iOS AP Credit From Objective C?

[ronaldj]

Hello,

Over the last year or so I have been working on developing iPhone apps. I've completed a book on the C language, another book on Objective C, and am now a registered developer and only have a few pages left of Cocoa Fundamentals (a really long but informative document). Everything I have been learning is really starting to click and I believe I could begin successfully working on my application ideas within the next month or maybe even less. The issue is, I would like to receive a computer science AP credit for my college transcript. I've done some research, and the only test available to receive the credit is on Java! Do you think I should ditch Objective C and Cocoa to start a course on Java so I can take the test for the AP credit? After the course, I'll most likely be pretty proficient in Java. Should I take that experience in Java and begin developing for Android? It seems a shame to throw away all the work I have done learning to program for the iPhone and the Mac. If I did decide to begin working with Java, would all the time I've spent learning Objective C and Cocoa be a waste or would the same concepts I've learned thus far apply in Java as well?

Any help or advice is greatly appreciated,

Thanks,

 

[ulbador]

Once you have the fundamentals of programming down, the differences between languages are largely just cosmetic. Java is far more marketable currently, so I would definitely go down the road of learning it.

 

[ronaldj]

Once you have the fundamentals of programming down, the differences between languages are largely just cosmetic. Java is far more marketable currently, so I would definitely go down the road of learning it.

Thanks for the reply. I would really like to get some apps out on the market. If I do take the Java learning route, would you recommend that I go ahead an purchase an Android device and start trying to develop for that?

 

[ulbador]

What do you want to accomplish? Just write apps for smart devices? Pass a class for credit? Personally I have released half a dozen iOS apps and I write Java for my day job, so it's not like knowing both has hurt me in any way. Heck, many smart device applications now are just fancy front-ends to a web application, so knowing both Java and Objective C can be a huge boon.

The bottom line is if you really have a true basic understanding of programming, you can write something in whatever language you want. I've never written a line of Ruby in my life, but I am confident I could quite easily tackle it and write whatever program was required of me. Admittedly, it would probably take a bit to get a handle of the various quirks of the language and it probably wouldn't be very pretty.

I doubt anyone will argue against the fact that developing an iOS app can be more profitable than an Android app. The Android market just isn't as polished nor has it caught on as much as the AppStore. The real question comes back to what do you want to accomplish and what is it going to take to get you there. Are you going to be willing to start from scratch in learning Java and have the drive to roll that into developing for Android?

I guess you need to ask yourself, what is going to keep YOU motivated? I can't count how many ideas I've come up with, only to write a couple of modules and realize it was a far larger project than I initially thought and have the project die right there.