1. Introducing the iOS SDK

The iOS family includes the iPhone, the iPad, and the iPod touch. These devices offer innovative mobile platforms that are a joy to program. They are the founding members of Apple’s family of pocket-based computing devices. Despite their relatively diminutive proportions compared to desktop systems, they run a first-class version of OS X with a rich and varied SDK that enables you to design, implement, and realize a wide range of applications. For your projects, you can take advantage of iOS’s multitouch interface and powerful onboard features using Xcode, Apple’s integrated design environment. In this chapter, you discover the components of the SDK and explore the product it creates: the iPhone application. You learn about Apple’s various iPhone developer programs and how you can join. You explore the iPhone application-design philosophy and see how applications are put together. Finally, you read about setting up your program credentials so you can put that philosophy to use and start programming.