> For the complete documentation index, see [llms.txt](https://ios-course.cornellappdev.com/llms.txt). Markdown versions of documentation pages are available by appending `.md` to page URLs; this page is available as [Markdown](https://ios-course.cornellappdev.com/resources/textbook/uitableview/what-is-a-uitableview.md).

# What is a UITableView?

So far, we only created static, non-moving views. However, many apps today have views that are scrollable. One way to implement a scrollable view with UIKit is with a `UITableView`.

### What is a UITableView?

A `UITableView` is a subclass of `UIScrollView` which is a view that users can scroll through. We can think of a `UITableView` as a list of data. Each item inside of this list is represented by a view called a `UITableViewCell`. Each cell tends to look very similar to one another but are holding different data.

### Examples of a UITableView

<div><figure><img src="/files/aB7NMVXELtb3Ao7rV5RV" alt="" width="375"><figcaption><p>Spotify Playlist</p></figcaption></figure> <figure><img src="/files/bJA6COMZvxUjgLnb3hJx" alt="" width="375"><figcaption><p>iOS Settings</p></figcaption></figure></div>

### Breaking Down a UITableView

A `UITableView` contains **sections** where each section contains **rows**, and each row being represented by a **cell**. Let’s take a look at Settings:

<figure><img src="/files/491sP11TmGdzUEcEs5CC" alt=""><figcaption></figcaption></figure>

As we can see, a `UITableView` can contain as many sections as it wants, and each section can contain as many rows as it wants. The rows are represented by a `UITableViewCell` which is a view. In the image above, we can see that each cell looks very similar to one another. Each cell contains a `UIImageView` representing the icon as well as a `UILabel` describing that cell. In the next section of this chapter, we’ll learn how to create these custom cells.