Integrated Development Environment (IDE) is a software application that facilitates for Android & iOS app development. It is a graphical user interface that helps the developer to build software applications in an integrated environment and tools. Most common features the IDE has version control, debugging and structural browsing. Apple has developed the most popular iOS mobile operating system which is used on millions of iOS devices as iPods, iPhones, iPads and TvOS etc. Swift programming is the high-end platform that creates vast possibilities to write high-quality code and build innovative iOS apps. It is the new and modernized programming language introduced to the iOS app developer. Swift encourages the mobile app development with iOS-based apps. The modernized IDE offers clean streamlined syntax that minimizes typing. Swift minimizes unsafe code and catch errors before the code can be run.  It uses the LLVM compiler to generate optimal code. Discover the 5 best IDE for iOS application development:

1.    Xcode

Xcode 8 is one of the best IDE for iOS app development that features automatic completions and full syntax highlighting for Swift. It is integrated with the Cocoa Touch frameworks. It has an assistant button which splits the editors into primary work document & the assistant editor.

The IDE has an integrated interface builder which makes it simple to prototype full UI without defining any code. Xcode 8 includes everything you wish to make wonderful apps for iPhone, iPad, Mac, Apple Watch, and Apple TV. It is the quicker version of the IDE which has the new editor extensions that you can simply use to fully customize your coding experience.

2.    Appcode

Appcode is the smart IDE for macOS and iOS development by JetBrains. It ensures fast execution of code with an intelligent development environment. It takes care of daily routine tasks and saves from extra typing of code. It modifies and improves the code any time with accurate and safe refactoring. It provides the project navigation in which you can move to any file, class, or image in your project in no time, use hierarchal and structure views to induce through your project structure. Appcode has 2 different forms of code completion which include additional advanced SmartType completion & basic you type completion. It conjointly performs 60 code inspections for C++, C and Objective C including many other code inspections.

3.    Atom

Atom IDE was designed and developed by GitHub. It provides the customizable environment and easy installation of packages. It has turned the Atom into the IDE for the iOS application development. Atom is a text editor with the trendy approach and a tool that features swift language support. The swift language package feature is within the Atom editor. The IDE has many features that support atom hacking to make an IDE runs on UNIX.

4.    SublimeText 3

Sublime text 3 is a functional, clean and fast code editor with the incredible built-in structure as vim mode and multi-edit mode. It supports various plugins, snippets and many other things.Sublime Text is a smart text editor for markup and coding. It offers the slick programming environment with innovative features and ensures high-quality performance. It is one of the best code editors that lost its momentum with developers and rising competitors like GitHub’s Atom in which you can easily add swift language support by using swift package.

5.    CodeRunner 2

CodeRunner 2 is an easy to use programming editor for Mac. It offers high flexibility and versatility that supports the variety of languages and has features like lightweight and clutter free etc. It supports IDE level code completion for programming languages including the documentation snippets, tab-selectable placeholders etc. It was designed and built on the approach that any developer can run their code instantly in any language.  CodeRunner 2 run code in 23 languages & supports other languages also. Many other features are:

• TextMate theme support
• Automatic indentation support
• Interactive console
• File Navigator   
• Intelligent bracket matching      
• Custom compile flags
• Symbol navigator            
• Run with arguments & input sets
• Word completions

Hope you enjoyed the full article. Here is an another quality information on How to Hire a Great iOS Developer which I thought you will also love to read.

Author Bio

Mike Coulson is a professional application developer & tech blogger. He is currently working in Ficode, one of the top leading mobile app development company london. In this article, he focuses on the top IDE used by the iOS app developers for mobile application development.