iOS Learning to programme for iOS: expectations and where to start?

[Yixian]

I'm a recently qualified doctor in the UK. I've been passionate about technology and software for a long time, I remember making little HyperCard apps in a Mac Plus when I was about 10, but I have zero experience in programming proper.

I want to now branch out my career, I love medicine but the every day job is not for me. I love tropical medicine and working in the developing world and I want to make 1) games that build on those experiences and raise awareness in the public and 2) produce a suite of hospital/clinic management apps as what we use in hospitals currently (in the Uk anyway) is dire, so,e places I've worked even use MS DOS applications to look up blood results.

Tl;dr:

I want to create medical apps and games for iOS and I'm starting from absolute scratch.

Where is the best place to start? I was thinking taking a Python course on Udemy, followed by one on objective-C, followed by the Stanford courses in iOS. Sounds ok?

I'd also like someone realistic to put my expectations of what I can achieve in what kind of length of time in check!

Finally is there any other way of creating projects like the apps I mentioned without being a/the programmer or having the funds to hire one outright?

 

[firewood]

Yes, there are ways to create iOS apps with any coding, or hiring of a programmer, but these apps are created from templates or template generators which can be very limited in the types of resulting app of which they are capable.

The time it takes to learn how to program varies greatly from individual to individual (there kids who learn to code complex games in a few months, and adults who flunk out of university programming courses after trying for many years), and also varies by how complex an app you want to develop. Some apps don't require much coding ability, some require a team of CS graduate students.

I think starting out by trying to learn Python is a great stepping stone on the way to eventually learning how to develop iOS apps.

Time-wise, the Stanford iOS course is usually taken in a 2nd year after roughly a year of software prerequisite courses (that themselves are not pushover classes), or equivalent experience. Calibrate your expectations accordingly.