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Comment by xpe

6 days ago

> including over 250,000 APIs that enable developers to integrate their apps with Apple’s hardware and software features.

This doesn’t sound impressive, it sounds insane.

Which ones would you like to get rid of?

  • I can hear the whooshing sound accompanying the snark... I'm talking about how this is communicated. I'd suggest that Apple say something like "200+ developer frameworks" rather than counting up the number of individual methods or functions.

    Here is a summarization provided by Claude after I back-and-forthed it a bit:

    --

    Apple Developer Frameworks

    This list represents the vast ecosystem of frameworks available to developers for building applications across Apple's platforms.

    I. Foundational Frameworks

    These provide the fundamental services and data management capabilities for all applications.

    - Core Frameworks: Essential for data types, collections, and low-level services. Examples: Foundation, Core Data, Core Foundation

    - Security: Manages user authentication, authorization, and cryptographic services. Examples: CryptoKit, LocalAuthentication, Security

    - App Services: Supports core application functionalities and integrations. Examples: Contacts, EventKit, StoreKit, WeatherKit, ClockKit

    II. User Interface & Experience

    Frameworks for building the visual elements and user interactions of an application.

    - UI Frameworks: The primary toolkits for constructing user interfaces. Examples: SwiftUI, UIKit (for iOS/tvOS), AppKit (for macOS)

    - Services: Provides access to system-level services with a UI component. Examples: MapKit, CloudKit, Core Location, PassKit

    III. Graphics & Media

    For creating rich visual content, games, and handling audio/video.

    - Graphics & Games: High-performance 2D and 3D graphics rendering and game development. Examples: Metal, SpriteKit, SceneKit, RealityKit

    - Media: Manages the playback and processing of audio and video. Examples: AVFoundation, Core Audio, VisionKit

    IV. Machine Learning

    Enables the integration of intelligent features into applications.

    - Core ML & Vision: The foundation for machine learning models and computer vision tasks. Examples: Core ML, Vision, Natural Language, Speech

    - V. Platform-Specific Frameworks

    The number of available frameworks varies significantly across Apple's operating systems, reflecting the unique capabilities of each platform.

    - macOS: ~250+ frameworks

    - iOS/iPadOS: ~200+ frameworks

    - watchOS: ~50-60 frameworks

    - tvOS: ~35-40 frameworks

    - visionOS: A growing set of frameworks for spatial computing.