iOS CodeCoalition - 3 months to learn iOS from scratch? Possible?

MrMister111 said:

I'm an "Apple man" with iMac, iPads, iPhones, Apple TVs etc. out of interest I've always wanted to try programming and best of all for iOS as I like Apple stuff and App Store.

So although I have a busy life with family and work I found CodeCoalition site. They promise to teach a complete newbie like me to programming to be an iOS programmer in 3 months!

Is this even possible, for someone like me who hasn't done any programming? I'm keen to try it tbh, but unsure of time that I could dedicate. It's just for fun, although would in the future if I like it and become anywhere capable of submitting an app.

I have no affiliation to the site or company by the way, just spotted it, and was contacted on twitter.

Anyone heard of them or even think its remotely possible? They say they've been active in NYC teaching in classes but this is first time they've done it online.

Cheers

Click to expand...

If you're a quick study, have an aptitude for it, are very self-motivated, spend several hours a day, and have the wind at your back, you can probably have a basic working knowledge of iOS development in 3 months. However don't expect to be proficient.

Objective-C, the language used for iOS development, is not a big language. However, it's based on C, and the syntax is rather cryptic and takes a while to "suss out", as the Brits say.

The bigger challenge is Cocoa Touch. The Cocoa Touch frameworks are big and rich, and take a lot of study. I think the frameworks are too big for any one person to know completely, even for Apple engineers. You learn the fundamentals, and the design patterns that Apple uses, and then learn how to use the documentation and other resources to learn the new stuff you need for each project you tackle.

At some point a light bulb turns on, and when you tackle a new task you know how to find the tools you need and can quickly learn new parts of the OS. However, that point is probably several years away for a total beginner. Until then you'll still get things done, but it will be more of an uphill battle, with false starts along the way.

If you enjoy the learning process and think the challenge is fun, you'll do well. If it seems like a chore, you probably won't invest the time required.

I'm entirely self-taught.

I learned programming as a teenager and young adult, when I could devote long hours to study and experimentation. Now it's what I do for a living, so I'm still able to devote lots of time to it, but I'm not sure how well I'd do if I did something else as a day job with a wife and 3 kids requiring a lot of my time and attention.

MrMister111 said:

This is the bother. I also have wife, kids, job (shift work), so it's more the time I can dedicate to it. But hey it's a $100 (£65), I'll see how I do, nothing too much lost if I don't, or can't keep up.

Click to expand...

It beats watching football on the telly in terms of personal enrichment. Be prepared to spend most of your discretionary (non work, non-family) time on it.

report what you find out. good luck

Its takes Years to become a proficient programmer, Technology is so deep and every thing changes by the minute. Learning the API's is the tricking part.

MrMister111 said:

Thanks I will! I don't hold out much hope tbh, but worth a shot for an intro suppose

Click to expand...

thank you.

MrMister111 said:

Thanks I will! I don't hold out much hope tbh, but worth a shot for an intro suppose

Click to expand...

"A journey of a thousand miles begins with a single step."

If you don't take that single step, you won't get anywhere.

The key question is, do you enjoy the journey. If so, you'll keep at it.

I taught myself from complete noob with two kids, wife and more than full time job. I pretty much stopped doing most things other than learning and thinking about coding. It was always fun though and isn't a chore. if it ever feels like a chore you won't last. My self studies were so fun that I decided to go back to school for a cs degree. If you are really into it the timeframe doesn't matter, you'll be doing it for a long time and always be learning.

MrMister111 said:

I'm an "Apple man" with iMac, iPads, iPhones, Apple TVs etc. out of interest I've always wanted to try programming and best of all for iOS as I like Apple stuff and App Store.

So although I have a busy life with family and work I found CodeCoalition site. They promise to teach a complete newbie like me to programming to be an iOS programmer in 3 months!

Is this even possible, for someone like me who hasn't done any programming? I'm keen to try it tbh, but unsure of time that I could dedicate. It's just for fun, although would in the future if I like it and become anywhere capable of submitting an app.

I have no affiliation to the site or company by the way, just spotted it, and was contacted on twitter.

Anyone heard of them or even think its remotely possible? They say they've been active in NYC teaching in classes but this is first time they've done it online.

Cheers

Click to expand...

If they're just teaching programming basics, then, sure, 3 months sounds plausible.

But to eventually create an app and release it on the AppStore, I would say it would take you about 6 months to a year. And that's for someone who has prior experience in programming. There is a lot more information to cover than just programming language basics, like "Objective-C". Just learning the ins and outs of XCode, iTunes Connect, coding, debugging, compiling, APIs, menus, 2D/3D graphics, sounds, animation, etc... for one person takes an aweful lot of time. It really depends on the app. As some apps, you may have to deal with all of those areas.

And then, at the end of the day, when everything is done, and when only a handful people downloaded your app, it will fall off the map, you may go back to your normal daily activities after wasting an entire year.

The most effective learning strategy for me was learning while being engaged in a work or an iOS project. I believe that you do not have all to learn all the details first and then start working on projects. Both working and learning should always continue in parallel. This worked best for me.

MacMan988 said:

The most effective learning strategy for me was learning while being engaged in a work or an iOS project. I believe that you do not have all to learn all the details first and then start working on projects. Both working and learning should always continue in parallel. This worked best for me.

Click to expand...

This is how I find myself learning. I'm busy at work with an iOS development project. I have learnt a lot more in 4 months than I would have done at home + other line of work.

These guys are right - there is a lot to learn. In four months of me learning I can tell you I have just scratched the surface and still along way to go!

3 months is doable for the basics - if you have a few hours a day to put into it.

Good luck!

The alternative is you do what I did.

I'd never programmed anything in my life before but after 3 weeks I had an app on the App Store (mind you this was back in 2009 when you could pretty much release anything and people would by it).

I learnt by finding example code that was similar to what I wanted to do and totally picked it apart, found something else I wanted to add and then just hacked it all together.

I'd change something, watch it break, spend hours figuring out why, then break something else. I'd repeat this until I was close to crying and giving up but soon you get that lightbulb moment.

Now by doing this you won't know objective-C BUT having something fully completed even though it all isn't 100% your own doing, gives you so much more motivation to do and learn more. Well it did for me anyway, I sat with books and videos and going through all of that basic command line and hello world stuff made me lose focus pretty quickly, and there was a lot in there that at the time wasn't relevant to what I wanted to do.

It all depends on how you learn really. There will be people who won't agree with me at all and that's fine but I learnt by doing and then hitting the books when something didn't make sense.

It's good that mechanism is there for shoving updates down user's throats.
When you do learn a new trick, you can implement it in all apps,
and fix some older mistakes.

Twimfy said:

The alternative is you do what I did.

I'd never programmed anything in my life before but after 3 weeks I had an app on the App Store (mind you this was back in 2009 when you could pretty much release anything and people would by it).

I learnt by finding example code that was similar to what I wanted to do and totally picked it apart, found something else I wanted to add and then just hacked it all together.

I'd change something, watch it break, spend hours figuring out why, then break something else. I'd repeat this until I was close to crying and giving up but soon you get that lightbulb moment.

Now by doing this you won't know objective-C BUT having something fully completed even though it all isn't 100% your own doing, gives you so much more motivation to do and learn more. Well it did for me anyway, I sat with books and videos and going through all of that basic command line and hello world stuff made me lose focus pretty quickly, and there was a lot in there that at the time wasn't relevant to what I wanted to do.

It all depends on how you learn really. There will be people who won't agree with me at all and that's fine but I learnt by doing and then hitting the books when something didn't make sense.

Click to expand...

xArtx said:

It's good that mechanism is there for shoving updates down user's throats.
When you do learn a new trick, you can implement it in all apps,
and fix some older mistakes.

Click to expand...

Lol I feel for my users in the early days. Poor quality apps being updated constantly as I try to get my act together.

I went from version 1.0 to 1.6 inside 4 months.

But my point was that the feeling of accomplishment beyond getting hello world to work is a powerful motivational tool.

I am looking to learn as well, 3 months is too short though, would you post if the training was succesuful? I bought an ios dev book from big nerd ranch and plan to start digging through it this weekend. I have litte java experience and I am part of a small dev team (with my only function being revising legal policies, since I am a Lawyer), but can´t code an app yet.

Are books a good starting point?

I would also be interested in finding out how it goes, I'm doing the Big nerd ranch books on my spare time, after trying other videos methods. I'm finding the BnR books are the best method for me. It's about learning it right, not learning it fast and easy.

hagr182 said:

I am looking to learn as well, 3 months is too short though, would you post if the training was succesuful? I bought an ios dev book from big nerd ranch and plan to start digging through it this weekend. I have litte java experience and I am part of a small dev team (with my only function being revising legal policies, since I am a Lawyer), but can´t code an app yet.

Are books a good starting point?

Click to expand...

They can be, but you have to set yourself a routine and goals.

Once you've worked through it, the real test is coming up with something simple and seeing if you can do it on your own.

I'd say two books are probably best. I recommend Big Nerd Ranch Objective-C and Beginning iOS Dev by Jeff Lamarche.

Start with Big Nerd and then once you've finished it, switch to the other and continuously go back to Big Nerd to make sure you understand from a coding perspective what is happening and why.

You can be an expert at Objective-C but looking at iOS Dev without an understanding of how MVC or any of the API's work can be daunting.

I saw a tv ad or something years ago with a guy just clicking away pages on his browser and then a page came up saying "You have reached the end of the internet". Funny ad and when I saw your 3 month post it reminded me of that ad. So at 3 months "You mastered programming".

For me, just like that ad, I discovered you never reach the end of learning, you just get better and better. Plus code is always changing with new code being added and other things being depreciated.

So the only advice I can add besides these great people above is to move at a pace that you are comfortable with and understand what you are reading. I would not spend that money on a class. I would get a good book on C and ask lots of questions on this forum like I did.

I quit learning a couple of times because I thought it was to hard. My problem was that I wanted to move to fast and create apps right away, mistake. I stepped back to C, understood it and then moved to Object C and it worked for me.

MrMister111 said:

These big nerd books seem to be popular and recommended. Are they the best for a complete beginner to not just iOS programming but any programming?

I might buy the book as well to read when not in front of my iMac. Can you give the specific one to get please? Amazon UK or iBooks prob best for me, probably in digital format.

Click to expand...

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Objective-C...58&sr=8-1&keywords=big+nerd+ranch+objective-c

This is what I have. If you're totally new to programming then it's a good book to begin with. The learning curve does get quite steep quite early on but I've tried many books and this is the best for me.

MrMister111 said:

Let me get this straight. I know I won't be a complete programmer after the 3 month course, you never will, even Apple engineers won't as there's always something new.

I wouldn't normally spend this amount on a course, but its a home run course, I don't have to attend a college class, although its a 3 month course, even if I don't complete in time, I've already asked and confirmed that I can download the course videos and keep them to work at my speed, when I want.

I've also sort of priced against other programming video courses available and it isn't too bad a price. £65 for 3 months, not sure actually how many videos it will be. Lynda.com for example, you don't keep the videos, only stream them for the time you are subscribed.

At the end of it, I might hate it anyway, I'll have had a bash, £65 out of pocket, and I'll still have the videos if I want to return to them later.

The more worrying factor for me is this time required. Being, like many, a busy family and work man, I'd love to dedicate loads of hours a week, but I know even now I'll struggle. The course providers state at least 10 hours a week. Not sure ill have enough time, but we'll see.

Thanks

Click to expand...

I'm not sure why you're paying when you could use something like code academy to learn a language or you could get the Stanford or many other free videos from iTunes U for nothing.