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This is a list of documents I have read and plan to read. Speaking from experience, if you take the time to pour over these documents and take notes on topics of interest, you will greatly improve your skill.
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ios-developer-reading-list.md

iOS developer reading list

The best way to learn and master iOS development is to read the official documentation. It can be boring but you can trust its accuracy and the information will be presented without opinion.

Read documents in order where indicated.

Topics

Preliminary guides

If you're new to iOS development, then start here. However, even if you're an advanced iOS developer the Human Interface Guidelines (commonly known as the HIG) ought to be your main resource when designing apps.

  1. Start Developing iOS Apps Today
  2. iOS Technology Overview
  3. iOS Human Interface Guidelines (HIG)
  4. App Programming Guide for iOS

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Programming languages

For decades, Objective-C was the only programming language for Apple. However, in June of 2014, Swift was introduced and ever since then Apple has been pushing developers to write code in Swift over Objective-C. If you are just starting out with iOS development, then learn Swift first. However, Objective-C isn't going away. It's still heavily used throughout the tech industry and some companies conciously choose Objective-C over Swift.

Objective-C

  1. Object-Oriented Programming with Objective-C
  2. Programming with Objective-C
  3. Concepts in Objective-C Programming
  4. Objective-C Runtime Programming Guide
  5. Adopting Modern Objective-C
  6. A Short Practical Guide to Blocks
  7. Blocks Programming Topics
  8. Core Foundation Design Concepts

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Swift

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Cocoa

These documents offer more insight into basic classes, objects and data structures of the Foundation framework. There is no order to these, but you ought to read them front to back.

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Error handling and debugging

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Views and controllers

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Assets and resources

Networking

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Data structures

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File system

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Design patterns

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Persistent storage

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Concurrency

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  • Framework Programming Guide

  • File System Programming Guide

  • SDK Compatibility Guide

  • Xcode Overview

  • Auto Layout Guide

  • Testing with Xcode

  • Notification Programming Topics

  • iOS Simulator User Guide

References

Read these documents ad-hoc

  • Interface Builder Help
  • OS X
  • Runtime Configuration Guidelines

iOS 8

  • App Extension Programming Guide

  • Handoff Programming Guide

  • iCloud Design Guide

  • String Programming Guide for Core Foundation

  • Date and Time Programming Guide for Core Foundation

  • Information Property List Key Reference

Performance

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Security

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Location

Location and Maps Programming Guide

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Graphics

  1. Camera Programming Topics for iOS
  2. Drawing and Printing Guide for iOS
  3. Quartz 2D Programming Guide
  4. Image I/O Programming Guide
  5. Core Image Programming Guide
  6. Animation Types and Timing Programming Guide
  7. Core Animation Programming Guide
  8. SpriteKit Programming Guide
  9. OpenGL ES Programming Guide for iOS
  10. AV Foundation Programming Guide

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Metal

Metal is for 3D graphics. I don't know a damn thing about 2D animation nevermind 3D. But, I put these documents here because I would like to learn about them.

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Kits

Cocoa

  • Core Foundation Design Concepts
  • Collections Programming Topics for Core Foundation
  • Core Text Programming Guide

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Clang and LLVM

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@jkereako
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Description

The iOS developer library is a clusterfuck, especially for folks who want to learn iOS development basics.

For example, instead of serving static content, the content in the Developer Library is loaded asynchronously with JavaScript. If you're like me and pay $80 a month for lousy service from Comcast, you will have to wait several seconds for the content to load. Then, once the content has loaded, you'll see a long list of programming guides, technical notes, example apps and programming references. It's overwhelming.

I've distilled the documentation to programming guides and technical notes which serve as programming guides. If you want to learn iOS development, then use this list and ignore the iOS developer library.

All that aside, the actual content is superior. If you spend the time reading Apple's documentation, you will become an advanced iOS developer. Know that learning takes time and concentration.

The content

I lost steam towards the end of the document, that's why the formatting is unlike the rest of the document.

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