I'm looking to make an app which allows you to use Swift code within the app - similar to other Swift-based learning education apps to help you learn the language.
Is there a way to use the open source Swift code, for example, in any way to understand the syntax and possibly run the code for typed-in Swift code?
An example of an app I found on the App Store which can do this is called Sedona.
From GitHub apple/swift/.../Syntax there looks to be Swift syntax APIs, presumably for use by IDEs.
Am I looking in the wrong place?
Do these types of apps make their own Swift translator?
Is there some other way this is done?
Efficiency & optimization is not a priority, however would be a benefit.
It in no way needs to include very complex Swift.
Note: This is for an iOS app only, so Terminal commands would not work.
Related
I need a way to have an iOS application that can accept a message on a device connected via USB, query a bunch of data about the device and return a response with this data.
I am brand new to iOS and swift development so I need something that is;
Simple
Uses CocoaPods (due to lack of ios support in Swift Package Manager)
NOT require distribution via the App Store (which I believe rules out using APN)
I have tried the following:
BlueSocket: https://github.com/IBM-Swift/BlueSocket
This can probably do the job but is very low level and require lots of work around handling buffer sizes, etc. So a REST solution might be a better
Kitura: https://www.kitura.io/
This seems ideal. However, it only appears to support Swift Package Manager which makes it a big PITA to implement currently (reminder; swift/ios newb here)
CoacoaHttpServer: https://github.com/robbiehanson/CocoaHTTPServer
This looks ok, however I can only find Objective-C examples. Would prefer to have something that includes solid Swift examples (also, the repo doesn't look like it's been updated since 2015)
Are there any other approaches I should consider that I haven't listed here?
You may want to check https://github.com/IBM-Swift/Kitura-HelloWorld-iOS.
I wrote a couple of blog posts about it https://developer.ibm.com/swift/2017/03/13/kitura-ios/, https://developer.ibm.com/swift/2017/12/08/kitura-ios-part2/.
Note that it is a demo repository, I do not know if IBM will support Kitura on iOS (it is supported on Linux).
I work with an App that's 100% Objective-C and I'd like to start transitioning over to include Swift. Due to the size of the codebase, it's unrealistic that I'll have a 100% Swift app anytime soon.
As soon as a swift file is added, I noticed that the app size increases because now, the app needs to the include Swift run-time.
How else does things change? As soon as you include a Swift file, what is the process that the compiler and linker undergoes to ship a binary that is now multiple language & related frameworks?
Are there any other caveats in transitioning into a mixed language world in a somewhat large codebase?
In my experience, it works surprisingly well. It is advisable however, to wait to Xcode 7 / Swift 2.0 / Objective-C with generics support as that will eliminate a round of updates, allow you to interop from Objective-C with more elegant Swift code, and eliminate the Swift RT linking concern now that they have stabilized the runtime.
Aside from that, both compilers need to run, Swift first, Objective-C second, the swiftc compiler can be pretty fast or really really slow, depending on what innocent and otherwise legal Swift code that you write (this is also true of a Swift-only app of course).
Getting started, you need to read the interop guide, learn how the bridging header works, and are then mostly on your way. I would say that having a mixed app is actually a blessing as you are not pressed to learn and do everything at once. Opinions will vary of course, but this is mine.
I need to present and open pdf documents in my app. I would like to avoid third part libraries, because of update reasons (and I couldn´t find anyone created in swift).
I have been looking at QLPreviewController, UIDocumentInteractionController and presenting the pdf in an UIWebView. All these alternatives works fine for just presenting the pdf but I can´t find any built in search. I want functionality like the iBooks app.
Any advice is appreciated!
You'll likely wont find any 3rd-party frameworks written in Swift yet, simply because as of Swift 2.2 it's not binary compatible yet, and any binary framework written in Swift would be very fragile to break with even a minor update of Xcode (and updates to the compiler, that is).
I'm working on the commercial available PSPDFKit SDK for both iOS and Android. We're actually using a lot of C++ internally since raw performance is very important and Objective-C (and for many things, also Swift) are not yet fast enough for certain tasks.
We did invest a lot of time in adopting the latest Objective-C features such as nullability and generics next to declarations such as noescape for block-based API to make our SDK great to consume from within Swift.
While a separate Swift-wrapper could offer additional convenience, you'll find it very simple to use, and we're always working to adopt more features that improve bridging as they come available - there are a few interesting things in the Swift 3 proposals.
If you do not want to go the framework route, you can use CGPDFScanner to base a custom text extraction engine on. You will need to read up on Character Map Parsing - Page 446ff and many other sections - extracting text from a PDF document is surprisingly difficult, and after much work you'll be left with individual glyph positions and need to approximate where words are and if the document uses spaces or if you need to synthesize your own to correctly extract text. It's something that just takes a lot of experimentation and approximation to get right.
I want to start developing for Mac and iPhone. I'm familiar with Objective-C a little and found it pretty complicated. Besides, I'm not sure that it would be worthwhile to learn it.
So it is possible to develop for Mac/iOS without knowing Objective-C, what programming languages do I have to use then? C++, C?
I like Scala, Java, by the way.
You can use c and c++ but you can't make any application without using objective - c. Since you need to use native app controllers and libraries.
Also in starting you find it difficult to learn obj-c because of it's syntaxes but after using them you are going to love it. So don't be scared and learn obj-c.
You can use some frameworks (e.g aapcelerator, phone gap)
but they are unable to give result like native app.
There are many frameworks you can use, like Mono where you can use C# (http://xamarin.com/monotouch) or some frameworks with HTML5 (see Creating native iOS/Android apps from HTML5)
But at the end basic understanding of objective-c and it's architecture will help you.
Why not? !!
But for iOS Native Development, you should learn objective C.
And if you want to develop using any other languages, you should use some other frameworks.
Haven't you heard about Sencha, jqueryMobile ,monotouch etc?
Once you get the hang of it Objective-c is actually quite fun.
Download some iOS samples and step through the code, that will greatly help you.
Or just create an empty project like a "Master/Detail" tableview app and see how it works.
I am just starting iOS development. I read some tutorials, watched stuff on iTunes U and wrote some sample code myself. Now I want to take the next step. I want to learn about best practices for iOS development in XCode.
Are there any well written and well organized iOS projects that one could take a look at?
(As I see it, iOS is not exactly the place for open source enthusiasts, however.)
Thanks
Mike.
I agree with several of the other answers that state that looking at many, many projects for mini-examples of what you want to do in your own app is the way to go.
However, you asked for an example of an app demonstrating best practices.
You could do worse than to read Matt Gallagher's blog, Cocoa with Love from beginning to end. However, the app example you asked for is right here.
Not only will it show a variety of techniques, some novel design and best-practices, but also he points out where he feels that he might have done something better.
It's a great read.
I would suggest the following process: (it worked for me)
Think of an advanced app. that you eventually want to be proficient enough to create.
Make a top-down problem-solving tree containing the necessary skills required to build your final app.
Use this tree to divide your final app. into 'sub apps'. Start at the bottom of the tree, find a tutorial specifically for that skill, and make a "Hello World" app. that uses that skill.
Keep progressing upwards, creating 'sub apps' as you go.
When you are finally ready to make your final app. (it will take a while), you will have a good handle on how iOS development works. It will also be a great test of your knowledge via direct application!
Getting the hang of iOS development can be tricky; it really does require a top-down approach, and every online resource I've found takes a linear one. The only way that I think a linear approach to learning iOS development would be manageable, is to take it one small task at a time.
As for specific resources, I always google "[what I want to do] iPhone SDK" and browse the tutorials and forum posts that come up.
Here are some open source iOS apps. However, they aren't very well documented and are also very advanced.
TKAWebView - A subclass of UIWebView that handles authentication and downloading.
Welcome to your Mac - An iOS app. to VNC into a PC/Mac and do some cool stuff.
InAppSettingsKit - A settings screen creator for your apps.
Good luck!
The people behind the Parse platform have made two complete projects.
For each project there is the complete source code, a tutorial and the resulting app is also available from the AppStore.
Anywall: https://parse.com/anywall
Anypic: https://parse.com/anypic
They both rely heavily on the Parse platform as the data source, but you still get a feel for an iOS project.
Molecules is a great open-source app that uses 3D OpenGL to render complex models of molecules.
Just keep coding my friend. You'll learn over a period of time. The best way to get dirty in a mud fight is to jump into it... Weird analogy but you get the point.
Maybe someday, we all will learn from you then !
Like you said there many and many source codes are available internet, but most are incomplete.
I found some Open source codes of REAL application currently available through Apple app store are given here
Free iPhone App Source Codes of real apps
and also, you can find many answers here on stackoverflow question - Are there any Open-source iPhone applications around?
You can download free IOS sample projects from http://devcodemarket.com
I realize this is an old thread but I've also been looking for good objective-c code examples recently and I just realized that TextEdit's source code is available at the Mac Developer Library webpage.
Also, here are some popular objective-c libraries that have caught my attention:
CocoaPods
AFNetworking.
you can also go through UICatalog from Developers Library and download the sample code. just google it and you will find a project containing all basics of iphone.
I don't think there is any perfect project that can demonstrate all the qualities of great code. Developers have stylistic preferences and may make mistakes. That said, you should look at a lot of different projects and try to look at the conventions used.
I'd suggest starting on GitHub. Besides for seeing code, you'll see what libraries are out there, which may help further your projects later on. Here's the Objective-C page on GitHub.
(Also, I (GitHub link) think you're wrong about iOS devs not being in favor open source. Yes, there's money to be made, but you can't sell a CSV paring library on the App Store as is.)
Have a look at https://github.com/mozilla/firefox-ios
That is Firefox for iOS, written in Swift.
Cocoacontrols has a wide range of controls written using Objective-C & Swift.
I believe these days, this is one of the most famous website for iOS Developers.
But, before you jump onto this, you have to learn Objective-C & Swift very well, so that you will understand how to use the controls in your app which makes your app smooth.