iPhone® Application Development All-In-One For Dummies®

Chapter 4. Getting to Know the SDK

In This Chapter

• Getting a handle on the Xcode project

• Compiling an iPhone app

• Peeking inside the iPhone Simulator

• Checking out the Interface Builder

• Demystifying nib files

Arthur C. Clarke's Third Law is that any sufficiently advanced technology is indistinguishable from magic. The collection of tools known as the iPhone Software Development Kit (SDK) is the crucible for the alchemy of creating an iPhone app. You pick a template for the type of app; stir in the content, behavior, and user interface; and grind it all up with magical code. The SDK builds your final product. Sounds easy, and 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. You get into the real nuts-and-bolts stuff in Book III and Book V, when you actually develop the two sample applications.

Developing Using the SDK

The Software Development Kit (SDK) gives you the opportunity to develop your apps without tying your brain up in knots. You can 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 that you can always step back and see how what you just did affects the Big Picture.

Your general steps in development should 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 app.

5. Test your app.

6. Measure and tune ...