macOS Apprentice is a series of multi-chapter tutorials where you’ll learn about developing native
macOS apps in Swift, using both SwiftUI — Apple’s newest user interface technology — and AppKit — the
venerable UI framework. Along the way, you’ll learn several ways to execute Swift code and you’ll build
two fully featured apps from scratch.
If you’re new to macOS and Swift, or to programming in general, learning how to write an app can seem
incredibly overwhelming.
That’s why you need a guide that:
- Shows you how to write an app step-by-step.
- Uses tons of illustrations and screenshots to make everything clear.
- Guides you in a fun and easy-going manner.
You’ll start at the very beginning. The first section assumes you have little to no knowledge of programming in Swift.
It walks you through installing Xcode and then teaches you the basics of the Swift programming language. Along the way,
you’ll explore several different ways to run Swift code, taking advantage of the fact that you’re developing natively
on macOS.
macOS Apprentice doesn’t cover every single feature of macOS; it focuses on the absolutely essential ones.
Instead of just covering a list of features, macOS Apprentice does something much more important: It explains how all the
building blocks fit together and what is involved in building real apps. You’re not going to create quick example programs that
demonstrate how to accomplish a single feature. Instead, you’ll develop complete, fully-formed apps, while exploring many of
the complexities and joys of programming macOS.
How is this book different than macOS by Tutorials?
Our other book on building apps for macOS, macOS by Tutorials, is designed
for developers who have a solid background in iOS development and are looking to make the leap to developing native macOS apps.
This book, macOS Apprentice, is designed to teach new developers how to build macOS apps while assuming they have little to
no experience with Swift or any other part of the Apple development ecosystem.
