Organizing things is an important human activity. Whether it is a child organizing toys in some way (by size, color, favorites, and so forth) or an adult piecing together a thousand-piece jigsaw puzzle, the desire to “make order out of chaos” (as one inveterate puzzler put it) reflects a sense that somehow if we try hard enough or just have enough information, we can find or create an understandable view of the world. Or at least an understandable view of the left overs in the refrigerator or the photos in an album.
Core Data is a powerful tool that you can use with the Cocoa and Cocoa Touch frameworks on iOS and Mac OS to help you make order out of the chaos of the hundreds, thousands, and even billions of data elements that you now can store on your computer or mobile device.
This book is geared toward developers who need to understand Core Data and its capabilities. It’s also aimed at developers who aren’t certain they need the combination of Core Data and Cocoa. It places the technologies in perspective so that you can see where you and your project fit in. Part of that is simply analytical, but for everyone, the hands-on examples provide background as well as the beginnings of applications (apps) that you can create with these two technologies.
If you are new to databases or SQL, you will find a basic introduction here. If you are familiar with them, you will find a refresher as well as details on how the concepts you know already map to Core Data terminology.
Likewise, if you are new to development on Mac OS, iOS, or Cocoa and Cocoa Touch, you will find a fairly detailed introduction. If you are already familiar with them, you will see how some of the basic concepts have been expanded and rearranged to work with Core Data.
There is a theme that recurs in this book: links and connections between interface and code as well the connections between your app and the database. Much of what you find in this book helps you develop the separate components (interface, database, and code) and find simple ways to link them.
