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Core Foundation is a framework that provides fundamental software services. Developers can use Core Foundation to build cross-platform applications and can share code and data among frameworks, libraries, and applications. Core Foundation provides abstractions for common data types, facilitates internationalization through Unicode string storage, and offers a suite of utilities.

A guided introduction and learning path for developers new to Core Foundation.   Essential information for developers using the Core Foundation framework.   C API references organized by framework.
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Base Utilities Reference (HTML) (PDF)
Describes basic Core Foundation functions.
General 2007-01-15
Byte-Order Utilities Reference (HTML) (PDF)
Describes Core Foundation byte-order functions.
Data Management 2006-05-23
CFAllocator Reference (HTML) (PDF)
Describes an object for managing memory allocation.
General 2006-12-08
CFArray Reference (HTML) (PDF)
Describes an immutable ordered collection.
General 2007-05-22
CFAttributedString Reference (HTML) (PDF)
Describes an immutable character string and its associated attributes.
Data Management, Text & Fonts 2009-05-06
CFBag Reference (HTML) (PDF)
Describes an immutable unordered collection that may contain duplicate values.
General 2007-05-22
CFBinaryHeap Reference (HTML) (PDF)
Describes a collection sorted using a binary search algorithm.
General 2006-01-10
CFBitVector Reference (HTML) (PDF)
Describes an immutable ordered collection containing bit values.
General 2005-12-06
CFBoolean Reference (HTML) (PDF)
Describes a Boolean value.
General 2005-12-06
CFBundle Reference (HTML) (PDF)
Describes a representation of a resource directory hierarchy.
General 2007-10-18
CFCalendar Reference (HTML) (PDF)
Describes a calendar.
Internationalization 2009-02-04
CFCharacterSet Reference (HTML) (PDF)
Describes an immutable character string.
General 2006-12-01
CFData Reference (HTML) (PDF)
Describes an immutable byte buffer.
General 2006-02-07
CFDate Reference (HTML) (PDF)
Describes a date and time.
General 2005-12-06
CFDateFormatter Reference (HTML) (PDF)
Describes a date and time formatter.
General 2007-05-23
CFDictionary Reference (HTML) (PDF)
Describes an immutable collection of key-value pairs.
General 2007-10-31
CFError Reference (HTML) (PDF)
Describes a representation of a runtime error.
Events & Other Input 2006-07-12
CFFileDescriptor Reference (HTML) (PDF)
Describes an object for monitoring file descriptors for read and write activity.
File Management 2007-05-23
CFFTPStream Reference (HTML) (PDF)
Describes the C API for communicating with FTP servers.
Networking 2008-07-11
CFHost Reference (HTML) (PDF)
Describes the C API for acquiring host information.
Networking 2008-07-11
CFHTTPAuthentication Reference (HTML) (PDF)
Describes the C API for applying authentication credentials to HTTP messages.
Networking 2007-05-15
CFHTTPMessage Reference (HTML) (PDF)
Describes the C API for creating, sending, receiving and manipulating HTTP messages.
Networking 2008-07-11
CFHTTPStream Reference (HTML) (PDF)
Describes the interface for working with HTTP connections.
Networking 2008-07-08
CFLocale Reference (HTML) (PDF)
Describes a representation of a locale.
General 2007-05-23
CFMachPort Reference (HTML) (PDF)
Describes a wrapper for a native mach port.
General 2008-04-08
CFMessagePort Reference (HTML) (PDF)
Describes a communications channel that can locally transmit data between threads or processes.
General 2007-03-20
CFMutableArray Reference (HTML) (PDF)
Describes an immutable ordered collection.
General 2005-12-06
CFMutableAttributedString Reference (HTML) (PDF)
Describes a mutable character string and associated set of attributes.
Data Management, Text & Fonts 2009-05-06
CFMutableBag Reference (HTML) (PDF)
Describes a mutable unordered collection that may contain duplicate values.
General 2005-12-06
CFMutableBitVector Reference (HTML) (PDF)
Describes a mutable ordered collection containing bit values.
General 2006-02-07
CFMutableCharacterSet Reference (HTML) (PDF)
Describes a mutable set of Unicode characters.
General 2005-12-06
CFMutableData Reference (HTML) (PDF)
Describes a mutable byte buffer.
General 2007-03-07
CFMutableDictionary Reference (HTML) (PDF)
Describes a mutable collection of key-value pairs.
General 2005-12-06
CFMutableSet Reference (HTML) (PDF)
Describes a mutable unordered collection of distinct values.
General 2005-12-06
CFMutableString Reference (HTML) (PDF)
Describes a mutable character string.
General 2008-10-15
CFNetDiagnostics Reference (HTML) (PDF)
Describes the C API for diagnosing and fixing network related problems.
Networking 2008-07-11
CFNetServices Reference (HTML) (PDF)
Describes the C API for implementing Bonjour functionality in an application.
Networking 2008-07-08
CFNetwork Error Codes Reference (HTML) (PDF)
Describes error codes used by the CFNetwork API.
Networking 2008-10-15
CFNetwork Reference Collection (HTML) (PDF)
Describes the C APIs for performing a variety network tasks.
Networking 2008-07-15
CFNotificationCenter Reference (HTML) (PDF)
Describes an object that sends notifications to registered observers.
General 2007-01-22
CFNull Reference (HTML) (PDF)
Describes an object that represents null.
General 2005-12-06
CFNumber Reference (HTML) (PDF)
Describes a number.
General 2006-12-01
CFNumberFormatter Reference (HTML) (PDF)
Describes a number formatter.
General 2007-05-23
CFPlugIn Reference (HTML) (PDF)
Describes a plug-in.
General 2006-02-07
CFPlugInInstance Reference (HTML) (PDF)
Describes a deprecated technology replaced by the CFPlugin opaque type.
General 2005-12-06
CFPropertyList Reference (HTML) (PDF)
Describes a runtime representation of a property list.
General 2006-02-07
CFProxySupport Reference (HTML) (PDF)
Describes the CFProxySupport API, which provides functions for managing network proxy information.
Networking 2008-07-07
CFReadStream Reference (HTML) (PDF)
Describes an interface for reading a byte stream.
General 2007-05-03
CFRunLoop Reference (HTML) (PDF)
Describes an object that manages input sources for a task.
General 2006-12-08
CFRunLoopObserver Reference (HTML) (PDF)
Describes a means to receive callbacks at specific points during a run loop's execution.
General 2006-02-07
CFRunLoopSource Reference (HTML) (PDF)
Describes the source for a run loop.
General 2006-02-07
CFRunLoopTimer Reference (HTML) (PDF)
Describes a timer associated with a run loop.
General 2006-02-07
CFSet Reference (HTML) (PDF)
Describes an immutable unordered collection of distinct values.
General 2005-12-06
CFSocket Reference (HTML) (PDF)
Describes a network communications channel.
General 2008-10-15
CFStream Reference (HTML) (PDF)
Describes the interface for creating streams.
Networking 2007-05-03
CFStream Socket Additions (HTML) (PDF)
Describes the C API for using streams with sockets.
Networking 2008-07-08
CFString Reference (HTML) (PDF)
Describes an immutable character string.
General 2008-10-15
CFStringTokenizer Reference (HTML) (PDF)
Describes an opaque type for breaking a string into tokens.
Data Management, Internationalization, Text & Fonts 2009-01-06
CFTimeZone Reference (HTML) (PDF)
Describes a representation of a time zone.
General 2008-10-15
CFTree Reference (HTML) (PDF)
Describes a tree structure.
General 2005-12-06
CFType Reference (HTML) (PDF)
Describes the Core Foundation base type.
General 2007-07-12
CFURL Reference (HTML) (PDF)
Describes a string that uniquely identifies a resource.
General 2009-02-04
CFUserNotification Reference (HTML) (PDF)
Describes a notification.
General 2006-02-07
CFUUID Reference (HTML) (PDF)
Describes a unique identifier.
General 2007-01-15
CFWriteStream Reference (HTML) (PDF)
Describes an interface for writing a byte stream.
General 2007-05-03
CFXMLNode Reference (HTML) (PDF)
Describes the opaque type for representing an individual XML construct.
General 2006-02-07
CFXMLParser Reference (HTML) (PDF)
Describes an object for finding and extracting data in XML documents.
General 2008-10-15
CFXMLTree Reference (HTML) (PDF)
Describes an XML document as a tree structure.
General 2008-10-15
Core Foundation Framework Reference (HTML) (PDF)
Describes the Core Foundation API.
General 2007-10-31
Core Foundation URL Access Utilities Reference (HTML) (PDF)
Describes Core Foundation URL access functions.
General 2007-01-19
Core Services Identity Reference (HTML)
Describes the C API for creating, maintaining and finding users and groups.
Networking 2008-04-08
Dictionary Services Reference (HTML) (PDF)
Describes the Objective-C and C routines that support programmatic access to dictionaries.
Text & Fonts 2007-05-29
FSEvents Reference (HTML)
Describes the API used to provide lightweight notification of directory changes in a file-system subtree.
File Management 2008-04-08
Identity Services Reference Collection (HTML) (PDF)
Describes the APIs for using identities and the Identity Picker.
Networking 2007-05-14
JavaScriptCore Framework Reference (HTML)
Describes the API for evaluating JavaScript programs from within a C-based program
Internet & Web 2008-04-08
NSHost Class Reference (HTML) (PDF)
Describes a representation of a network host.
Networking 2007-03-24
Preferences Utilities Reference (HTML) (PDF)
Describes Core Foundation preferences functions.
General 2007-10-31
Socket Name Server Utilities Reference (HTML) (PDF)
Describes a representation of a native network socket; does nothing in Mac OS X.
General 2006-10-27
Spotlight Metadata Attributes Reference (HTML) (PDF)
Describes metadata attributes used with Spotlight.
File Management 2007-05-22
Time Utilities Reference (HTML) (PDF)
Describes Core Foundation time functions.
General 2007-08-23
Web Services Core Framework Reference (HTML)
Describes the client-side APIs for accessing web services.
Internet & Web 2009-01-06