In the past I predicted that Grand Central Dispatch and Blocks were coming to iOS. GCD and Blocks were introduced in iOS 4.0. As were enhancements to the NSOperation and NSOperationQueue classes.  At the time I also conjectured that OpenCL would come to iOS. Hindsight of course reveals that it was too early.  However, I think that the time has come for many reasons.

First, it will complete what I think of as the Concurrent Four (not quite the GoF but just as powerful):

• NSOperation, its subclasses, and NSOperationQueue
• Grand Central Dispatch
• Blocks, and finally
• OpenCL.

When OpenCL is added as a public framework iOS developers will have a complete range of options with which to build a concurrent solution.

Second, Apple’s implementation of OpenCL is built on top of Grand Central Dispatch which is now a part of iOS.

Third, the OpenCL compiler uses Clang and LLVM which are being used to build iOS apps.

Fourth, the new iPad has twice the pixel density as the iPad 2. And as always there are and will be applications that push the limits and require better performance.

And last, OpenCL is in iOS 5.1 as a private framework. OpenCL was definitely not present in iOS 4.3 and may or may not have been present as a private framework in iOS 5.0. The existence of OpenCL as a private framework is perhaps the most compelling reason that OpenCL will become a public framework. It is so tantalizingly close.

So, before the pre-WWDC beta is released and the veil of secrecy falls over the land as  enforced by the NDA  let the speculation begin! What do you think will be part of iOS 6? Add your prediction below but comments will be closed as soon as the pre-WWDC beta is released.

360|iDev is always a great conference and is the only conference in which pre-conference training is included in the price. And there are over 40 sessions covering topics ranging from Advanced Debugging, The Power of In App Purchase, Core Data Performance Tuning to name just a few. I’m also looking forward to meeting fellow developers there and hearing David Whatley, Mike Lee, and Jessica Kahn give their keynote presentations on iOS development. David Whatley started two gaming companies and has spoken at 360iDev a number of times. His talks are always riveting and if you’re just charged up about iOS development he’ll kick you into hyperdrive! Check out the interview by TUAW of David Whatley after 360iDev San Jose in April 2010. Mike Lee is another riveting, well-known speaker on iOS development. And Jessica Kahn as Vice President of Engineering at Tapulous is sure to provide special insightful gems on iOS development.

So if you haven’t registered yet now is a good time to register for 360|iDev!

Other chapters covered a number of other topics. Claus Hofele wrote about importing 3D art assets into your game; Ben Kazez wrote about using external data providers in FlightTrack; Saul Mora, Jr. wrote about unit testing; Leon Palm wrote about face recognition with OpenCV; Scott Penberthy wrote about OpenGL fonts; Ben Britten Smith wrote about developing games with Unity; Chuck Smith wrote about Cocos2d another popular gaming framework; David Smith wrote about AVAudioPlayer; and Joost van de Wijgerd and Arne de Viries wrote about using push notifications in eBuddy.

The eBook version can be purchased at a discount from Apress using the discount code IPHONEDEVELOPERJOURNALDZPDD. It’s a 50% discount off the eBook price which is good until January 30, 2011. Of course the book is available at all the popular online bookstores Borders, Barnes and Noble, and Amazon.

Enjoy!