Starting to learn how to program

[Liamf555]

Hi guys,

I would like to start to learn how to develop mac/iphone apps and would like to learn C

I have absolutely no experience of programming of any kind.

So, where would be the best place to start - decent tutorials etc.

Thanks for any help

[MacRohde]

Well the first step is deciding on a technology to use. If you want to do iPhone apps (as well as Mac apps) Objective-C is the way to go.

In that case get Steve Kochan's book on Objective-C 2.0 from Amazon.

[lee1210]

http://guides.macrumors.com/Cocoa_FAQ

There is a link that says "How do I get started programming on the Mac (or iPhone)?" under Mac Guides on the front page of this forum. You should start there.

Also, there is an advanced search on the forum, and you can find lots of threads on this topic out there already:
http://forums.macrumors.com/showthre...rt+programming
http://forums.macrumors.com/showthre...rt+programming
http://forums.macrumors.com/showthre...rt+programming
http://forums.macrumors.com/showthre...rt+programming
http://forums.macrumors.com/showthre...rt+programming
http://forums.macrumors.com/showthre...rt+programming

-Lee

[cromestant]

if yo ujust want to start to learn programming, I think you ought to start out with something simpler than objective C, i program in php, python, C , C++, java, i ve even had to do some IA32 assembly code, and its still taking me a while to get used to obj-c

Id recommend starting out with python, its great although some of its features might spoil you, so maybe go for java first.

I might get flamed for this , but hey its my opinion.

ps: many pple suggest going for ruby on starting out, but i ve never tried it, so can t really recommend it.

[plumbingandtech]

Originally Posted by Liamf555

Hi guys,

I would like to start to learn how to develop mac/iphone apps and would like to learn C

I have absolutely no experience of programming of any kind.

So, where would be the best place to start - decent tutorials etc.

Thanks for any help

as programmer you will be searching for code examples solutions a lot as well....

So the first thing to do is to learn how to use the search forum tools before posting yet another freaking "how do I start programming thread"

[Liamf555]

Thanks for all the help

Originally Posted by plumbingandtech

So the first thing to do is to learn how to use the search forum tools before posting yet another freaking "how do I start programming thread"

Sorry I will do that in the future

[Liamf555]

Anyone else with any advice/help?

[lee1210]

Originally Posted by Liamf555

Anyone else with any advice/help?

Quite a bit, but it is all in the threads I linked. =)

-Lee

[firewood]

I recommend going to the library and looking though all the books on beginning programming (or programming for dummies/idiots, etc.) and finding books you like, find readable, and will actually work though lots of the problem sets. The books are all different, and there are a lot more choices for your particular level and learning style for some programming languages than for others.

It doesn't matter what language.

It only matters that you spend time writing programs until you understand how. So pick the language(s) where you can get through the book(s) you've found the fastest and understand the ideas the best.

Then after you are comfortable with one programming language, learn another, maybe even Applescript, Javascript, or Objective-C.

.

[Liamf555]

i have to say that i have found things a little confusing. i have been using becomeanxcoder and im confused.

[firewood]

Originally Posted by Liamf555

i have to say that i have found things a little confusing. i have been using becomeanxcoder and im confused.

Go to the library and find a book or two on beginning/intro programming/software that you find easy and non-confusing.

It doesn't matter what programming language.

After you learn enough to get though a couple of the easy books, the XCode/Cocoa/Obj-C books will magically transform themselves into being much less confusing.

.

[Liamf555]

Thanks for the help.

Could you recommend a good starter language

[lee1210]

Originally Posted by Liamf555

Thanks for the help.

Could you recommend a good starter language

My favorite recommendation is C. People will disagree about this to no end. There was a thread that went on for well over a week about this very recently.

C is far enough from the machine to let you worry about your algorithms and learning some common syntax instead of shifting things in and out of memory to registers with machine code, but close enough that you get a good feeling about the hardware-software interface, especially using things like pointers.

It also has mature compilers, tons of people with a lot of knowledge, and runs everywhere.

I hope that this doesn't start another holy war about programming languages. I hazard to offer my suggestion to use gcc at the terminal with a simple text editor instead of an IDE, because that can start a whole different holy war.

-Lee

[eddietr]

Originally Posted by Liamf555

Thanks for the help.

Could you recommend a good starter language

I would start with a good fundamental knowledge of C. Then you can learn anything other language you're interested in very quickly.

[firewood]

Originally Posted by Liamf555

Could you recommend a good starter language

Basic, Lisp, Scheme or Logo. However it's nearly impossible to find many books on these ancient languages these days, so you'll have far better luck with finding tons of titles on C, Java, or Javascript on the shelves at your local library.

If you find an ancient book on Smalltalk, that'd be great, since it was designed as an educational language, and since Objective C is sort-of Smalltalk in sheep's (C syntax) clothing. Very unlikely to find anything though.

.

[eddietr]

Originally Posted by firewood

Basic, Lisp, Scheme or Logo. However it's nearly impossible to find many books on these ancient languages these days,

Hmmm, I don't know about BASIC.

But LISP/Scheme is a great foundation. The first textbook I ever read about programming is available free online:

http://mitpress.mit.edu/sicp/full-text/book/book.html

Get a good scheme interpreter, and read that book and you can easily code in anything after that.

EDIT: Plus you'll have that cool wear pattern on your 9 and 0 keys that all *real* developers have.

[Liamf555]

Thanks for all the help guys