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iOS Wanting to learn iPhone development but can seem to figure out where to get started..

C

Cluvdowns

macrumors newbie
Original poster
Oct 20, 2011
2
0
Hey Im 21 years old and wanting to learn iPhone development. I am feeling very lost. I bought my first mac yesterday strictly for this and am now broke lol. I have learned the best investment you can make is in yourself so with this attitude I will succeed but I have no idea what to do. Now Ive been trying to read up on things on how to learn to do this. I have read this about cocoa, C language, Objective-C and object oriented stuff. I bought 2 books to try and get started. One was the iOS Programming by the big nerd ranch Joe Conway & Aaron Hillegass 2nd edition and a book on objective-c by steven holzner. I think I need to return these books because they both use Xcode to follow along in and learn. The books are some what new but they are not following the current Xcode 4.2... therefore I can't follow long and can't get passed the fourth page. I have tried looking at apple developer guides but they assume I have knowledge in other things. I literally have zero knowledge on this stuff. So I suppose my questions are

1. What ALL should I learn? (Such as languages and stuff. Confused on whats what and everything)
2. What order should I learn them?
3. What resources do I use to go about learning them? (wanting to self-teach and preferably out a book that is up to date with Xcode 4.2)
4. Anything I should know or advice?


I appreciate and thank you for any advice you give me. Im all in on learning on how to do this after spending all my cash on this laptop.
 
jnoxx

jnoxx

macrumors 65816
Dec 29, 2010
1,343
0
Aartselaar // Antwerp // Belgium
First of all, I started learning this when I was 18 (which is now 2 years ago).
it's not about just reading the book and thinking you can do it, it's actually about understanding what you are gonna do, what you wonna accomplish, i worked hard to get my first mac mini, which was actually worth nothing, but it gave me enough to get my first hands on Objective C, to get the dream flowing.

I would recommand, if you REALLY wonna do this, not just as like "hey, i'm gonna code iphone like the rest, see if i can get millionair.", then I recommand learning Objective C 3rd edition, learn Design patterns (not specifically for iOS). Then learn iOS Development, Xcode 4.2 is like a week old or something, so it would suprise me if there would be any books on it already. I know it sux reading "open this template", and it isn't there, that's why i would recommand learning the basics of Object Orientated programming, normally you learn stuff like this in school, but i never took on an higher education, so i learned it by myself too. So, just focus and keep going, and you will get there, code snippets reading, studying!

Greetings
 
C

Cluvdowns

macrumors newbie
Original poster
Oct 20, 2011
2
0
thank you for that I really am determined to learn and understand everything. So how do I go about doing these things you mentioned? Or how do i go about learning object orientated programming? And what did you mean about objective C 3rd edition?
 
T

thedollarhunter

macrumors member
May 9, 2011
80
0
UK
Welcome to the world of Mac programming :confused:

There is a lot to learn but just take it easy and try not to get overwhelmed by it all. Enjoy it!

I think there is some tradaition that you should start with a program that displays HELLO WORLD on the screen. There must be an XCode tutorial out that starts at the beginning?
 
lee.anderson

lee.anderson

macrumors regular
Aug 28, 2006
158
0
UK
About your problem with the books using old xcode versions, you can just find that particular version they are using in the book and install it. You can install multiple xcode versions and they will run side by side.
There really isn't huge differences between the older versions of xcode, so whatever version you learn on can be easily carried over to the newer ones.

You first need to learn programming. The best book I would recommend to learn the basics is Programming in Objective-C 2.0 3rd Edition by Stephen Kochan, which assumes you have no prior knowledge of programming. That book will take you from the absolute basics of programming up to where you can comfortably learn iOS specific development.

Good luck on learning. If you're new to programming then you're probably going to feel overwhelmed by all the different stuff you have to learn, so take it slow.
 
Last edited:
balamw

balamw

Moderator emeritus
Aug 16, 2005
19,366
979
New England
1458279

1458279

Suspended
May 1, 2010
1,601
1,521
California
I have the same problem with my version of the 'big nerd ranch' book. It's the prior version of XCode.

I still worked my way thru it, however it wasn't my 1st book. There's an online boot that's free:http://www.techotopia.com/index.php/IPhone_iOS_4_Development_Essentials_Xcode_4_Edition

I got stuck in one spot, so it's not perfect, but was a pretty good start and it's free for the online version.

Part of programming is getting to the answer without all the clues, I find that searching for something in xcode that does what they refer to in the book helps to remember it next time. Whereas just typing and clicking 'run' doesn't make you think as much.

Your 1st few errors are an important part of learning, the more they hurt, the more you'll remember them.
 
H

Hansr

macrumors 6502a
Apr 1, 2007
897
1
This xcode 3 vs 4 stuff is so annoyingly stupid, if you can't map between the two on your own you will never be good at programming. Seriously it's trivial...
 
F

firewood

macrumors G3
Jul 29, 2003
8,108
1,345
Silicon Valley
Programming and software development is about problem solving. The people who will become good at see the differences between Xcode 3 and Xcode 4 as just another problem to solve. Hunt for, read and compare both old and new documentation. Experiment.

Or start with something simpler, an educational programming language for kids would be my recommendation (something like this: http://www.amazon.com/Hello-World-Computer-Programming-Beginners/dp/1933988495). Then move up to Objective C when that seems too easy.
 
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