iOS Developer

This is the first part of a three part series on applying and interviewing for an iOS developer job. In this first part of the series, you will focus on the applying part of the equation – i.e. preparing your resume and cover letter. In this second part of the series, Ray will show you a few examples of some iOS resumes and cover letters he likes that might be useful for reference or models. In the third part of the series, you will focus on the interviewing part of the equation – i.e. what types of questions to expect and prepare for, and how to do your best in an interview. Note that none of these articles will focus on how to get the required iOS skills (although that might be a good follow-up article some day). Let’s assume you’re already a seasoned iOS developer. After all, if you’re reading this blog, that’s a good sign that honing your iOS skills is important to you! :] Also, none of these articles will focus on where to find iOS jobs (although that’s another

I read online some remarks of people claiming that the introduction of the new Swift programming language is going to remove all the barriers to entry for iOS development. Some even think that Swift is going to put every developer back at square one. I understand the excitement around a new language after 20 years of Objective-C. Although these claims might have some merits in the long term, they are at the moment not only inaccurate but completely opposite of reality. We can all agree that Swift is a big step forward in regards of iOS development and it’s going to have a big impact on how we make iOS apps. It is definitely a more modern language than Objective-C and fills the gaps left open by its ancestor. It is also true that Swift has a syntax that will be simpler for many and which might be easier for beginners to pick up. It is definitely a syntax closer to that of many other modern languages than the Objective-C one. Moreover, Swift introduces many concept tha

Recently one of my email subscribers wrote me this: What I find is that I’m learning the various steps but I do not understand the “big picture”. For me, a guideline, would be helpful. I know Swift is available but I do not even know object oriented programming. I’d really like to see a “roadmap” that says: if you know or do not know this, start here and learn this, then this, etc. He is not alone. Talking to people and reading comments online I found that many share the same feeling. There is a huge amount of information about iOS development and so many things to learn. It is easy to get lost and not know what is important to know and what should be learned first. I know that feeling myself. When I started adventuring into Mac OS X programming in 2005 (the iPhone did not exist yet) I found myself in the same situation. Back then, resources were scarcer than nowadays. I relied a lot on Apple’s documentation and started venturing into the world of Cocoa and Objectiv

After having seen in the first part of this guide the basic control structures that Objective-C inherits from C, in this second part we will have a look at how we use objects and collections in Objective-C. Method calling Let’s start with method calling, which is what confuses people the most when they approach the language. The reason for this confusion is the syntax Objective-C uses for method calling, which is different from what you usually find in the majority of languages out there. Let’s first have a look at a method without parameters. The most common way to call a method on an object in other languages, such as Java, Ruby, C#, Javascript, etc. is to use the dot notation: object.method(); Where object is an object variable and method is the name of the method we are calling. Objective-C wraps a method call inside square brackets instead: [object method ]; To find out what methods a class provides we usually look at its declaration or at the documentati

When, as a developer, you come from another language to Objective-C, you usually want to map the general concepts about programming you already know to this new language that at first might seems obscure. I remember myself being confused by the Objective-C syntax when I started learning it. What at first look might not make sense actually does a lot when you get a grasp of it and in my opinion (and the opinion of many other developers) makes the code much more readable. What at first sight might seem complicated is just something a bit different from what you are used to, thus feeling unfamiliar. This guide is intended for developers who already know object oriented programming and goes over all the concepts you need to understand in order to use the language and learn programming for iOS and OS X. It does not assume, though, that you know already C as other guides do. Many times, when people approach the language the first time, they get said to study C first.