Introduction to Swift Inheritance
• Working with Array and Dictionary Collections in Swift
• Using Size Classes to Design Universal iOS User Interfaces
• An Introduction to CloudKit Data Storage on iOS 8
• An iOS 8 CloudKit Example
• An iOS 8 CloudKit Subscription Example
• Implementing TouchID Authentication in iOS 8 Apps
• Interface Builder Live Views and iOS 8 Embedded Frameworks
• An Introduction to Extensions in iOS 8
• An iOS 8 Today Extension Widget Tutorial
• Creating an iOS 8 Photo Editing Extension
• Creating an iOS 8 Action Extension
• Receiving Data from an iOS 8 Action Extension

In addition the following changes have also been made:

• All chapters have been updated where necessary to reflect the changes made to Xcode 6.
• All chapters and examples have been rewritten to use Swift instead of Objective-C.
• TableView examples have been updated to cover self-sizing table cells and dynamic type.
• The SpriteKit chapters have been updated to use the new Xcode 6 SpriteKit Level Editor environment.
• The SQLite chapters have been updated to make use of the FMDB wrapper classes.
• The video playback chapter has been rewritten to use the AVPlayerViewControler and AVPlayer classes.

Source Code Download

The source code and Xcode project files for the examples contained in this book are available for download at:

http://www.ebookfrenzy.com/web/ios8/

Errata

Whilst we make every effort to ensure the accuracy of the content of this book, it is inevitable that a book covering a subject area of this size and complexity may include some errors and oversights. Any known issues with the book will be outlined, together with solutions at the following URL:

http://www.ebookfrenzy.com/errata/ios8.html