Programming iOS 4

Part VII. Final Topics

This part of the book is a miscellany of topics that didn’t fit easily into any of the preceding chapters.

• Chapter 36 is about files. It explains how your app can store data on disk to be retrieved the next time the app runs (including both standalone files and user defaults). It also discusses sharing files with the user through iTunes and with other apps and concludes with a survey of how iOS can work with some common file formats (XML, SQLite, and image files).
• Chapter 37 introduces networking, with an emphasis on HTTP downloading of data, and giving a nod to other aspects of networks (such as Bonjour and push notifications) that you can explore independently if your app requires them.
• Chapter 38 is about threads. Making your app multithreaded (beyond the automatic threading support provided by the built-in interface widgets and their supporting frameworks) can introduce great complexity and is not a beginner topic, but you still might need to understand the basic concepts of multithreading, either in order to prevent a lengthy task from blocking user interaction with your app, or because some framework explicitly relies on it. Special attention is paid to the advantages of NSOperation and (especially) Grand Central Dispatch.
• Chapter 39 describes how iOS supports Undo in your app.
• You are now a proud graduate of this book’s school of iOS programming fundamentals. You are fully prepared to proceed independently. Chapter 40 lists additional frameworks ...