What is Xcode
Xcode is an integrated development environment (IDE), which is a powerful code editor with many development tools integrated within it. It's a C-style compiler-based programming tool that lets you write your applications in C, Objective-C, and Swift. You then run the compiler on your code and it makes a packaged executable. The compiler interprets your code and translates into native machine code executable for the specific target operating system chosen.
When it was first released back in 2003, Xcode greatly simplified development of applications over its predecessor Project Builder. Xcode is free to download for Mac owners, and comes with the iOS SDK and an emulator for iOS development built in. Xcode allows the creation of projects using C, C++, Objective-C, the Swift coding language and more. As stated before, you will be using the newest version of Xcode and Swift for development in this course.
Installing Xcode
You will need to install Xcode from the App Store on your Mac for this course. If you still do not have Xcode installed, this video tutorial will help you with this process:
iOS 11 Fundamentals - Getting Strated Pluralsight
NOTE
Remember, if a new version of Xcode (and Swift) comes out during this semester and you choose to upgrade, you will be accepting the responsibility to learn any new syntax in Swift and Xcode layouts. If you do not wish to update then make sure you have automatic updates turned off. This is done by opening up the App Store on your laptop, select App Store -> Preferences and uncheck 'Install app updates'.
iOS SDK
The iOS SDK actually comes with Xcode, so there is no extra download or setup for this, but there are a few additional things we will want to do to make our lives easy.
The first thing is to make sure you go to the App Store and check for updates. Make sure you keep going back until there are no more updates to get.
Next you will want to follow these steps to download the iOS simulators:
- Launch Xcode and click on the menu Xcode->Preferences.
- Next, click the Downloads tab.
- It is suggested that you install everything available.