Although it is not a laptop you should also look at the Mac-mini, the $499 cost is much lower than a laptop. I am using a Mac-mini for xcode development and use a Mac-pro for my daily work. Having a separate development platform lets me always keep it clean of personal accounts and data and apps.

Learn SwiftUI and take your iOS Development to the Next LevelSwiftUI Essentials – iOS Edition book is now available in Print ($37.99) and eBook ($29.99) editions.iPad apps are developed using the iOS SDK in conjunction with Apple’s Xcode 4.x development environment. The iOS SDK contains the development frameworks that will be outlined in iOS 6 Architecture and SDK Frameworks. Xcode 4.x is an integrated development environment (IDE) within which you will code, compile, test and debug your iOS iPad applications. The Xcode environment also includes a feature called Interface Builder which enables you to graphically design the user interface of your application using the components provided by the UIKit framework.In this chapter we will cover the steps involved in installing both Xcode and the iOS 6 SDK on Mac OS X. Identifying if you have an Intel or PowerPC based MacOnly Intel based Mac OS X systems can be used to develop applications for iOS.

If you have an older, PowerPC based Mac then you will need to purchase a new system before you can begin your iPad app development project. If you are unsure of the processor type inside your Mac, you can find this information by clicking on the Apple menu in the top left hand corner of the screen and selecting the About This Mac option from the menu. In the resulting dialog check the Processor line. Figure 4 1 illustrates the results obtained on an Intel based system.Figure 4-1If the dialog on your Mac does not reflect the presence of an Intel based processor then your current system is, sadly, unsuitable as a platform for iPad iOS app development.In addition, the iOS 6 SDK with Xcode 4.5 environment requires that the version of Mac OS X running on the system be version 10.7.4 or later.

Martian child book. That's the premise behind MARTIAN CHILD, director Menno Meyjes' film based on David Gerrold's novella. Abandoned by his parents, Dennis is far more distressed than his peers. The dramedy follows what happens when successful sci-fi writer David Gordon , still reeling two years after his wife's death, adopts a troubled boy named Dennis (a heart-tugging Bobby Coleman).

If the “About This Mac” dialog does not indicate that Mac OS X 10.7.4 or later is running, click on the Software Update button to download and install the appropriate operating system upgrades. Starting XcodeHaving successfully installed the SDK and Xcode, the next step is to launch it so that we can write and then create a sample iPad application. To start up Xcode, open the Finder and search for Xcode. Since you will be making frequent use of this tool take this opportunity to drag and drop it into your dock for easier access in the future. Click on the Xcode icon in the dock to launch the tool.Once Xcode has loaded, and assuming this is the first time you have used Xcode on this system, you will be presented with the Welcome screen from which you are ready to proceed:Figure 4-2Having installed the iOS 6 SDK and successfully launched Xcode we can now look at.