Hi, before we dive into the coding section of this course, first of all, we're going to have to make sure that our computer is capable of running iOS or Swift codes. In order to do that, we're going to need some of the tools that are provided by the Apple, and they are free tools by the way, but we need to install them and know how to work with them on our MacBook. And by the way, you need macOS to develop iOS applications. So, if you don't have a MacBook or any device like a MacBook computer or Mac computer that runs macOS, maybe you have Windows or Linux. Of course, you can find a way to run macOS virtually. So, I get this question a lot. But unfortunately, I cannot show you how to run a macOS virtually on your computer because Apple officially does not share this operating system images to run on the virtual devices. But it is possible if you Google it, I believe you can find a solution. So, all you have to do is figure out how to work with the Apple or macOS images in your VirtualBox.

So, let me show you how VirtualBox is spelled. So, VirtualBox is a tool that lets you run the virtual machines on your computer.

Like, if you see mine, I can run Windows, I can run Linux on my computer because they are actually available officially, but macOS is not officially available. So, if you don't have a macOS, please Google it and try to figure out. But if you have a MacBook or any computer that runs macOS then you're ready to go. So, first of all, we need to install only one tool actually and it's called Xcode. And I'm going to show you where to get it. So, you have to go to developer.apple.com. So, this is the official website for the developer of Apple. So, if you come over here and developer is spelled like this, developer.apple.com. So, if you come over here, of course, you will see some different images, different news. Because as I said before, this is the official site for the developers and they actually release the news, release the new tools and every documentation or every information that you need to know about Apple or iOS development. So, for example, when I come over here I can see the App Clips, widgets, Big Sur, iOS 14, everything like that. But maybe when you come over here you can see different things, it doesn't matter. All you have to do, you can just find this develop tab over here. So, when you go to develop tab, you can see the development-related news and development-related tools. 

So, Xcode looks like this. So, this is the thing that we're going to download and run in our computer. So, what is Xcode? XCode is actually an IDE, an integrated development environment, which means that it provides us with every tool to develop right codes or test our codes on a simulator, like a real iPhone simulator. And just design the app, write the app, whatever we need to do to develop an iOS application. It lets us create iOS applications or iPadOS applications or macOS applications and in a complete environment, that's what we're going to be installing in our computer. So, this is the only thing that we need to install and run. So, an Xcode is spelled like this. So, Xcode, and over here, if you come to downloads tab, you can click on this icon and you can see the different options. So, there are a couple of ways to download this and I'm going to explain each of them.

Don't worry about it. So, what are these versions? What do they represent? So, maybe you know that every September, Apple actually releases a new version, like iOS 10, iOS 11, 12, 13, 14. So, right now, when I'm recording this video, we are actually in the iOS 14 phase. And before September, in around June or July, they released the beta versions for developers in order for developers to understand what will be different in the upcoming versions so that they can actually make their applications ready for the next generation or next version of the related operating system. So, when we come over here we can see the upcoming operating system versions and also the current versions as well. So, in every August we try to update this course so that you will be ready for the upcoming features of the iOS development as well. For example, when I come over here I can see the macOS Big Sur and iOS 14 beta. So, right now they are in beta but I believe in a couple of weeks they will be released to the public as well, so it really doesn't matter.

We can just install it from here if we want. We're not going to do that by the way. If you're using Catalina or Mojave right now, it's fine. You can continue using that, just because of this course you don't need to upgrade to Big Sur. But, if the Big Sur is released when you actually watch that and it will be probably the case. Then, of course, it's a good idea to upgrade to Big Sur because it will be the latest version, etc. But if you have Catalina or if you have Mojave or if you have Big Sur, then it's okay to watch the later lectures and it's okay to follow along with me during the code writing sections as well. So, in the operating systems, we can see the iOS, macOS or iPadOS. By the way, we use only one programming language to develop all of these applications for different platforms, we're going to learn about that. And if you see my version, it's actually Big Sur. I have upgraded to Big Sur so that I can actually show you the latest features of the Big Sur and latest features of the iOS 14 as well.

Because sometimes when you use Catalina or Mojave, the Xcode looks a little bit different. Not too many but a little bit different. I will explain the differences to you so that if you're not using Big Sur right now, then you won't be left out, you will know the differences. There are very minor differences, by the way. So, if you go over here to applications, as you can see, I see the Xcode 12 beta over here, that's what I'm going to install but I don't suggest you install the beta version. So, whether you have Xcode 11 or Xcode 12, it doesn't matter for this course because the codes did not change very much. In fact, we can say that they are exactly the same. So, up until 2019, we had some minor or sometimes major differences in terms of coding between the Xcode versions because Swift programming language has been evolving as well.

But Swift now has some kind of stability that lets us not change all of the codes and be compatible with the previous versions. So, right now, if you have Xcode 12 or if you have Xcode 11, it really doesn't matter. So, I'm in the beta right now. If I click the 'Release' tab, I can see the latest version of the Xcode is available for me. So, in the operating system right now I have Catalina, iOS 13. But if I go to applications, I see the Xcode 11. So, what you will be downloading is this thing. So, whatever version you see in the release section, you have to download that. So, if you see Xcode 11 and above, then it's okay. So, whether you see Xcode 12 or 11 over here, doesn't matter, just download the latest release version. So, if you download that, it will be good to go. Because sometimes there might be bugs in the beta version, that's why I'm not actually saying you to download the beta version. I'm an experienced user, so if I come across a bug I can understand it.

But, in the case where you just start programming or when you just start iOS development, you won't know the difference whether it's a bug or you're doing something wrong. So, what we're going to do, we're going to download the latest release version of the Xcode's. And it's a good thing, because before, again we didn't have this luxury, we needed to go with the latest version, even if it was in beta. Right now we can go with the latest release version and it won't matter. But again I'm going to show you the Xcode 12 and also Big Sur differences, overlay differences so that you can understand where to look at when you look at the overview. So, if for some reason you need to download Xcode 12, you can just click on the 'Download'. Or if for some reason you need to download the beta version. I mean, maybe you can see the Xcode 13 beta over here when you watch that, you can just click 'Download'. But in the latest release version, there is no download button. When you tap on that, it will just take you to the App Store of your macOS and it's pretty cool actually and it's pretty easy to download it from here, from the App Store.

All you have to do is just click on the 'Install'. And once it's downloaded you can just click on the 'Open'. It's very, very easy actually. So, when you click on the 'Open' it will open the Xcode for you and that's all you need to do. But, if for some reason again, if you need to download the beta version, then let me show you how it's done. When you download the beta version, just let me trash this, it will download a XIP file for you. You need to double click on that and wait until it's expanded and verified and it will just bring out the Xcode for you. So, let me do that and see how it goes. It will take some time. So I'm going to post the video and come back and show you how to proceed. Because as you can see, it will verify first and then expand it, which will take time. So, once it's done you will see the Xcode popping up in your downloads folder like this. So, here we go Xcode beta over here. So, right now you can just delete the XIP if you want and just take this beta and put it in the applications folder.

That's all you have to do to make this work. So, it's pretty easy process but I needed to give you some extended information about the versions. When you go to applications, you can see the Xcode beta or Xcode over here and you can see them in the launchpad as well. And as you can see, you can actually run the Xcode beta and Xcode release at the same time in your computer as well. When you first run it, it can ask you to install some additional components. Of course, you're going to say yes and give your password and this password is the password of your own MacBook. When you do that, it will just download some components and install it for you and then you will be ready to use the Xcode itself. I'm going to show you the beta version again, but it really doesn't matter. It has some minor differences in the overview and I'm going to explain all of those things to you. So, there will be no differences for coding at all if you use Xcode 12 or Xcode 11, so don't worry about that. So, if you see the screen then it means that you're ready to start coding. We're going to stop here and continue with the next lecture.