When it comes to developing native applications and games for Apple products like iPhone, iPad, Mac, Apple Watch, and Apple TV, the one and only IDE that you need to know about is Xcode. The latest version of the beast is Xcode 8, it comes packed with lot more features than its predecessor Xcode 7 and supports Swift 3.
One can learn about the basics of Xcode in few hours by following a good Xcode Tutorial or get stuck with low quality learning material and waste hours. The intent of this article is to to make it easier for everyone to find the best Xcode tutorial for easy and fast learning. Some of the Xcode tutorials and Xcode learning resources listed here are good for beginners, while others are for the most advanced developers.
Talking a bit more about Xcode: Xcode is the integrated development environment for everything Apple, and was first released by Apple, back in 2008, and as mentioned before, the current stable release of Xcode is the version 8.
Xcode 8 is one of the most powerful and feature rich IDE for Swift (2 & 3), objective-C and other Apple libraries and comes packed with everything that you need to create stunning apps for for iPhone, iPad, Mac, Apple Watch, and Apple TV.
Let us look at some of the good tutorials to get you started with Xcode, we will also cover some tutorials that provide step by step instructions to create fully functional iPhone and iPad apps using Xcode 8, Swift 3 and iOS 10.
While this article focuses more on Xcode, we have another article that exclusively talks about Swift 3 tutorials, you can check it out here at – Swift 3 Tutorials with Examples.
Intro to Xcode
This Xcode tutorial is for absolute beginners and starts with the basics. It is written by Sam Davis on the very popular website called raywenderlich.com that hosts tons of tutorials on Swift, iOS and Apple development in general.
In this tutorial Sam Davis starts of with step by step instructions to get your first OS X app to life. The first step talks about prerequisites for apps development using apple technologies. Prerequisites include a MAc with OS X, Apple ID and of course, Xcode.
Then it talks about downloading, installing and setting up Xcode for you first iOS app – Hello world. While you are working on to create your first app, author also talks about the core Xcode functionality which includes Code Editor, Interface Builder, Asset Catalogue, Debugging and Documentation.
You can get the complete tutorial here at – Xcode Tutorial for beginners
Xcode 8 Tutorial and Tour – Making iPhone Apps
This is another good tutorial for beginners, it covers the basic concepts of Xcode and provides details for creating iPhone Apps using Xcode without any coding.
The tutorial is available on codewithchris.com and is the 3rd part of the Video Series – “How to make iPhone Apps with no programming experience”. This video series targets beginners who have no programming experience and the tutorial is based on latest products of Apple i. E. Xcode 8, Swift 3 and iOS 10.
This part specifically covers details around the iOS and OSX integrated development environment (IDE) which is Xcode 8. The key topics covered in this tutorial include –
- Download and Setup of Xcode
- Explanation of Xcode interface components
- Navigation Area – Project navigator, Search navigator and issue Navigator
- Editor Area that includes Interface Builder view
- Utility Area, Debug Area and the Toolbar
- Xcode Organizer and Finally the iOS Simulator
Check out the tutorial here at – Xcode Tutorial and Tour.
Official Apple Documentation – Xcode Overview
This is the official Xcode learning guide and is best suited for those who need a comprehensive tour of the XCode integrated development environment features.
The best part about the official Xcode documentation is that it covers the depths and breadths of the tool and gets updated with the new features before anyone else does.
In my opinion, it is always good to skim through the official Xcode documentation at least once to ensure that you are not missing on anything basic.
The official XCode Documentation includes guides like Xcode essentials, The workspace window, creating apps, code writing guides, how to build user interface, adding assets to the project using XCode, running the app in simulator, how to debug, details around testing in Xcode and managing code changes etc.
What is new in Xcode – 8
This is the tutorial for you if you want to check out what is new in the latest release of Xcode, which is Xcode8. Apple has made many enhancements to its one and all integrated development environment with the release of XCode 8.
The key topics covered in this tutorial include –
- Support for Swift 3, and Swift 2 as well
- Introduction of Source Editor Extensions
- Improvements in the area of Debugging
- Auto Code Signing
- Documentation and other improvements
You can find the complete tutorial here at – What is new in Xcode 8
XCode Server Tutorial
This one goes a step beyond and doesn’t just talk about Xcode interface and code writing. The tutorial covers details of Xcode server and continuous integration, which is essential when working in teams.
This is a well described Tutorial series written by Honza Dvorsky, who covers basics of Xcode Server setup, integrations, pre build and post build scripts, certificates and provisioning profiles and few more.
Read more about the Xcode Server setup here at – Xcode server setup
Complete iOS 10 Developer Course – Paid
Udemy is one of the few websites that host best of the learning resources available in the market, but not all are free. This tutorial “Complete iOS 10 developer course” on Udemy is so very comprehensive that I couldn’t resist including this one in my list of free tutorials, though it is not.
Following this tutorial is a sure shot way to get your app on the app store faster, it uses Xcode 8 and Swift 3 to develop iOS 10 apps like Uber, Instagram & Flappy Bird. You also get to use free web hosting, books and assets for your app development.
You can enroll for the course here at – Complete iOS 10 developer course.
Xcode 8 Tutorial Tips and Tricks – Video
If you like watching videos for learning rather than reading long texts, then this is the right tutorial for you.
This is the tutorial provided by DevSlopes and talks about Xcode 8 features like hot keys, code snippets and other great tips and tricks for iOS 10 development.
Check this one out here at : Xcode 8 – Tips and Tricks Video.
Xcode and iOS Development Learning Path
Coming back to paid Xcode tutorials, Lynda is another website that offers comprehensive learning courses for everything iOS development. You need to join their membership program to access the courses but can try out the free trial for 10 days before making any payment.
You can either go for the Xcode Tutorials and learn more about Xcode, interface development and how to use and work with Xcode in general by following https://www.lynda.com/Xcode-training-tutorials/451-0.html.
Or, you can opt for learning path, a learning path offers step by step video tutorials to make you a complete iOS 10 developer and includes tutorials on Xcode, Swift, app development in general, app store listings and everything else. You can check out learning path for iOS development here at – iOS development learning path
Create a basic music player in Xcode 8
This is another great video tutorial created by Sebastian Henry and is available on YouTube. In this tutorial you learn how to make an audio player in Xcode 8 using the latest and the greatest Swift 3.0. You watch the 8 minutes tutorial and get enlightened to create your own iOS app.
Check out the video tutorial here at – Xcode video tutorial
Getting Started with XCode Development
This is one of the most comprehensive learning resources for everything Xcode. You get to know about everything from setting up your system, installation and configuration of Xcode, building your first app – hello world, understanding layouts, prototypes and everything that you need to know for building a fully functional production ready app for apple products.
Here is the link to the tutorial – Getting started with Xcode development
Conclusion
Learning XCode is more or less a necessity to make a mark in the Apple ecosystem and fortunately there is no dearth of quality tutorials to learn Xcode.
The growth of Apple ecosystem that includes application development for iPhone, iPad, Mac, Apple Watch, and Apple TV in the recent times is the biggest driver for availability of excellent Xcode learning resources. The official Apple documentation as well as other online Xcode Tutorials including video tutorials are available for beginners, intermediate level developers as well as for experts.
Every tutorial covered in this article attempts to teach something about Xcode and iOS development using Swift and Objective-c in general. The key idea is to learn about Xcode and Apple ecosystem by spending minimum effort and time, and for that, selection of right tutorial or learning resource upfront is the key.
If you know of some great Xcode Tutorial, do share with our readers via comments. Cheers!
