Complete n00b at programming !

Discussion in 'Mac Programming' started by LEVENDIZ, Apr 30, 2011.

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  1. LEVENDIZ, Apr 30, 2011

    LEVENDIZ macrumors member

    Joined:
    Apr 10, 2010
    Location:
    Australia
    #1
    Hey guys, well i know absolutley nothing about programming.. where should i start ?
    I have a couple of books;
    Apress: Mac Programming for Absolute Beginners
    Objective C for Absolute Beginners
    Beginning iPhone 4 Development

    Free ebook: Become an Xcoder

    Which should i read first ?
    And should i begin to program for Mac OSX first then move to iPhone/iPad or... ?

    I have Xcode installed, is that all i need ?

    Sorry about all the questions but you can't learn if you don't ask :apple:

    Thanks guys hope you can all help :D:apple:
     
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  2. McGordon, May 1, 2011
    Last edited: May 1, 2011

    McGordon macrumors member

    Joined:
    Dec 28, 2010
    Location:
    Scotland
    #2
    I've not read any of those books but based on the description and table of contents, I'd say this one would be a good start:

    Objective C for Absolute Beginners

    It seems to cover the basics of programming in Objective-C without jumping straight into programming user interfaces. Apart from that, it seems very similar to this one:

    Apress: Mac Programming for Absolute Beginners

    Xcode should be all you'll need for now. If you get serious about getting your apps on the mac or iPhone app store you'll need to pay apple to join one of the developer programs. You can't test an iPhone app on a real iPhone without joining, though you can test on a simulator on your Mac.

    Starting programming for the Mac then moving to iOS would be good, but if your ultimate goal is to be an iPhone developer you could skip it. It's up to you really. Just get started and have fun!
     
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  3. LEVENDIZ, May 1, 2011

    LEVENDIZ thread starter macrumors member

    Joined:
    Apr 10, 2010
    Location:
    Australia
    #3
    Thank you for your quick reply..
    How long do you think it will take to have to knowledge to actually write my own App. That would be App Store quality ?

    thanks again :)
     
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  4. balamw, May 1, 2011

    balamw Moderator

    balamw

    Staff Member

    Joined:
    Aug 16, 2005
    Location:
    New England
    #4
    Depends on what the App is supposed to do. ;)

    There are plenty of apps in the store that could be written by someone with no knowledge in ~6 weeks on their own, but there are also many that are much larger.

    You will get a better appreciation of this as you make it through the books you have on hand.

    Skip "Become and Xcoder" it's too outdated to be useful .

    From Apress Learn Objective-C on the Mac gets far better reviews than "Objective C for Absolute Beginners"

    "Beginning iPhone 4 Development" also gets good reviews, but may require some previous knowledge, and "Mac Programming for Absolute Beginners" is so new it does not yet have any reviews on Amazon.

    I would suggest Kochan's "Programming in Objective-C 2.0 (2nd Edition)" as an alternative place to start. It is the "standard" book for learning Objective-C 2.0 and as such many folks are familiar with its content.

    You need to do what keeps you engaged. If that means working on iOS apps on the hardware, do that, if you learn better by developing a fundamental base, you will generally spend a lot of time on console (text I/O) stuff that will help you develop the underlying knowledge you need.

    B
     
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  5. firewood, May 1, 2011

    firewood macrumors 604

    Joined:
    Jul 29, 2003
    Location:
    Silicon Valley
    #5
    Between several months and never.

    Are you in college? Learning to write a quality iPhone app without any previous experience in programming or design might be equivalent to getting at least a "B" in 3 semester length classes, tough ones at that. The variation is large. A few people are whiz kids. Many flunk out.

    Check out the Stanford course videos on iPhone development. But the prerequisite is already being a good programmer.

    There are also point-and-click tools that will almost write an app for someone with determination at following instructions, but almost no programming knowledge. See buzztouch.com for one example. But the types of apps that can be created by such tools are quite limited.
     
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