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iOS Programming iOS apps on Windows?
- Thread starter 1nvictus
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iOS apps are build with Xcode, which runs on a Mac only. If you want OS X as your main OS on your self-build PC, you have to make a hackintosh. Basically, you'll need the right hardware and hack os x onto it. Lifehacker has a great up to date guide on building your hackintosh:
http://lifehacker.com/5841604/the-always-up+to+date-guide-to-building-a-hackintosh
When you have done that, you can install windows via bootcamp. A tech youtuber I watch also made a dual-booting hackintosh recently:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iwaW6HR9dw4
Hope this helps
http://lifehacker.com/5841604/the-always-up+to+date-guide-to-building-a-hackintosh
When you have done that, you can install windows via bootcamp. A tech youtuber I watch also made a dual-booting hackintosh recently:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iwaW6HR9dw4
Hope this helps
This is certainly an option. But if you want to run Xcode, you'll need to boot into OS X in order to do so.
You can purchase Mac OS X and install it to a Windows machine via a virtual machine software package. That's how I made my first app, and it worked perfectly fine as far as developing and submitting to the App Store. However, my laptop was a bit old and the VM Workstation was very laggy. I didn't like it.
I've since purchased a MacBook Air for development and I am so glad I did. It's much faster, and the multi-touch trackpad is just plain awesome. Now I have Windows installed via VirtualBox but I never use it. I did not use Boot Camp although it is most certainly an option.
I am still more proficient with Windows (since I've been using it for almost 20 years), but Mac is quite nice due to Apple's hardware (specifically the multi-touch trackpad like I mentioned).
Although I would get an i5 or i7 model rather than the older Core 2 Duo.
Mac OS 10.7 and 10.8 don't run very well on Core 2 Duo machines. (in contrast, 10.6.8 runs beautifully)
At work, we program applications on windows machines, we never use a mac. However our applications have to be cross platform, so we use phonegap/cordova.
We have developed our own build farm now, however before that we were using feed henry and adobe phonegap build. These are good solutions to build your app and worth a look. However the phonegap/ cordova solution is only good for a certain type of application, if your looking at games or resource intensive applications then xcode is a must and thus you need a mac.
I have used a couple of hackintosh's and had a mixed experience. For all the effort and hard work, its a lot easier just to invest in a mac.
We have developed our own build farm now, however before that we were using feed henry and adobe phonegap build. These are good solutions to build your app and worth a look. However the phonegap/ cordova solution is only good for a certain type of application, if your looking at games or resource intensive applications then xcode is a must and thus you need a mac.
I have used a couple of hackintosh's and had a mixed experience. For all the effort and hard work, its a lot easier just to invest in a mac.
I know of some people using these, and I hear of some smaller dev suites like Drona improving over phonegap - Do checkout and share.
This is just a workaround, not a true solution and does not involve running/submitting apps.
I use Visual Studio Code and Atom Text Editor to make scripts when I don't have a Mac nearby. They are available for all platforms, Windows included. If you know someone with Xcode you can ask for a copy of ViewController.swift and AppDelegate.swift (or snag from github) to give you a guideline for how you should layout your file. You can remove all the code in them so it's just class to create a Cocoa Touch class and use it as a template for basic class files. Code completion isn't there but at least it will give you syntax highlighting. If you want a playground you can get Ubuntu 14.04 or 15.10 and install clang with Swift there and use the compiler to run the code.
Although it's not what you were looking for it's at least something to check your code for learning/testing purposes.
I use Visual Studio Code and Atom Text Editor to make scripts when I don't have a Mac nearby. They are available for all platforms, Windows included. If you know someone with Xcode you can ask for a copy of ViewController.swift and AppDelegate.swift (or snag from github) to give you a guideline for how you should layout your file. You can remove all the code in them so it's just class to create a Cocoa Touch class and use it as a template for basic class files. Code completion isn't there but at least it will give you syntax highlighting. If you want a playground you can get Ubuntu 14.04 or 15.10 and install clang with Swift there and use the compiler to run the code.
Although it's not what you were looking for it's at least something to check your code for learning/testing purposes.
Do elaborate more on this pathway? Can this be a proper Dev Env without needing Mac/ Mac OSX on a VM?
You can run Swift on Ubuntu 14.04 and Ubuntu 15.10 (no support for 16.04 as of this writing) Go to Swift.org and follow the instructions. If you are looking for an IDE, there isn't one, however you can hack one up using Atom as described in this article. It will allow you to build and run (perhaps distribute to other Linux platforms) Swift applications but that's it. It is not a way for you to submit applications to the App Store, for now it's mostly just a way to sharpen your skills with Swift without a Mac/OS X VM. The latest version available is 2.2.1.
I could elaborate for hours on this but I think you'll find all the information already written in the two links I shared. No sense in making you read it twice.
1) Install Ubuntu 14.04 or Ubuntu 15.10
2) Download Swift from here - https://swift.org/download/
3) Read up on how to install it for your platform under Getting Started > Installing Swift - https://swift.org/getting-started/#installing-swift
4) Make a decision, use the REPL that comes with it, or go here and follow the instructions - https://medium.com/@Aciid/hacking-a...runs-on-linux-and-mac-c7d9520a0fac#.7qzndp63t
5) Learn/Start using Swift.
Swift.org includes some of the basics from the Swift book, or you can browse the Swift 2.2 book at developer.apple.com for more information.
Like I said, you won't be able to build iOS apps, but you will be able to build apps that run on Linux and Mac. You can import Glibc or Darwin depending on where (Linux/Mac respectively) the application will run.
If you're serious about writing apps for iOS, just get a mac or install a Hackintosh partition on your PC.
Personally, I wanted a computer that was more powerful than what Apple sells, so I built my own hackintosh. It's pretty easy and it runs OS X natively, and is every bit as stable as a Mac (and more powerful than any Mac you can get in the Apple store).
Personally, I wanted a computer that was more powerful than what Apple sells, so I built my own hackintosh. It's pretty easy and it runs OS X natively, and is every bit as stable as a Mac (and more powerful than any Mac you can get in the Apple store).
