Introduction to frequently used iOS third-party libraries and XCode plug-ins

Third-party libraries are something that programmers cannot do without now. Not only APP development, but basically all commercial projects will use third-party libraries to a greater or lesser extent.

The number of open source libraries with Star>100 on Github is as follows

It can be seen that JS has an absolute advantage. To a certain extent, it also explains why JS has developed so rapidly in recent years. If you don't know JS, you are embarrassed to say that you are a programmer. However, the wave of wheel-making in the JS circle is getting more and more intense. If you don't write a framework, you are embarrassed to say hello.

OC ranks fourth. I believe this ranking will rise. Swift is not in the top ten yet, but it is not far away to surpass OC (after all, he is his own son).

Xcode is basically a must-have tool for Mac/iOS programmers (I haven't used AppCode, so I don't know how many people use it?) But how useful it is... that depends on personal opinion (it can't be compared with Visual Studio). However, after using the plug-in, it can greatly improve productivity

Next, I will introduce some third-party libraries and plug-ins that I often use. There may not be many, but they must be tried and tested. You will never go wrong if you use them.

introduce

Third-party libraries

CocoaPod

CocoaPod is not a third-party library on iOS but a well-known third-party library management tool

Before CocoaPod appeared, the management of third-party libraries was very painful, especially for some large libraries (such as nimbus). Every update of the library could be very painful.

The emergence of CocoaPod solves these problems. Introducing third-party libraries in the form of Framework greatly saves integration time and is compatible with both Objective-C and Swift (I have not actually used Cathatage on Swift, but its integration method is still more troublesome than CocoaPod)

iCarousel

In the era of iOS 4.x (I also started to develop iOS in 4.0), Coverflow was all the rage. I was a newbie and had no idea how to implement it. (All movie information apps, such as Pudding Love Life, needed Coverflow to select movies. I happened to want to make one.) The emergence of iCarousel solved a big problem for me.

Since then, iCarousel has become a must-have for every project of mine (and my favorite library). Whether it is Coverflow or carousel ads, it can be easily handled. Its built-in dozen display types can basically solve 90% of UI needs, and its powerful customization function can solve the remaining 10% :)

If you are not familiar with it, you can try its exquisite demo (pod try iCarousel) All the functions are clearly shown in the demo

The author nicklockwood is also a highly productive master who maintains a large number of high-quality open source libraries (such as iVersion iRate). You may want to take a look at Taobao

AFNetworking/Alamofire

The leader of HTTP frameworks had the last laugh in the competition with ASIHTTPRequest (of course, this was also because the author of ASIHTTPRequest did not maintain it, but many domestic companies are maintaining it themselves for historical reasons). Due to timely maintenance and embracing new features of the language, it was quickly accepted and loved by everyone.

I believe everyone has used it, so I won't go into details here.

MKNetworkKit

If AFNetworking is the boss, then MKNetworkKit can be said to be the younger brother. However, because it is lighter than AFNetworking, it has also won the favor of many developers.

Because ASIHTTPRequest stopped maintaining, I chose MKNetworkKit between AFNetworking and MKNetworkKit by chance and used it in many projects.

However, perhaps because AFNetworking is developing faster and faster and the author is fighting alone, the author has basically given up updating (the version number remains at 0.8x). It's a pity

SDWebImage

The master of asynchronous image download and cache management, the golden partner of UITableView, its code has been studied and shared countless times by developers, and Kingfisher (which can be said to be the Swift version of SDWebImage) is also deeply influenced by it.

Asynchronous download AFNetworking and MKNetworkKit both implement data caching and have FastImageCache and TMCache, but only SDWebImage has integrated them.

In addition to the simple use of sd_setImageWithURL, SDImageCache can also be used independently and is quite powerful.

ZXingObjC

Zxing is a QR code scanning component produced by Google. It was originally written in Java. Now there are ported versions in various languages, and ZXingObjC is one of them.

zxing supports all kinds of mainstream one-dimensional codes and two-dimensional code scanning. It is simple and easy to use. If small factories want to implement the function of two-dimensional code scanning, they will basically choose zxing

However, iOS7 has built-in QR code camera scanning and iOS8 has built-in QR code static image scanning. You may no longer need to use ZXing in the future:(

MBProgressHUD

Simple, easy-to-use and stable HUD component. The style of translucent black background and white text is also timeless. It is the best choice for loading prompts.

Masonry/SnapKit

***The Autolayout handwriting library (Cartography is also good but I still can't get used to it) helped me easily overcome the Autolayout barrier

I have mentioned the use of Masonry in my articles many times. If you haven't used it yet, you might want to take a look.

pop

Facebook engineers have always been god-like and have made great contributions to the open source community, greatly promoting the development of various programming languages, such as HipHop to PHP, react to JavaScript, pop to Objective-C, etc.

Whether it is HipHop react, Facebook engineers always open source with a subversive attitude. Pop is no exception. I have briefly introduced this before. The paper based on pop shocked the entire APP industry as soon as it was released. In this regard, pop also made great contributions.

Pop also supports custom animations very well. I have also written MMTweanAnimation based on pop's custom animations.

ReactiveCocoa

I'm ashamed to say that I only used the famous RAC a little bit (only used it for input validation)

I haven't used it in depth yet, and my understanding of RAC is still superficial, but this article is very detailed and worth reading.

GPUImage

If you want to process images (photos or videos) or just want to make a photo filter like Camera360, you must study GPUImage.

As its name suggests, GPUImage is an image processing framework based on GPU. We all know that GPU is the key to improving performance. This is why GPUImage is so important and popular.

Lumberjack

A log system is something that every project should have, and Lumberjack is the best in the log system

You can simply use it as a replacement for NSLog (Lumberjack is faster than NSLog in short) or build a more powerful logging system according to your needs.

NSLogger

As the name suggests, NSLogger is also a log system. Its feature is that it comes with a powerful Desktop Viewer that allows you to easily view the logs generated by the APP (supports hierarchical filtering, etc., and can even log a picture directly)

AwesomeMenu

When Path was first launched, its beautiful design and wonderful animations made many people speechless. The best thing about it was its pop-up menu, which became the object of imitation for every APP.

With AwesomeMenu you can easily achieve it

MMDrawerController

The ordinary side-sliding menu can be done with MMDrawerController

realm

As a first-class citizen of data storage, CoreData's status is self-evident. However, because it is not convenient to use, auxiliary classes such as MagicalRecord and even fmdb, a library based on pure sqlite, appear.

Realm has emerged as a challenger. It not only has faster reading performance (said to be several times faster than CoraData), but also has a simple and easy-to-use interface (using data in the form of objects is very similar to the idea of ​​leancloud) and is cross-platform (supports OC/Swift/Java for both iOS and Android).

If you are used to using Modal conversion such as Mantle, Realm-JSON will definitely please you

As a YCombinator incubation project, its quality can still be guaranteed. At least I was very surprised when I tried it. Whether it is the API design, the definition of data objects, or even the database version upgrade, it is very convenient)

Xcode Plugin

Alcatraz

Similar to CocoaPod, Alcatraz is a plugin manager for Xcode that allows you to easily manage Xcode plugins (not only plugins but also themes, etc.)

FuzzyAutocomplete

If I had to choose only one plugin, it would be FuzzyAutocomplete. The powerful fuzzy matching input allows you to write code without having to rack your brain to remember the names of objects or functions with such long names. It is so useful that it makes you want to cry.

XAlign

As a programmer with mysophobia, you can't stand seeing misaligned code. XAlign can easily solve your troubles.

VVDocumenter-Xcode

Another masterpiece of Miaoda can identify the parameters and return types of the current function to help you quickly write comments that meet the specifications (currently based on Javadoc)

deriveddata-exterminator

If you always encounter Xcode prompting you to delete files in a certain directory for some reason, otherwise the compilation will fail, then you will definitely be moved by this plugin because it means that you are not the only one who encounters this problem

Xcode-Quick-Localization

Multi-language has not been very convenient in iOS development. With it, you can save a lot of trouble.

Backlight-for-XCode

Just like Xcode's default 80-character paging prompt, highlighting the current line being edited is also a friendly prompt. Whether you like it or not depends on your personal preference.

summary

The above introductions are all based on my own experience. Most of you may have used them. I will continue to update this list. I will add any excellent ones I find.