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iOS What book after Big Nerd Ranch ObjC?

Akarin

Akarin

macrumors 6502
Original poster
Oct 16, 2011
290
17
Nyon, Switzerland
Hi all,

I'm soon to be finished with reading the excellent Big Nerd Ranch book on learning Objective-C. It targets Xcode 4.2 and touches on iOS 5 as well.

Now, where do I go from here if I want to read a structured book and not tutorials on the web? As I've read, the iOS book from Big Nerd Ranch is outdated and difficult to work with if you have iOS 5 & Xcode 4.2 in mind. I'd really like a book that is up-to-date. Can anybody recommend a book that would continue where the one on Objective-C left off?

Thank you!
 
CheesePuff

CheesePuff

macrumors 65816
Sep 3, 2008
1,445
1,553
Southwest Florida, USA
Akarin said:
Hi all,

I'm soon to be finished with reading the excellent Big Nerd Ranch book on learning Objective-C. It targets Xcode 4.2 and touches on iOS 5 as well.

Now, where do I go from here if I want to read a structured book and not tutorials on the web? As I've read, the iOS book from Big Nerd Ranch is outdated and difficult to work with if you have iOS 5 & Xcode 4.2 in mind. I'd really like a book that is up-to-date. Can anybody recommend a book that would continue where the one on Objective-C left off?

Thank you!
Click to expand...

Well if you think outdated means 2 months old then yes, it is. (It was published July 2011). People may say its outdated because it uses iOS 4.3 and Xcode 4.1, since iOS 5 and Xcode 4.2 were still under NDA when the book was written and published. The main difference is ARC which you already learned in the book you are reading now.
 
ArtOfWarfare

ArtOfWarfare

macrumors G3
Nov 26, 2007
9,553
6,053
I don't understand this insistence on spending money on books that are only going to go out of date.

Open iTunes, go to the store, go to the iTunes U section, search for Stanford iOS programming class. They post all of their lectures online for free. There are generally about 20 lectures / semester, each between an hour and two hours long, and pretty well structured.

Occasionally, they get dated, but if you just wait until the start of the next semester, they'll normally start posting new lectures that will be up to date again, and they'll be free.

Honestly, you can't beat it. Free, up to date, structured, and easy to follow.
 
CheesePuff

CheesePuff

macrumors 65816
Sep 3, 2008
1,445
1,553
Southwest Florida, USA
ArtOfWarfare said:
I don't understand this insistence on spending money on books that are only going to go out of date.

Open iTunes, go to the store, go to the iTunes U section, search for Stanford iOS programming class. They post all of their lectures online for free. There are generally about 20 lectures / semester, each between an hour and two hours long, and pretty well structured.

Occasionally, they get dated, but if you just wait until the start of the next semester, they'll normally start posting new lectures that will be up to date again, and they'll be free.

Honestly, you can't beat it. Free, up to date, structured, and easy to follow.
Click to expand...

They are great videos, but they don't do a good job at teaching someone new to programming the basics and fundamentals of programming. They assume knowledge of an object-oriented language.
 
Akarin

Akarin

macrumors 6502
Original poster
Oct 16, 2011
290
17
Nyon, Switzerland
Alright, let me re-phrase: I'm new to everything iOS/Mac but not to programming. I do that for a living for more years than I care to remember about 10 hours a day. Having a family, my time is severly limited so instead of jumping from one video to a forum to a thread and figuring out a learning path, I usually like to take a book to read and learn in a structured manner.

I know technical books get outdated pretty rapidly but so far, in the Microsoft, PHP or Oracle environments, I could always read a book on the current technology that is on par with the product version I'm using. I'm just a little surprised that it seems to be a challenge in the Apple world.

As said, I am new to everything Mac and iOS when it comes to coding and I read a review of the Big Nerd iOS book saying it is hard to follow if you are new to the technology as the examples do not fit what you currently have on your screen. I don't know if and how it is true, hence my question to the community: what book wouldn't have me lost at chapter 2 because it is outdated?

Thank you :p
 
Akarin

Akarin

macrumors 6502
Original poster
Oct 16, 2011
290
17
Nyon, Switzerland
North Bronson said:
The Objective-C Programming Language

Objective-C Runtime Programming Guide

You might be ready to just jump into the Apple documentation. Do you find yourself having a considerably easier time learning from third-party teachers?
Click to expand...

This looks good and easy to follow from what I've seen so far. Might be good. As for 3rd party teachers, yes I often find myself having an easier time reading a book written by someone like Hillegass who is a seasoned teacher and can get you right into the stuff you need to know.
 
F

firewood

macrumors G3
Jul 29, 2003
8,107
1,345
Silicon Valley
Akarin said:
As I've read, the iOS book from Big Nerd Ranch is outdated and difficult to work with if you have iOS 5 & Xcode 4.2 in mind.
Click to expand...

If you really learned Objective C thoroughly, then the differences between Xcode 3 and 4 won't bother you. And only a tiny percentage of iOS APIs are completely new to iOS 5, so you won't miss much unless you really need your app to be iCloud enabled, or some such.
 
CheesePuff

CheesePuff

macrumors 65816
Sep 3, 2008
1,445
1,553
Southwest Florida, USA
firewood said:
If you really learned Objective C thoroughly, then the differences between Xcode 3 and 4 won't bother you. And only a tiny percentage of iOS APIs are completely new to iOS 5, so you won't miss much unless you really need your app to be iCloud enabled, or some such.
Click to expand...

The thing is though that the book he is referring to is based on iOS 4.3 and Xcode 4.1 so the only thing he is missing is the new API's introduced in iOS 5 and then ARC and storyboards in Xcode.
 
IDMah

IDMah

macrumors 6502
May 13, 2011
316
11
I am there or throw yourself from the tree.

My recommendation, is to start a simple project from.

I'm at the same point. Finished both iOS programming and Cocoa programming.
for myself and you I suggest , starting to write an app, a simple project. It allowed me to understand the whole iOS/ Cocoa 'head space' better than following a book. To me doing my own project is the really the only way to 'get' this stuff straight.


Just my opinion.
Ian

ps. still making stupid mistakes but a least I'm learning, and will come out the end with an app. maybe sucky one but an app !
 
L

larswik

macrumors 68000
Sep 8, 2006
1,552
11
Ya know I am also in the big pool of learning. My weak area is understanding the views, windows, layers and so on. I thought the best way to better understand those areas for me was to get a book on Game development which is GUI rich and sure enough the second chapter jumped into it.

This book is really outdated "Beginning iPhone Game Development" by Apress and uses Xcode 3.x but I was comfortable with linking my IB Objects with the code from version 3 to 4 of Xcode.

This method seems to work for me since it focuses on a specific area of weakness.
 
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