Mobile app development

 

App Development Overview

Mobile apps are developed for a certain platform, and the two most popular platforms today are iOS and Android.

The iOS platform powers apps built for iPhone and iPad. To develop an app for iPhone or iPad, you need to use the Objective-C coding language and the Cocoa framework. You also need to use an IDE (integrated development environment) called Xcode. Note that Xcode only runs on the Mac, so you will need a Mac to make an iOS app.

Android apps are developed with the Java coding language and the Android Software Development Kit, which runs on Mac, PC or Linux. You also need to use an IDE such as Eclipse.

There are other mobile platforms such as Windows Phone, but iOS and Android are definitely the most popular. Most training focuses on these platforms.

Ways to Learn App Development

If you want to develop iPhone and iPad apps, one place where you can learn is the iOS Dev Center. This is a free online resource provided by Apple, which contains starter guides, tutorials, videos and documentation.

For Android app development, the equivalent resource is the Android Developers Training. This training is a series of articles that walks you through how to make your first app, starting with the basics.

In addition to these official resources, you may also want to try other training. You may find that books and online training are more digestible and understandable.