CBT Bazar

You hear a lot about iPhone/iPad apps, and a lot of people are using them, but what you don’t hear a lot about is how those apps come about. Who are the people that create them, and how do they do it?

Apps for the iPhone or iPad and any other Smartphone or Pad device, are in some ways similar to other commercial applications, i.e. they are forms of computer code, but they are also quite different in that unlike most other code people use, apps are not generally produced by huge corporations with very deep pockets. In fact, they are quite often written by very small teams of people, and sometimes by just one person working alone.

The way it works is, each device has its own product development toolkit that is made available by the company that produces the device. So, if you are sitting around with your friends one day, and think of a killer app for the iPhone/iPad, that you are certain will make you all rich, all you have to do is go to Apple Corp’s Developer Page and buy the iOs Software Development Kit (SDK), version 4.

You’ll need a Mac computer too though, because there is no SDK available for Windows or any other platform. Also, because you’ve likely never written iOs applications, you’ll need the iOS programming Guide and some sample code. All of this is available from Apple’s site.

Then, you’ll have to get to work using Xcode and the Interface Builder; two self-contained programming applications that you use for writing custom code and then for building your user interface.

If you’re an experienced programmer, you’ll likely find writing apps relatively easy, especially if you’re familiar with the Unix operating system, the C programming language and script languages such as JAVA. On the other hand, if you’ve never written a line of code, you’ll likely find writing your app to be a pretty steep learning curve, and should probably take a programming course or two before jumping in.

So far so good, right? Unfortunately, there’s more. It’s not enough to just write an app; if you want people to buy it, you have to submit it for approval to Apple, and only then will it appear in the Apple store.

Also, if your app requires external data, you’ll need to tie into a database of some sort. Say for example, you write an app that allows users to type in their last name, and in response, they get a map of the local area with dots to indicate all of the people around them with the same last name.

This app would require a database that contains the names and addresses of pretty much everybody, everywhere. And since creating such a database yourself would likely be beyond your capabilities, your app would have to tie into an existing database that contains everyone’s name and address.

As another example, if the purpose of your app is to allow users to keep track of their meals on their weight loss plan, your app would have to either have a means for storing that information locally, or via a database that you would then have to create and maintain. Not a simple thing in anyone’s book.

So, to sum up, all those apps you see and hear about, come to exist because there are people out there who are willing to put a lot of time and hard work into something they believe in, without any guarantee of financial reward.