14 DAY TRIAL // Apple is inviting developers who are using Xcode 6.1 and the Swift programming language to code and / or submit their new apps for Yosemite starting today.
An email has been sent out to enrolled programmers worldwide with a request / encouragement that states, “Submit Your OS X Yosemite Apps Today.”
Apple’s message
Developers are told to try and leverage the latest technologies embedded in OS X 10.10, as they will benefit the users.
“Make sure your apps take advantage of all the great new features in OS X Yosemite, which will be available to millions of customers around the world later this fall.”
The Cupertino giant enumerates some of these key additions capable of enhancing an app like never before.
“Add powerful new functionality throughout OS X Yosemite with app extensions, explore the innovative new Swift programming language, and take advantage of advances in game technologies, Safari, iCloud, and more.”
How to code for Yosemite
Developers looking to start from scratch today will need to download OS X Yosemite GM Candidate (released yesterday) and Xcode 6.1 GM Seed. According to Apple, “With these latest releases, Swift is now final and you can submit your Mac apps written with Swift to the Mac App Store.”
Swift is a new programming language for Cocoa and Cocoa Touch that the company introduced this summer at WWDC. It has concise yet expressive syntax and a bunch of interactive features, like Playgrounds. The Mac maker explains:
“Playgrounds make writing Swift code incredibly simple and fun. Type a line of code and the result appears immediately. If your code runs over time, for instance through a loop, you can watch its progress in the timeline assistant. The timeline displays variables in a graph, draws each step when composing a view, and can play an animated SpriteKit scene. When you’ve perfected your code in the playground, simply move that code into your project.”
Playgrounds lets you design a new algorithm and observe its impact as you make even the slightest changes. You can make tests and see whether or not they work before running the entire app, or you can employ APIs that you know very little about and experiment with them.
Public release
The final version of Yosemite is not very far off. Apple has already promised it will be released in October and there are rumors of a special event being held to promote its launch alongside an all-new Retina iMac and some iPads.
We won’t know for sure until Apple confirms it, but you can expect Yosemite to emerge in the Mac App Store in the following weeks.