Everything You Need to Know about the iOS Software Development Kit

People who have taken app development training know that the iOS software development kit is a godsend for most developers. The iOS Software Development Kit (iOS SDK), upon being introduced, gained immense popularity amongst professionals as it allowed them to develop mobile apps on Apple’s iOS operating system. 

In the year 2007, before the iPhone was unveiled to the world, Steve Jobs did not want third party developers to develop apps for iOS. He instead directed them to make web applications for Safari’s browser. However, people were upset by this and his decision received severe criticism from developers that made the company go back on their initial decision. In October of 2007, Steve Jobs announced that Apple would be introducing a software development kit that will hit the market in February 2008. The SDK was released for developers in the month of March.

Learning about iOS Software Development Kit

Users of Mac can download SDK for free and it is important to know that the kit is not available for Microsoft Windows PC. The SDK set was very carefully designed for developers and gave them access to different services and functions of the iOS, which included the software as well as the hardware. The kit includes an iPhone simulator as well that gives the look and feel of the device on the computer. In order to keep up with the latest versions of the iOS, the company keeps releasing new versions of the SDK as well.

 It is mandatory for developers to subscribe to the Apple Developer Program, if they want to distribute apps, test the application, or get any kind of technical support. The software development kit along with the Xcode makes it easy for developers to write apps that are supported by programming languages like Objective C and Swift. It is important you know that other companies also have tools that allow the development of iOS apps.

Learning about the Features of SDK

Here are the contents of the software development kit:

Core Services

• Threads
• Networking
• Embedded SQLite database
• CoreMotion
• Core Location

Mac OS X Kernel

• TCP/IP
• Sockets
• Security
• Power management
• File system

Media

• Video playback
• Quartz
• OpenGL ES
• OpenAL
• Image file formats
• Core Animation
• audio mixing and recording

Cocoa Touch

• View hierarchy
• Multi-touch events and controls
• Localization (i18n)
• Camera support
• Accelerometer support

Programming Languages

Java

Sun Microsystems announced to release Java Virtual Machine for iOS in 2008 that would be based on the Java Platform Micro Edition, which would make it possible for Java based applications to work on iOS devices. After the announcement, developers that knew the terms of agreement of the iOS software development kit pointed out that Sun Microsystems’ efforts will be futile without getting Apple’s cooperation because they do not allow an application to download code from another source, an application to come in contact with a third party application, or allow a third party application to function in the background. Sun was also working with Innaworks to make it possible for Java to run on iPhone. In 2007, a firmware was leaked of the iPhone that had an ARM chip and a processer that has Jazelle support. This made it possible for Java to run on iPhones.

.NET

In September 2009 it was announced by Novell that they had successfully launched a software framework by the name of MonoTouch. This made it possible for developers to develop iOS applications in .NET as well as C# languages, while meeting Apple’s set criteria.

Flash

If you have taken an iOS development course, you would know that Adobe Flash can’t run on iOS devices, despite the fact that Adobe had two versions, Flash and Flash Lite. According to Apple both the versions were incompatible because Flash was too slow and Flash Lite can’t be used with the Web.

Adobe announced in 2009 that it would come up with a new update that would be a part of its Creative Suite. It would have a component that will allow developers to make iPhone with the help of Flash tools.

Policy on Development Tools

Apple made some changed to the iPhone developer Agreement in 2010. According to it, developers can only use the approved programming languages if they want their apps to be a part of the App Store. This was met with severe criticism, after which it was announced the agreement was reverted to its old form.

How to Become an iPhone Developer

If you have made it so far, it means that you either have app development training or want to become an iPhone developer. Here are some easy steps that will give you a little iOS training:

• Buy a Mac and that will help you to get a grasp of things a little better. You don’t have to get the latest version, a MacOS X would also do.
• Familiarize yourself with the software development and it has everything that you will need, like performance analysers, XCode, as well as interface builders.
• Get a hang of objective C as it has some scripting elements that make it easy to pick some of the languages.
• Get on with your first attempt. If you don’t know how to go about, check out the SDK as it has some sample projects that covers some bits of development.
• Become an official developer.
• Once you are done, submit your app to Apple and make sure add a description, an icon, as well as some screenshots.
• Lastly, market your app and keep updating it on regular basis.