Understanding Core Data

Abstract

Many developers, upon first seeing Core Data, deem Core Data and its classes a tangled mess of classes that impede, rather than enhance, data access. Perhaps they’re Rails developers, used to making up method names to create dynamic finders and letting convention over configuration take care of the dirty work of data access. Maybe they’re Java developers who have been annotating their Enterprise JavaBeans (EJBs) or hibernating their Plain Old Java Objects (POJOs). Whatever their backgrounds, many developers don’t take naturally to the Core Data framework or its way of dealing with data, just as many developers squirm when first presented with Interface Builder and the live objects it creates when building user interfaces. We counsel you with patience and an open mind and assure you that the Core Data framework is no Rube Goldberg. The classes in the framework work together like Larry Bird’s 1980s Boston Celtics in the half-court set, and when you understand them, you see their beauty and precision.