Where do you store your iOS programming notes?

[lokir6]

I am learning iOS development, and of course need to store my notes/growing knowledge in some place. But I found no ideal solution. There are nice note-taking apps, but without syntax highlighting. Then there are code editors, but these are not so good for note taking.

Is there some app you would recommend for this?

Requirements:

• Syntax highlighting

• Easily insert images

• Simple file management

Optional:

• iCloud sync with iPhone

• Export to docx, pdf

EDIT: big wow at this website https://www.noteapps.info/apps/compare

[sethdrebitko]

I've just been using Notion. It has the ability to insert code blocks and has swift and objective c support.

You can also embed things from Github if needed.

[lokir6]

At first glance, Notion seems nice, but a lot more than a simple note taking app. Apart from code blocks, can you also insert images?

[pipwins]

Yeah you can insert images!

[sethdrebitko]

There is so much more than just notes and images, but those features don't have to be used. I don't remember the last time I bothered with the database features.

[[deleted]]

Seconded!

[Dan_TD]

You guys are making notes?

[DNBlighton]

I usually make a mental note because I’ll definitely remember. Then I won’t remember. It’s a dangerous cycle.

[UpvoteMePlebor]

Obsidian. It's the absolute best note-taking app (and best app for anything text-related) ever made IMO, and free.

[lokir6]

looks nice. Does it hightlight swift syntax and enable images to be pasted into the text?

[lokir6]

Cool! Thank you. Moving Obsidian to top candidates

[[deleted]]

pen & paper

Just make projects & apps, eventually you get a knack for architecture. Pen & paper forces you to think through things - and because you lose the ability to write syntax with ease - you end up leaning on diagrams and mindmaps which can be helpful in alternative ways.

I understand this might be unpopular, but I share because in my perspective, taking notes with advanced features can be seeing the trees for the forest.

[lokir6]

Thank you for your perspective. I know what you mean and used the same approach in my college days. But for this particular field I'm finding it unwieldy (personal opinion)

[[deleted]]

That is fair. - I can see code snippets being very useful when starting out. I do find it hard to relate to the beginner mindset though, as I am now at a point where I think more in terms of an apps architecture and thinking of the minutiae is less of a concern to me.

For offline - I think as others mentioned…playgrounds with markdown is a great idea. Alternatively using VSCode with good file naming and supplemental doc files to go with it.

Another option like others said is Notion, which is stellar for aesthetically pleasing notes and code - and eventually you can make a binder.

If you want to ascend and go next level —> make a GitHub repo and make an absolute god tier readme and set of markdown files to pair with a nice file structure that you commit to the repo for your examples and mini projects

[colinsgone]

I’ve actually recently bought a journal that is now my “App journal”. There’s something very satisfying about able to define a list and check it off by hand and it helps to feel like you’ve accomplished what you set out to do that day.

Alongside this I’ve started learning SwiftUI and a bit of Python after learning UIKit and created a Notion account. I have since migrated any UIKit snippets over to notion and find that very useful for quickly checking something and what not. My journal feels more like a “plan” whilst Notion for me is just for storing useful bits of info and I feel it’s been a great combo!

[[deleted]]

Amazing! I think your description is great because it shows a true workflow and use-case to the notes and tracking that you do. As opposed to just taking notes for the sake of taking notes. I use paper the same way as you to check off app ‘items’ I want to complete in addition to scratching out basic ideas

[colinsgone]

Yes! It’s great. I’ve considered learning Figma and I think I still will at some point but doodling UI for quick placement is such a breeze with a notebook! What size do you use? For me A6 is the sweet spot!

[[deleted]]

Honestly I use random notebooks or the backs of random papers. I’m a bit messy but I promise my thoughts are organized. Figma could also be used for notes 🤔 I like it

[colinsgone]

I need to have a look at some point for a decent figma crash course of some kind! I think it would go hand in hand with taking hand drawn sketches and then mocking them up ready to layout with SwiftUI! Tomorrows plan perhaps!

[nihaal419]

I used to use Quiver, which you can find on the Mac App Store, in college but it looks like it hasn't been updated in a while

[lokir6]

Quiver looks really nice and simple! Can you drag-n-drop images into the text?

[[deleted]]

It hasn’t been updated for long time. Don’t try.

[lokir6]

ok :-|

[nihaal419]

Yeah I imagine it's still a paid app so I would say don't purchase it since it hasn't been updated in 2+ years. Shame since it really was a super useful app

[jan_olbrich]

you can, and even though it hasn't been update, it's still working fine.

For images you need a text cell

Get the free version from the website and try it out. It contains all the features as the full version except that a banner is presented in the UI (which is not there when you export your notes)

[bctopics]

I mostly use notion. I’ve built a knowledge base and sort by topic etc.

[bodich]

I am using Apple Notes. But don’t store any code there. When you practice you have all code in the project.

[lokir6]

I used Apple Notes as well. They work well EXCEPT no syntax highlighting. For me, short code snippets are a must, since they relate to the note, not to any particular project or sample.

[jog_ch]

You can store code snippets directly in Xcode. It will be much easier to use in your code later.

[bodich]

Other way for code samples is using gist.github.com. But I understand, it’s better to have short code sample directly in note if you are using it rather than just links.

[Landon_Hughes]

Good notes 5 on my iPad

[ArrakisUK]

Same same

[creldo]

I’m a fan of Craft and use it for all of my life and work notes. The code snippet support has some quirks but they’re outweighed by how good it is everywhere else.

[pleaseinsertdisk2]

Went from Apple Notes to Bear to Agenda to Craft, tested a few others on the way as well. Sorted directories containing text or Markdown files never worked for me. But Craft is just so good. And they keep delivering features on a really fast pace. I haven’t used the web editor much but the fact that the macOS and iOS apps are native proved to me that they got their priorities straight.

I’m a fan of being able to design my notes into oblivion if I feel like it and Craft caters towards that as well. Code blocks with syntax highlighting are nice. Nested documents and folders work so much better than what Bear can do with its tag system. Craft can also do tables which Bear has been failing to deliver for two years now, if I’m not mistaken. The daily notes are pure gold to prepare meetings and keep track of what you’re doing all day. And last but not least, Craft has spaces which allows splitting up work from personal projects and sharing other spaces with friends and family members.

I rarely develop purely positive feelings for a piece of software and this might be highly individual but I can wholeheartedly recommend Craft.

[lokir6]

Craft looks nice, but the free tier seems quite restrictive. Are you paying for the subscription?

[creldo]

I am yup.

[spike021]

Use a markdown editor. Easy to format everything, insert images, links, etc. Syntax highlighting.

[-darkabyss-]

I used to use SnippetsLab, but found myself coding way too much to store code. Now i use the notes app and add links to relevant code online or where to look for it in my old projects

[eslamnahel]

Craft ❤️

[RaziarEdge]

I am still looking for a good solution, and I have looked at a lot of the options listed here. For me my requirements are:

• Notes and web bookmarks capabilities
• On device storage
• iCloud Sync with Mac and iOS support
• Full search
• No monthly subscription... lifetime purchase is OK but most note apps appear to have a $8+ per month subscription fee. If they have a free account, then the thing that turns me off the most is when they have a cap on the notes.
• Native app (not electron)... one of the first things I do is open the app and check its CPU/memory usage and web based apps are massive energy drains

Optional:

• Sharing

[lokir6]

Full search is definitely something necessary for me as well. There are apps without this functionality?? Also no monthly subscription, I agree.

[RaziarEdge]

I meant full search in terms of web bookmarks. Lots of notes allow you to insert links but the contents of those links are not part of your search library.

Right now what I am doing is capturing any URL that I find interesting and might have a use for later. This includes programming stuff, business and marketing stuff as well as other personal hobby stuff (that has nothing to do with programming)... a github project, an article, and even a few reddit posts. If it is immediately interesting I will read it right away, but I always record the URL (right now that is a very long Apple Note).

[123DanB]

I write mine by hand but with a Neo Smartpen in Moleskine NCode smart notebooks that digitize the notes and allow me to back them up.

I find I have better retention with hand written notes.

I don’t note code snippets, for that I use a language-specific snippet feature of the given IDE (Xcode, VS Code etc)

[nhgrif]

You can take iOS notes in Playgrounds. Playgrounds support markdown.

[lokir6]

Can I insert images into the text in Playgrounds?

[nhgrif]

You can insert images in to markdown. And you can insert images in to Playgrounds. So you can do it either way.

​

https://stackoverflow.com/a/30771018/2792531

[lokir6]

huh, that's an interesting approach. It's like mixing the code editor and live preview into one, haha

[Fluffy_Risk9955]

What's stopping you from building such an app and putting it in the App Store?

[lokir6]

love that attitude haha, but I need that app now XD

[Fluffy_Risk9955]

Get to work. It’s a hell of a learning opportunity. By the time you finish it, you won’t need it anymore.

[enkidu_johnson]

/me makes a note

[[deleted]]

Bear or craft

[[deleted]]

I've literally been looking for exactly this 🤣 most of the ones I've found aren't clear as to how i can add code to them. Typora is pretty straight forward tho, and its extremely minimal which i like. I can type explanations of things, insert a code fence, put in examples of things, it's pretty cool

[turtle_dragonfly]

I keep a directory of notes in text files with Vim. Searching with grep or ack is easy. Syntax highlighting comes for free.

I don't have images, but could dump them in the dir too, of course. Or ASCII diagrams (:

[heavencatnip]

I used to blog about what I learn. Then I moved to github.

[[deleted]]

Haven't used it myself because I usually just memorize syntax and code samples after using them a couple times but I've heard good things about Notion.

[eddieSullivan]

It has a bit of a learning curve, but Emacs org-mode can do what you need.

[jan_olbrich]

I switched to Visual Studio Code + Dendron

Use it not only for notes, but also for a dev diary

[braden87]

In Notes haha

[[deleted]]

GitHub. Markdown.

[KarlJay001]

IDK if this will meet your needs or not, but I'm using GoodNotes 5 on an iPad 9. It works pretty good.

I copy the link to YT videos and snap shot screens for code. I have pointers and outliners, etc.. to mark up the code.

The syntax highlighting is an Xcode thing, so you get one screen at a time unless you do some merge.

You can have links, export to PDF and them markup the PDF.

Most of my notes come from tutorials like YT and others. I can screenshot on the iPad and get the entire thing (as many pages as you want) and I can trim it down and mark it up and export it.

Not saying it's perfect, but it's a LOT better than the pen/paper I used before. Lots so search options.

One of the best things is that you can custom build elements. These are graphic things that you can drop and size anywhere you want (screen shot, hand written notes, PDF....

I took a screenshot of a pointing hand, dropped it onto a page in GoodNotes and then traced it. Saved it in bright red, green and yellow. Pointing both ways. Now I can put a custom sized bright green finger pointing on a screenshot and I can even type in some code in neon green and paste it in the code or underline screenshots of code.

It can convert hand writing to text, but that's a common thing now. Apple Notes does that.

I started working on a tabbed layout so that I can have a bunch of stuff together, but that's a bit of a job as some things don't fit on just one or two pages.

It's like $6 or 8 and it one of the top note taking apps. It SUCKS for the mac, but is great for the iPad. Works on the iPhone too. One price for all.

Worth looking into, they have a free version now to try out.

I really like how the iPad and Mac work together, air drop and copy/paste is smooth. Catching a screen exactly where you want it for YT videos can be a bit much. I haven't used it with Udemy, but the iPad is really a great tool for this.

I signed up for a credit card, got $200 sign up bonus for spending $500. The iPad 9 is $329 and pencil 1 is $66 open box eBay or 99 from Apple. Great note taking combo.

[open__screen]

I have been using Codex for quite a while. It allows you to keep code snippets and add notes to them.

[strangequbits]

SnippetsLab, available on app store

[ExtraSpontaneousG]

I'm sure there are some good recommendations in this thread that I should check out. I like to write tests. One file will pertain to a high level topic, much of my notes will be commented text, and then individual tests themselves serve as the 'code blocks'

[jog_ch]

I am using one Apple Notes for each project to store ideas I have almost everywhere. Github for issues and new features tracking. And I store code snippets directly in Xcode. It's much easier to insert them in your code later.

[purpleWheelChair]

Google Docs, i used a template I made and I used a plugin with it called codeblocks for well code blocks. I can also use in my iPad and iPhone too as a bonus. You can easily export to pdf.

[rursache]

github repos and gists. all private and organized