How to Build an iPhone App

Home

Blog

Posted: 16 Mar 2013

Updated: 2015/01/14

Today, at lunch, someone said to me, "It's cool that you can build iPhone apps."

Well, they can too. They just didn't realize it. And, if they can do it, then so can you! :-)

But, you already know that. In case you forgot, however, building an iPhone app is a great way to remind yourself that, yes, you can!

ALL ACHIEVEMENT, ALL EARNED RICHES, HAVE THEIR BEGINNING IN AN IDEA!

— Napoleon Hill, Think & Grow Rich

First, start with an idea for an iPhone app. For example, let's build a simple iPhone app called VenmoTeam that displays information about the Venmo team .

Let's have it list the names of the Venmo team members in a table view and let you tap on each row to see more info about each person. (For example, see the All Contacts page of the iPhone's Contacts app or the Friends page of Facebook's iPhone app.)

Next, build it! Hands-on experience, i.e., learning as you go, is golden!

John Wanamaker once told me that what little schooling he had, he acquired in very much the same manner as a modern locomotive takes on water, by "scooping it up as it runs."

Get a new Mac running the latest version of OS X , turn it on, and connect it to the Internet . Experienced software engineers use Macs because they're the best for programming. Like my dad would say, always get the best equipment. It's worth it.

Download, install, and open the latest version of Xcode .

Notes: If you have how-to questions google them first. If that fails, ask on Stack Overflow . Responses are often immediate. I also recommend reviewing the Recommended Resources below.

Create a New Project in Xcode Choose the "Master-Detail Application" template under iOS > Application. Options Product Name: VenmoTeam Organization Name: Venmo Inc. Company Identifier: com.venmo Language: Swift Devices: iPhone Uncheck "Use Core Data" Check "Create Git repository on My Mac" Save the project, e.g., to ~/Projects .

Create a New Project in Xcode

Choose the "Master-Detail Application" template under iOS > Application.

Options Product Name: VenmoTeam Organization Name: Venmo Inc. Company Identifier: com.venmo Language: Swift Devices: iPhone Uncheck "Use Core Data"

Options

Product Name: VenmoTeam Organization Name: Venmo Inc. Company Identifier: com.venmo Language: Swift Devices: iPhone Uncheck "Use Core Data"

Check "Create Git repository on My Mac" Save the project, e.g., to ~/Projects .

Commit Changes Housekeeping Add .gitignore Create a file named .gitignore with the text: .DS_Store xcuserdata xcshareddata Add your changes git add -A Commit your added changes git commit -m 'Add .gitignore' Add README Create a file named README.md with the Markdown : # Venmo Team This iPhone app displays the information about the [Venmo team][8]. [1]: https://venmo.com/team/ Add your changes git add -A Commit your added changes git commit -m 'Add README' Add MembersViewController Exercise for the reader Add MemberViewController Exercise for the reader

Commit Changes

Housekeeping Add .gitignore Create a file named .gitignore with the text: .DS_Store xcuserdata xcshareddata Add your changes git add -A Commit your added changes git commit -m 'Add .gitignore' Add README Create a file named README.md with the Markdown : # Venmo Team This iPhone app displays the information about the [Venmo team][8]. [1]: https://venmo.com/team/ Add your changes git add -A Commit your added changes git commit -m 'Add README'

Housekeeping

Add .gitignore Create a file named .gitignore with the text: .DS_Store xcuserdata xcshareddata Add your changes git add -A Commit your added changes git commit -m 'Add .gitignore'

Add .gitignore

Create a file named .gitignore with the text: .DS_Store xcuserdata xcshareddata

Create a file named .gitignore with the text:

Add your changes git add -A

Add your changes

Commit your added changes git commit -m 'Add .gitignore'

Commit your added changes

Add README Create a file named README.md with the Markdown : # Venmo Team This iPhone app displays the information about the [Venmo team][8]. [1]: https://venmo.com/team/ Add your changes git add -A Commit your added changes git commit -m 'Add README'

Add README

Create a file named README.md with the Markdown : # Venmo Team This iPhone app displays the information about the [Venmo team][8]. [1]: https://venmo.com/team/

Create a file named README.md with the Markdown :

Commit your added changes git commit -m 'Add README'

Add MembersViewController Exercise for the reader

Add MembersViewController

Exercise for the reader

Add MemberViewController Exercise for the reader

Add MemberViewController

Publish your code to GitHub Sign up for GitHub Create a new GitHub repository Push your code

Publish your code to GitHub

Sign up for GitHub

Create a new GitHub repository

Push your code

Programmatically scrape the pertinent data off of the Venmo Team webpage Hint: Try Nokogiri .

Programmatically scrape the pertinent data off of the Venmo Team webpage

Hint: Try Nokogiri .

Serve information from a server Hint: Try Parse or Heroku & Node.js to serve hard-coded JSON .

Serve information from a server

Hint: Try Parse or Heroku & Node.js to serve hard-coded JSON .

Anything else you want

shirab/VenmoTeam

Pro Git Book

In Terminal, run git help <command> , e.g., git help log , for more information on a command.

Swift (successor to Objective-C) LearnSwift.tips RunSwift: Learn

Swift (successor to Objective-C)

LearnSwift.tips

RunSwift: Learn

Xcode Documentation In Xcode, go to Help > Documentation and API Reference (Sift-Command-0). Here, you can find API documentation, guides like "Table View Programming Guide for iOS," and even sample code.

Xcode Documentation

In Xcode, go to Help > Documentation and API Reference (Sift-Command-0).

Here, you can find API documentation, guides like "Table View Programming Guide for iOS," and even sample code.

Development Videos

NSScreenCast

Conferences

04 Jan 2015 » Publish-Email Feature Idea

05 Jun 2014 » Gratitude

16 Mar 2014 » Learn to Code