The Xcode developer toolset provides everything you need to create great apps for Mac, iPhone, iPad, and iPod touch. It’s tightly integrated with the Cocoa and Cocoa Touch frameworks, creating a productive and intuitive development environment that is powerful enough to be used by Apple to produce OS X and iOS.
Xcode IDE
Designed from the ground up to take advantage of the newest Apple technologies, Xcode integrates all the tools you need. The unified interface smoothly transitions from composing source code, to debugging, and even to designing your next stunning user interface, all within the same window.
The Xcode workspace keeps you focused while you work. As you type, Live Issues will immediately alert you to coding mistakes, displaying a message bubble beside your code for more detail. Hit the Run button to launch your Mac app, or install the app on your device, and immediately start debugging. Hover the mouse pointer above a variable to inspect its value at runtime, never having lost your place in the editor.
Enable features such as iCloud or Game Center and Xcode automatically generates the provisioning profile for you. When ready, Xcode will security sign your app and directly submit it to the App Store. Learn more about what’s new in Xcode
Apple LLVM Compiler
Apple’s next generation compiler technology, the Apple LLVM compiler, does more than compile code. Apple LLVM technology is integrated into the entire development experience. The same parser used to build C/C++ and Objective-C code powers Xcode’s indexing engine, providing relevant code completions and even related documentation. As you work, Apple LLVM is constantly evaluating what you type, identifying coding mistakes shown as Live Issues, and thinking ahead for ways to Fix-it for you. Other compilers can tell you what is wrong — Apple LLVM can make it right.
Instruments for Performance and Behavior Analysis
A world-class OS X or iOS application provides a great user experience, and that means more than beautiful images and intuitive design. Great applications must feel fast, respond quickly, and impress with smooth animations. To help make your app great, the Xcode toolset includes Instruments, a truly unique application that helps you track down performance bottlenecks in your OS X and iOS apps.
Instruments collects data such as disk, memory, energy, or CPU usage in real time, either on your Mac or from a connected iPhone. The collected data is graphically displayed as tracks over time, making it easy to pinpoint problem areas, then drill down to the offending lines of code. Instruments helps guarantee your gorgeous user interface will be accompanied by equally impressive responsiveness.
Testing and Continuous Integration
Seasoned developers know that application quality is a direct result of comprehensive testing. Xcode’s Test Navigator makes it easy to add or edit tests, and execute them one a time or as a group. The XCTest framework enables you to write tests that run on Mac, iPhone, iPad, or iOS Simulator, from within Xcode or the command line.
Once you have a test harness created, Xcode can configure a continuous integration ‘bot’ on any Mac in your network running OS X Server. The Xcode bot on the remote Mac will perform an integration - build, analyze, test, and archive your app — when anyone on your team commits to source control, or at a defined interval.
iOS Simulator
The iOS Simulator runs your application in much the same way as an actual iOS device. Because it is quick to launch and debug, the iOS Simulator makes for a perfect test bed to make sure your user interface works the way you intend, your network calls are correct, and that the interface properly rotates with an orientation change. You can even simulate touch gestures by using the mouse. The iOS Simulator is a great time saver.
