What are the first things people do when starting a new iOS project?

Question

Hello, world! I recently started diving into iOS development and am happy to announce my first free app has been approved by the App Store (don't worry, I won't spam it on here)! Now that I feel more comfortable with building iOS apps, I'd like to begin building out some ideas I have for more advanced, paid apps. As such, I need to continue on my journey of knowledge and was wondering what are some common things that developers do when starting a new iOS project? I ask because they might be things I should consider doing as well.

1. What development-specific things do you do before you even launch XCode and click the "New Project" button (not including pre-development type stuff like sketching UI mockups and learning new APIs, etc.)?
2. What things do you do soon after you create a "New Project" in XCode (i.e. import specific libraries or templates, setup various tests, remove unnecessary code or files, add specific code or files, etc.)?

Thanks in advance for your wisdom!

Answer 1

• I always make sure I have a repository up offsite.
• I used to use a script (from Marcus Zarra maybe?) to back up dSYM files that were generated, but the Build and Archive option works well for that.
• I check off Run Static Analyzer in the debug build configuration.

That's all I can think of right now.

Answer 2

First thing is to set up Git or Mercurial repository, both local and remote. (I tend to switch back and forth between laptop and desktop during development, so having a remote repository to sync with is essential.)

After creating the project, I set up a unit testing framework: http://blog.carbonfive.com/2009/02/testing/iphone-unit-testing-toolkit

The last thing I do before getting started is go through and delete all those annoying TODO comments and commented-out methods.

---

FWIW, here is what my standard .gitignore file looks like when I set up a Git repository for an Xcode project:

CVS
.svn
.hg
build
*.pbxuser
*.perspectivev3
.DS_Store
*~

Answer 3

iPhone isn't that different from any other platform -

• some variety of statement of work
• mock up some screens (by hand, in a little notebook I keep around all the time)
• learn the parts of iOS I don't know well enough yet so that I can implement them (many times, with tiny little sample projects)
• work on the screens (note that this requires working on the code first if you want to connect to your outlets, etc)
• flesh out the source

The last step is truly agile - tiny bits of functionality, built upon a tiny bit more, built upon a tiny bit more, never breaking the core system

Answer 4

A few things to consider doing:

1. For a Paid app, survey the market, the needs, the competition, and try to describe the target customer base.

Start a living text document with a goal statement and a planning list of tasks, sub-goals, tests, etc.

Pick out a project name, a Product name and a Bundle Identifier for the project (so you don't end up with too much random-named stuff in your build directories and on your devices.)

2. Set the version number to something really low, such as 0.0.1.

Pick out a template and make sure it builds. That way you'll know when you've created or added something that won't build.