What this book covers
Chapter 1, What’s New in iOS 18, provides an overview of iOS 18 and covers the SDK’s changes and new capabilities. It also discusses the iOS 18 approach and the different trends.
Chapter 2, Simplifying Our Entities with SwiftData, covers a new framework from Apple that replaces Core Data for having persistent storage. This chapter covers everything from setup, performing operations, queries, and migration.
Chapter 3, Understanding SwiftUI Observation, provides an overview of a critical aspect of SwiftUI. This chapter discusses Apple’s new observation framework, restructures our understanding of the different property wrappers’ roles, and dives deep into how they work underneath.
Chapter 4, Advanced Navigation with SwiftUI, covers another massive topic in iOS. It discusses the complexity of SwiftUI navigation and provides real-world examples and patterns for handling it.
Chapter 5, Enhancing iOS Applications with WidgetKit, explains the idea of widgets; covers how to add, maintain, and design widgets; and covers the new capabilities of widgets, such as interactions and control widgets in iOS 18.
Chapter 6, SwiftUI Animations and SF Symbols, will help our app be more delightful and engaging. We will understand the importance of animations and their concept in SwiftUI, perform basic animations, and animate SF Symbols.
Chapter 7, Improving Feature Exploration with TipKit, discusses an interesting SDK that bridges the gap between the developer and product perspectives. We will learn how to add tips to our app, design them, and control their appearance rules.
Chapter 8, Connecting and Fetching Data from the Network, touches on one of the most essential topics in iOS: retrieving data from the network. We will understand how to handle HTTP requests and connect the Combine framework to our flows.
Chapter 9, Creating Dynamic Graphs with Swift Charts, is the most colorful chapter in this book. We will learn about the different types of charts available, create different charts, and even implement user interactions so our users can gain even more value.
Chapter 10, Swift Macros, is an advanced chapter that covers a complex yet powerful topic. This chapter dives into the SwiftSyntax framework, which stands behind Swift Macros and helps us add and test our first Swift Macro. This topic becomes crucial as many frameworks’ APIs are based on Swift Macros.
Chapter 11, Creating Pipelines with Combine, covers the fundamental concepts of declarative programming. The chapter discusses the Combine framework basics, delving into the different Combine components such as publishers, subscribers, and operators, and also provides tools to integrate Combine into real-life flows.
Chapter 12, Being Smart with Apple Intelligence and ML, explores the fascinating world of machine learning. We will review the basics of machine learning and AI and try the built-in machine learning frameworks in iOS, such as NLP, vision, and sound analysis. Not only that, the chapter also explains how to train our own model and use it in our apps.
Chapter 13, Exposing Your App to Siri with App Intents, takes our existing apps and exposes their capabilities, such as actions and contents, to Siri. This chapter provides a great way to prepare our apps for the AI era.
Chapter 14, Improving the App Quality with Swift Testing, touches on a critical but unpopular topic in iOS development. The new Swift Testing frameworks make testing more straightforward and more natural. We will set up a testing target, write our first test function, and understand how to manage the different test plans, suites, and configurations.
Chapter 15, Exploring Architectures for iOS, aims to explain the different architectural concepts and help you choose an exemplary architecture that can balance simplicity, scale, and maintainability over time. There’s no point in having an excellent idea for a room if you don’t know how to build your house, right?
