In this lesson, we will be going to study about:
- IOS, its history, its architecture.
- pre-requisite for IOS app development
- IOS SDK
- Smartfeatures of IOS Platform
- Architecture layer description.
It’s an Apple operating system for mobile devices. Devices such as iPhone, iPod and iPad all comes with IOS. Latest version of IOS is IOS 8. It is provided with an UNIX core. Its supportive programing language are Objective-c, C, C++, Swift. Apps are predominantly developed by using Objective-c.
History of IOS
Apple released its first iPhone in 2008. Followed this Apple opened up the application development platform for developer by releasing Developer Software development kit. It also provides an eco-system for the developer to create and distribute the application.
Lower layer provides the fundamental service on which all applications rely on. Higher level layer provides a sophisticated graphics and interface related services. Apple delivers most of its system interfaces in special package called as ‘Framework’.
It’s a directory which contains a dynamic shared library called as ‘.afile’, related sources such as header files, images and helper apps which are needed to support the library.
Each layer contains a set of Framework which is uuilised by the developer to build the applications.
Pre-requisite for IOS app development
You can easily download and Install the IOS SDK from Apple development web site, which is http://developer.apple.com/devcenter/ios/index.action.
IOS SDK or IPhone SDK
The iOS SDK (Software Development Kit) is a software development kit which is developed by Apple Inc. and is initially released in February 2008 to develop native applications for iOS.
It allows people to write applications for both the iPhone and the iPod Touch. The iPhone SDK includes the Xcode IDE, Instruments, iPhone simulator, frameworks and samples, compilers, Shark analysis tool, and more.
In order to download the iPhone SDK, you must have an Apple ID. Developers have long insisted that by providing a development platform for iPhone is one way that Apple can work towards preventing people from hacking the operating system used by the device, which is a stripped down version of Apple’s own OS X operating system.
On October 17, 2007, in an open letter posted to Apple’s “Hot News” weblog, Steve Jobs announced that a software development kit would made be available to third-party developers in February 2008.
The SDK was released on March 6, 2008, and allows developers to make applications for the iPhone and iPod Touch, as well as test them in an “iPhone simulator”.
Smart features of IOS Platform
- Multitasking: More than one app can be open at a time.
- Passbook: simplest way for users to store all their passes in one place.
- Social media: Provide access to Facebook, twitter.
- ICloud: iCloud currently stores the last 1,000 photos from your iOS devices for free. In-App Purchase
- Game Centre: It enables users to track its best scores on a leader board, compare their achievements, invite friends to play a game, and start a multiplayer game through auto-matching.