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How long does it take to learn Objective C??

R

Reeesy

macrumors newbie
Original poster
Jan 11, 2012
7
0
Hey all, i appreciate this is a bit of a "how long is a piece of string" type of question but i was wondering how difficult it is to learn Objective C.
I know it depends on many factors (dedication, time spent, current skills etc) but if anyone has some guidance it would be very helpful.

I'm a 31yr old Graphic Designer. i have ABSOLUTELY ZERO experience with ANY sort of coding. i might as well be looking at Egyptian hieroglyphics for all i know so i would be starting from the very beginning. I would typically spend a couple of hours 3 times a week learning, maybe more as i get into it.

Is my best bet to learn through books? (any recommendations?). I'm worried about booking a course as they usually assume you have at least some familiarisation with coding and would be worried about being left behind form the start.

Am i looking at month/years? How long until the fundamentals of coding 'click' and i start understanding what I'm doing?

Needless to say, i'm interested in moving into App development and know i will have to learn various other skills too. I just figured, objective C would be a good place to start.

Any thoughts or pointers would be much appreciated!

Cheers, Neil
 
iTunes U as some iPhone programming classes from Stanford that should help you learn in a more classroom like setting. I'm going to try to learn iOS development sometime this year and that's where I'm starting, I have a bit of background coding, however.
 
Reeesy said:
Hey all, i appreciate this is a bit of a "how long is a piece of string" type of question but i was wondering how difficult it is to learn Objective C.
I know it depends on many factors (dedication, time spent, current skills etc) but if anyone has some guidance it would be very helpful.

I'm a 31yr old Graphic Designer. i have ABSOLUTELY ZERO experience with ANY sort of coding. i might as well be looking at Egyptian hieroglyphics for all i know so i would be starting from the very beginning. I would typically spend a couple of hours 3 times a week learning, maybe more as i get into it.

Is my best bet to learn through books? (any recommendations?). I'm worried about booking a course as they usually assume you have at least some familiarisation with coding and would be worried about being left behind form the start.

Am i looking at month/years? How long until the fundamentals of coding 'click' and i start understanding what I'm doing?

Needless to say, i'm interested in moving into App development and know i will have to learn various other skills too. I just figured, objective C would be a good place to start.

Any thoughts or pointers would be much appreciated!

Cheers, Neil
Click to expand...

Try reading : Programming in Objective-C by Stephen G. Kochan 4th edition
 
Reeesy said:
Hey all, i appreciate this is a bit of a "how long is a piece of string" type of question but i was wondering how difficult it is to learn Objective C.
I know it depends on many factors (dedication, time spent, current skills etc) but if anyone has some guidance it would be very helpful.

I'm a 31yr old Graphic Designer. i have ABSOLUTELY ZERO experience with ANY sort of coding. i might as well be looking at Egyptian hieroglyphics for all i know so i would be starting from the very beginning. I would typically spend a couple of hours 3 times a week learning, maybe more as i get into it.

Is my best bet to learn through books? (any recommendations?). I'm worried about booking a course as they usually assume you have at least some familiarisation with coding and would be worried about being left behind form the start.

Am i looking at month/years? How long until the fundamentals of coding 'click' and i start understanding what I'm doing?

Needless to say, i'm interested in moving into App development and know i will have to learn various other skills too. I just figured, objective C would be a good place to start.

Any thoughts or pointers would be much appreciated!

Cheers, Neil
Click to expand...

Neil,

if you prefer to learn by watching you may want to try one of these video lessons which are really great! I loved learning by lectors from Lynda.com, although it was for web development I believe these will be great, too.

http://www.lynda.com/iPhone-SDK-training-tutorials/238-0.html
 
Last edited:
It all depends on how long it takes you to learn the theory behind it. A few months and you should have a solid understanding of how it works.
 
Leonard1818 said:
How close is it to C++ (for those who know)
Click to expand...

They're about as similar as they are dissimilar. The similarities mostly are conceptual and the biggest differences are in the message passing syntax and the alloc/init paradigm. It didn't take me very long to translate my C++/C# background to Objective C.
 
Reeesy said:
Hey all, i appreciate this is a bit of a "how long is a piece of string" type of question but i was wondering how difficult it is to learn Objective C.
I know it depends on many factors (dedication, time spent, current skills etc) but if anyone has some guidance it would be very helpful.

I'm a 31yr old Graphic Designer. i have ABSOLUTELY ZERO experience with ANY sort of coding. i might as well be looking at Egyptian hieroglyphics for all i know so i would be starting from the very beginning. I would typically spend a couple of hours 3 times a week learning, maybe more as i get into it.

Is my best bet to learn through books? (any recommendations?). I'm worried about booking a course as they usually assume you have at least some familiarisation with coding and would be worried about being left behind form the start.

Am i looking at month/years? How long until the fundamentals of coding 'click' and i start understanding what I'm doing?

Needless to say, i'm interested in moving into App development and know i will have to learn various other skills too. I just figured, objective C would be a good place to start.

Any thoughts or pointers would be much appreciated!
Click to expand...
It's really impossible to answer any of your questions. Some people pick up things like this in no time. Others can't ever seem to learn though some go on with coding even though they really shouldn't. Many fall somewhere in between. If you've done something similar then you have a rough idea. If not, your guess is as good as anyone's.

As for the best method to learn, again, it's subjective. How do you learn best? That would be the best way for you. Some do well with books, some need the guidance and structure of a class, some can't seem to learn no matter what.

Same sort of thing goes for your "how long?" question.
 
takeshi74 said:
It's really impossible to answer any of your questions. Some people pick up things like this in no time. Others can't ever seem to learn though some go on with coding even though they really shouldn't. Many fall somewhere in between. If you've done something similar then you have a rough idea. If not, your guess is as good as anyone's.

As for the best method to learn, again, it's subjective. How do you learn best? That would be the best way for you. Some do well with books, some need the guidance and structure of a class, some can't seem to learn no matter what.

Same sort of thing goes for your "how long?" question.
Click to expand...

Thanks for the feedback. Yes its a tricky one to answer. I guess the best thing to do is just get stuck in and see how i fair. I have ordered a couple of books so will work through those. Maybe then when i have established the ground work, a course might be the next step.
 
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