The iPhone Development workshop started off with an introduction to the workshop, detailing that the students would be using Xcode to develop applications for Apple's iOS operating system. Rob further explained that there are three different functioning parts of Xcode: the coding environment itself, the interface builder, and the iOS simulator. To use these tools however, one requires an Apple computer to build the app on. Students learned that the coding environment is where the code is written, the interface builder is where the graphical presentation is handled, and the simulator is where the app is tested and debugged. After being introduced to these topics, the students began following an Xcode tutorial to build an application called DateSelector. The purpose of this app was to allow the user to select a date, and have the application tell them how many days, minutes, or seconds had passed since that date. Students worked through the tutorial at their own pace while Rob and a few of his intern assistants helped students that needed assistance.
After the students took a break, Rob explained what the code the students were writing did and how it worked with other parts of the code. Rob went on to explain how code is organized in Xcode by discussing header and implementation files. Rob explained this by discussing the specific example of Math.h and Math.m. He explained that Math.m is the file that performs tasks, but Math.h is the file that the application actually calls. So for a task to actually be performed, the user ends up asking for Math.h and Math.h must in turn ask Math.m to perform the task at hand. By the end of the workshop, most of the students were finished with the tutorial and working on challenges assigned by one of the interns.