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The Mac-Only Zone
Week 2 of documenting my app development learning journey (Mar 1 - Feb 29)
Brandon Kim
March 16, 2025
Last week…
The main editor for developing iOS apps is called Xcode
I learned the basics of Xcode’s layout
I discovered the functionality of an API, and what it does for programs and applications.
Wednesday, March 6th
After taking a quiz, some holes in my knowledge were covered:
Xcode supports more than just Swift in terms of coding languages. It also supports languages like Objective-C (although old), C++, and Java, with some difficulty.
Xcode also has libraries like Python
Bundles
Bundle.mainare a class in iOS development that simplify organization by acting as “directories” for resources such as sounds and images used by an app, framework, or plug-in.
Also, further learning led me to this unfortunate conclusion, that if I were to continue to do iOS development, I would have to get some kind of MacBook for my own.
For context, I don’t own a Mac myself, but my parents use one for work, and is therefore used very often, which means I can’t work on learning app development as much as I would like to.
Anyhow, I did spot a deal on Treecard that was offering a refurbished MacBook Air for $150; I’ll see if it’s legit after some more research.
Thursday, March 7th
So, there is good news. After discussing it with my parents, it turns out my mom has an old Mac I can use! The catch is, now I have to wait for her to find it, and with her working almost all-day at her computer, it doesn’t seem like that day will happen soon…
Accomplishments
I learned about how bundles in Xcode can be similar to libraries
Also, Xcode has grown to adopt a lot more programming languages and frameworks, which shows how much it has changed since its release (2014 at WWDC)
I managed to get ahold of my mom’s old Mac, so I don’t need to buy a Mac myself to use Xcode!
