iOS Best iOS dev book today

[timmciglobal]

Did a search first and found some old threads and arguments about learning C before objective-c.

In terms of today, what would you recommend for best beginners book for iOS development?

I went to school for IT but more a focus on support then programming. Only programming background I have is mostly in VB and HTML from then.

Any recommendations would be helpful. I'd like something more atune to a step by step but with good explanations. Nothing too basic but nothing too advanced where it'll already assume a good knowledge of C. If I had to lean one way I'd rather go too basic/too slow then too fast and be confused since I'm doing this all on my own!

Thanks,

Tim

 

[Shawnpk]

This is a good book on iPhone programming. Not sure if it will be too advanced for you though.

 

[timmciglobal]

That book review points out its for xcode 3, is there an updated one anyone suggest for xcode 4?

Tim

 

[Shawnpk]

Xcode 4 is still fairly new so most books are probably still being rewritten for Xcode 4.

 

[turbobass]

C is plenty easy to pick up in a basic way if you are at least familiar with some basic web scripting like I was. (Server and client -- PHP and JavaScript).

Now that I'm getting into Objective C I am wondering a bit of "how far" do I need to keep pursuing C to make sure I am not headed towards a cliff? I am good with declarations, assignments, basic expressions, fundamentals of the compiler / linker process, etc. Do I need to be writing whole stand-alone C apps before getting into Objective C? IDK, that seems like a waste of time from the differences I've seen so far.

BTW if you're coming at this with no Object Oriented background I suggest this book: http://www.amazon.com/Object-Oriented-Thought-Process-Matt-Weisfeld/dp/0672330164

 

[balamw]

Did a search first and found some old threads and arguments about learning C before objective-c.

I, for one, have a hard time with that argument. Here's a good example of why: https://forums.macrumors.com/threads/1212054/

Most of the thread is spent trying to make Objective-C fit into a C-like model, but the native Cocoa solution is by far easier to understand.

I recommend starting with the third edition of Kochan, then skimming over C and then heading to a more detailed iOS book like Conway and Hillegass.

B

 

[turbobass]

I recommend starting with the third edition of Kochan, then skimming over C and then heading to a more detailed iOS book like Conway and Hillegass.

B

Yeah I'm going to go too much further into C after reading that thread LOL.

 

[VMMan]

I, for one, have a hard time with that argument. Here's a good example of why: https://forums.macrumors.com/threads/1212054/

Most of the thread is spent trying to make Objective-C fit into a C-like model, but the native Cocoa solution is by far easier to understand.

I recommend starting with the third edition of Kochan, then skimming over C and then heading to a more detailed iOS book like Conway and Hillegass.

B

+1

I only knew AppleSoft BASIC and Pascal from the 70's to early 80's and read Steve Kochans Objective C 2.0 book first. I found it clear and concise

I then read the Mark and LaMarche Beginning iPhone SDK book 1st Ed (now it's Mark and Nutting on SDK 4) which in retrospect is a crappy book IMHO but it got the job done in having a beginner slap a program together.

I really like the Big Nerd Ranch book for iOS but it's too terse for a total beginner. Erica Sadun's 2nd Ed Cookbook is awesome but it made me realize that I still needed to learn C.

So I then read the classic K&R book and was blown away by how concise and incredibly intelligent the authors' code examples demonstrated. I reread Erica Sadun's book with greater appreciation.

Now, I'm looking for a book that deals with overall software architecture, maybe a Cocoa design patterns book or agnostic OOP concepts book.

I'm pretty happy with having followed the above sequence.

 

[ViviUO]

There is no best dev book. There are however plenty of well written books.

The best one for you is the one you have the easiest time understanding. Check out Amazon to look inside of them before buying.

 

[brianbauer04]

Now, I'm looking for a book that deals with overall software architecture, maybe a Cocoa design patterns book or agnostic OOP concepts book.

I think this is pretty important, especially if someone is intending to sell software on the App Store.

I have been developing software professionally for nearly 15 years and can say with certainty that programming books are generally good at showing examples of how specific functionality works and can be implemented, but are very bad at showing how to putting a lot of functionality together to create an application that can be maintained for years. When people pay you money for an application, there are certain expectations that come along with it. As a developer, you need to be able to come back to your code after months of not thinking about it and be able to fix bugs or add features in a simple manner that makes it easy to come back again months in the future.

On the Apple Developer website, there is a document called iOS Human Interface Guidelines. It has a section called App Design Strategies. There is also a document called Cocoa Fundamentals Guide. It has a section called Cocoa Design Patterns. Read those and understand them and try to figure out how your ideas can fit into these guidelines. This will go a long way towards learning how to develop for iOS. Once you have broken down your idea into these smaller pieces, the programming books and various websites can show you plenty of examples for actually programming the small pieces.