Category Archives: Objective-C

Objective-C workflow for iOS apps

Posted on March 24, 2013 by Josh Smith

This article reviews a simple, lightweight Objective-C workflow component for iOS applications. The source code and demo app can be downloaded from GitHub and freely used under the permissive MIT license. Repository: https://github.com/ijoshsmith/iOS-Workflow Workflow as a conceptual tool Workflow diagrams are often … Continue reading →

Posted in iOS 6, Objective-C | 2 Comments

Deciding between native iOS and Xamarin (MonoTouch)

Posted on January 4, 2013 by Josh Smith

An old friend of mine, who I worked with back when I was a .NET developer, emailed me recently. He was looking for some advice on which platform to use for creating iOS software, mostly focusing on native versus Xamarin … Continue reading →

Posted in MonoTouch, Objective-C | 8 Comments

Objective-C Literals for iOS in Xcode 4.4

Posted on July 29, 2012 by Josh Smith

Apple recently released Xcode 4.4, which includes several minor enhancements for iOS developers. One of those features, named Objective-C Literals, is fully supported for OS X desktop apps, but is still a work-in-progress for iOS apps. This “teaser” preview has … Continue reading →

Posted in iOS Programming for .NET Developers, Objective-C, Xcode 4 | 1 Comment

Sneak Peek: Reference vs. Pointer

Posted on June 5, 2012 by Josh Smith

It’s time to let the cat out of the bag. I’m writing a book that explains iOS programming to .NET developers! I have written seven of the twelve chapters and, I must say, it’s really coming together nicely so far. … Continue reading →

Posted in iOS Programming for .NET Developers, Objective-C | 47 Comments

Objective-C Genetic Algorithm That Solves The 8 Queens Puzzle

Posted on April 22, 2012 by Josh Smith

Introduction In my previous post I explained the basics of genetic algorithms, and provided a very simple example written in Objective-C. In this post I will dive deeper into the fascinating world of genetic algorithms and show a more sophisticated solution to … Continue reading →

Posted in Genetic Algorithms, Objective-C | 3 Comments

Simple Genetic Algorithm in Objective-C

Posted on April 8, 2012 by Josh Smith

Introduction This article explores a simple genetic algorithm I wrote in Objective-C. The purpose of this article is to introduce the basics of genetic algorithms to someone new to the topic, as well as show a fully functional example of … Continue reading →

Posted in Genetic Algorithms, Objective-C | 14 Comments

Good mobile software is frugal

Posted on March 18, 2012 by Josh Smith

All software development requires discipline. Attention to detail,  adhering to important conventions, and the willingness to do things the right way are necessary traits for any software developer worthy of the title. But if you are writing code that will … Continue reading →

Posted in Objective-C | 3 Comments

Mediator design pattern in CocoaTouch

Posted on January 17, 2011 by Josh Smith

The CocoaTouch UI framework has its own built-in implementation of the Mediator design pattern, named NSNotificationCenter. You can use an instance of the NSNotificationCenter class to broadcast notifications to any objects that are interested in that particular event. Several components in … Continue reading →

Posted in CocoaTouch, Objective-C | 7 Comments

Anonymous categories to the rescue

Posted on November 9, 2010 by Josh Smith

One of the things about Objective-C that seems a bit archaic to me is methods must be declared before they are called by other methods in the same code file. If you don’t, the compiler emits warnings. This is a … Continue reading →

Posted in Objective-C | 3 Comments

Categories in Objective-C

Posted on September 30, 2010 by Josh Smith

Objective-C has a feature called “categories” that allows you to extend the API of a type. It’s somewhat similar to extension methods in C# in that you can define methods which can be invoked on an instance of some class you … Continue reading →

Posted in Objective-C | 7 Comments