What are the specs requirement for Mac developing for iPhones, iPads, etc?

That question has been raised many times. Did you search on this forum to find those answers.

In a few words:

For HW:

- most important is RAM: should get 16 GB min

- and disk space : consider 100 GB available as a minimum

- Screen size is important for comfortable development, but that can be achieved with an external monitor

- CPU speed is good but is not that critical

- you will need at least one iOS device for testing and for some other needs

For SW:

- It is better to have a recebt MacOS version, so Catalina (10.15)

- have to install XCode (11.4.1 is the most recent version)

Other

- need to get a developer account (99$ / year) if you consider publishing the app

Hope that helps.

Oh I tried searching. But they keywords made so many different types of questions popup.

Anyway, thanks for the answer, off to buy one now...refurbished, who wants to plunk down THAT much money in this current economy.

If I mask a follow up: I'm now sure the difference between XCode and SWift. Is one compiler and one an IE? Do I need both, or have to chose one? I've tried googling this answer but wow....can't find a clear answer. The one main link that popped up seemed to be what I was lookin for, but it was a dead link.

And not to be a nudge, what would be the 2 or 3 books that you would recommend for a starter? I've been programming forever, but always on the PC side. Should sayed with it when I tried switching 10 years ago but gave up for other personal reasons.

Thanks again

Buying a refurbished or second hand computer is quite OK. Just take care to get enough memory (RAM and Disk). This is the most important.

XCode is the development environment, with many tools you need to develop an app:

- editors (smart editors) to write code in your selected language

- graphical editor (called Interface builder) which, as its name hints, let you design graphically the user interface

- compiler for the language (such as wift or Objective C)

- all tools to generate executable, to debug…

- and playground, very useful when you start developing to learn interactively

Swift is a language for writing code (such as Basic or C or Java are languages). You could select others, but Swift is simpler. It is object oriented, which allows for very modular design.

Apps may be developed for iPhones or iPad, for Mac, for Apple Watch, for TV…

You will hear about SwiftUI. It is notreally a language, it is a set of functions to let you create interfaces programmatically and more important build interfaces that react automatically to any change.

For a starter, I do recommend

in Apple Education. « Intro to App Development with Swift. » Apple Inc. - Education, 2017.

Apple Books. https://books.apple.com/fr/book/intro-to-app-development-with-swift/id1118575552

Wish you a very good start.

>...off to buy one now...refurbished, who wants to plunk down THAT much money in this current economy.

Just remember that not all older macs have the ability to support current tools/IDE. Any of the refurbs Apple puts up these days are quite qualified, tho.

About the money, also remember...it takes money to make money, so don't let shortcuts be your driver. You pay for internet, right? I never blame anyone for being on a budget, but if you don't have the coin, you shouldn't join 😉

About Xcode and Swift.... Yes, Xcode is a tool, Swift is a language. IDE means 'integrated development -environment-', which is a verbal blanket thrown over all the items involved when developing. Using Xcode means you can choose to work with different langauges, depending on.

About books, avoid dead tree editions. They tend to be out of date by the time they hit the shelves, you'll spend more time raking the leaves than you will enjoying the view. Try iTunes U on the App Store for iBooks if you must have something to read.