The Apple developer toolset is a robust set of tools with a host of utilities to assist you in the software development process. The toolset includes these IDEs (integrated development environments):
Xcode. The Xcode IDE integrates most of the tools you use for day-to-day development into a single customizable interface.
Dashcode. The Dashcode IDE provides all the tools you need to develop widgets and web applications.
In addition to these IDEs, the Apple developer toolset also provides a number of other applications and facilities to help you design, modify, and tune your code. Interface Builder helps you design graphical user interfaces. Performance tools, such as Instruments and Shark, help you identify and eliminate bottlenecks in your code.
To familiarize yourself with Xcode-based development, consult these documents:
A Tour of Xcode provides a hands-on introduction to the Xcode IDE.
Xcode Design Tools for Class Modeling shows how to create class hierarchies graphically, helping you to design and understand your code at a high level.
The following documents provide detailed information about the major Apple developer tools:
Xcode Workspace Guide shows how to configure Xcode to create a comfortable development environment.
Xcode Project Management Guide describes how to perform the most common development tasks.
Interface Builder User Guide shows how to visually design your user interfaces.
Dashcode User Guide describes how to use the Dashcode IDE to develop widgets and web applications.
Performance Overview introduces performance analysis, and provides guidance for gathering and analyzing performance data, and addressing performance problems.
Instruments User Guide explains how to use Instruments to view and analyze your application’s performance.
Shark User Guide provides detailed information about performing low-level performance analysis.
Software Delivery Guide describes Apple’s software-delivery mechanisms and helps you choose the best one for your product.
The Tools & Languages page in the Reference Library contains plenty more resources that make your job easier. To narrow the list of resources, you can set filters to focus on specific resource types (such as guides or sample code) or on particular topics (such as IDEs or languages).
Last updated: 2009-05-28