A carpenter needs his tools to build furniture; similarly, as a developer, you need to have a set of tools that allow you to work in a better and more efficient manner. However, in the analogy of the carpenter, the tools could be used to make different types of furniture. With software, it is a little different. There are plenty of tools and they are dependent on many factors, such as the operating system (Windows, Mac OS X, or Linux) and the language of choice (for example, C, C++, Python, Ruby, JavaScript, and Objective-C). This book is about Xcode, the IDE that Apple makes available to developers who want to develop for Apple devices (iPhone, iPad, Mac, and so on). In this book, we will explore working with Xcode 6.x and all the features that it offers to write code; build UI; and debug, build, and distribute your apps.

Xcode helps you to build native applications that run on and use the features of the current iOS and Mac OS. The current one as of Xcode 6.x is iOS 8 for mobile devices and Mac OS X 10.10 Yosemite for desktops. Xcode 6.x has backward compatibility for iOS 7.0 and OS X 10.9. While there is backward compatibility, new features are available mostly with the newer version or later.