top | item 7148286

What's in my iOS toolbox?

159 points| kumarski | 12 years ago |edsancha.com

35 comments

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[+] austinl|12 years ago|reply
I'd recommend http://www.objc.io/ under Continuous Learning. http://www.mobile-patterns.com/ is also good for design/inspiration, curated by a former Foursquare designer
[+] muzzamike|12 years ago|reply
I love how deep objc.io dives. They'll present long essays on topics which normally get glossed over in a sentence or two. Particularly useful are their thoughts on the state of objective c design patterns (quite a volatile topic since the release of iOS).
[+] edsancha|12 years ago|reply
I forgot http://www.objc.io/ in my first draft... quickly added it later. Mobile patterns seems similar to pttrns and looks good to... Thanks !
[+] rismay|12 years ago|reply
Yeees, the objc.io guys are awesome.
[+] jbrooksuk|12 years ago|reply
There is my day gone... Thanks for the great resource!
[+] emp|12 years ago|reply
http://www.jetbrains.com/objc/ AppCode, the IDE that is an extension of my brain. Wonderful inspection abilities at breakpoints. Superlative refactoring and completion. And so very much more.

http://injectionforxcode.com Injection for XCode and AppCode for hot code injection so that I launch the simulator once and code interactively over many, many changes.

https://github.com/robertwijas/UISS UISS so I can interactively configure appearance proxies.

Slowly but surely, I will live like in Smalltalk.

[+] zw|12 years ago|reply
I rely on AppCode's tools often, but I can't get past the icky-slow-Java-app feeling for everyday use. Do you just put up with it or is there a "Don't feel slow" checkbox I'm missing?
[+] frenger|12 years ago|reply
I feel way faster using appcode - their refactoring is so powerful.
[+] conradev|12 years ago|reply
This is a great list! Here are some tools that I have also found useful that I don't see on the list:

Dash[1] - Quickly check documentation (like, really quickly)

objc.io[2] - Great reading on iOS and OS X APIs

HockeyApp[3] - Service similar to Testflight

https://itunes.apple.com/app/dash-docs-snippets/id458034879?..., http://www.objc.io/, http://hockeyapp.net/

[+] ZanderEarth32|12 years ago|reply
I've been meeting to get Dash after hearing about it on a recent podcast (can't remember which one though). Assuming since it's in your "toolbox" you enjoy using it?
[+] javienegas|12 years ago|reply
Very useful post for my daily iOS development.

I would add objc.io as a source of continuous learning.

[+] coldcode|12 years ago|reply
Pixelmator instead of Photoshop for me.
[+] freshyill|12 years ago|reply
Pixelmator and Sketch are a fantastic combination to replace almost everything I'd ever do with Adobe CS.

Sketch is also so much easier to get nice results out of than Illustrator.

I love Pixelmator, but its biggest shortcoming is the complete lack of palette management, especially if you pick up and move between different monitor setups frequently. They need to snap to each other and the sides. They just end up everywhere, including on top of each other. I can never find the ones I need because they're always piling up and changing sizes and locations.

[+] edsancha|12 years ago|reply
Thanks everyone for the feedback!

I must say that the list wasn't a full list of resources but the ones that I normally use. There are a lot of useful tools and resources most of the tasks can be done by several apps. The point was giving other people a starting point and getting feedback in new apps.

For example, I've been using PS and I've never liked GIMP ... not sure why. But hearing suggestions, like Sketch and Pixelmator, is motivating to start using them.

Another point is price (not value). There're a lot of tools that I find great but expensive for a single developer. I don't say that I wouldn't use them but... the post was getting super long and it wouldn't reflect what I normally use/check on a daily/weekly basis.

Thanks again!

[+] rismay|12 years ago|reply
I would like to add PaintCode and XcodeColors. PaintCode: It's really expensive but it's like a live tutorial on low level view drawing. XCodeColors: Used in conjunction with heavily modded LumberJack loggers is like logging heaven.
[+] jedrek|12 years ago|reply
I bought the latest Macheist Nanobundle and got PaintCode for $20.
[+] kondro|12 years ago|reply
I would also like to add Appium from Sauce Labs[1] as a wonderful way to automate testing on multiple mobile OS-types (and versions) and they are also working on providing cloud-accessible physical devices for testing soon too.

[1] https://saucelabs.com/features

[+] pkaler|12 years ago|reply
Pretty good list. I'd add rvictl, Wireshark, and mitmproxy to that list. And just started using Xcode Server/Bots and PonyDebugger, too.

What I'd really like to see is a list for Android. Either Android tooling is terrible in comparison or I'm missing something.

[+] pkrein|12 years ago|reply
For avoiding vendor lock-in with analytics tools, drip email, and getting your raw usage back out as logs or webhooks, you might check out Segment.io -- you can even change analytics tools on the fly without resubmitting to the App Store.
[+] mariocarvalho|12 years ago|reply
Some links are broken. capptivate.com, [Glyphish]gly...

But good post! Thanks

[+] CmonDev|12 years ago|reply
Most important tool missing - Xamarin.