What is Core Data?

Core Data is an old Apple programming framework. It first appeared with Mac OS X 10.4 “Tiger” in 2004. It has undergone a lot of changes in the last 20 years. Core Data is an Object Relational Mapping (ORM) framework. An ORM is a “method” or framework employed to facilitate the conversion between two disparate type systems in object-oriented programming languages. In our situation, Core Data enables the mapping and conversion of object-oriented objects to and from an underlying relational database. Instead of relying on SQL queries and commands, developers can work in terms of objects, their attributes, and methods. Core Data normally abstracts upon SQLite, the default local relational database used by Apple applications. To be precise, besides an SQLite-based relational database, Core Data also allows other “stores” to be specified – for example, instead of a .sqlite file, you can use a RAM-based “store”...