I'm looking to take on a bit of a hobby and I feel programming would be a great place to start. My ideal goal is to one day design an app, I'm looking to become an expert overnight but would love to spend a good few years getting to grip with programming and how it all works. When i say I am a beginner to programming I really mean I'm a beginner, I'm pretty good with the usual stuff when it comes to commuting but with codes, languages etc... I wouldn't have a clue. Where does one even start? I would love it if anyone can put me in the right direction on where to begin. Let me know if you require any additional information from me...
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iOS Looking at designing an app in the very distant future.
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I would start by looking through some of the other threads in this forum that ask the same sort of question. Here's a handful:
Learning to code
help with developing first app in xcode
iOS Programming
Creating first app, suggestions?
There's plenty more...
Also, I would check out the iPhone Developer FAQ that is a Sticky at the top of this forum.
I'd recommend going on stacksocial.com and buying the complete iOS 8 course. Once you get that, you'll notice that you get the iOS 7 course as well. I would recommend starting with that one first in order to learn objective C. Only once you have completely finished that would I move on to Swift.
I am personally nearly finished with the iOS 7 course...and I started back in May, so it's not a month long course for most by any means. personally, I also decided to subscribe to Lynda.com because they have a few good courses on things like Core Data with Simon Allardice, which I think is a very useful skill to know in and of itself. Something like Core Data can be almost impossibly difficult to understand at first, since every major concept of core data is completely dependent on every other part, so it can be hard to grasp at first. But Simon Allardice explained it well enough that I can now pretty much do anything in core data.
Books are also great. I find that I can learn just as quickly from books, but I think the video courses I've mentioned are better for some people who have never done any coding before so you can see how they move around xcode and see some tricks you could never have learned from a book. When I have a question about the actual language I mainly use Programming in Objective-C by Stephen Kochan.
It's super fun even as just a hobby. Learning iOS development has been extremely rewarding for me, it's fun just to think up new ways of doing things. Even if they've already been done by others, creating something new without anyone else's help or reference is very fun.
I am personally nearly finished with the iOS 7 course...and I started back in May, so it's not a month long course for most by any means. personally, I also decided to subscribe to Lynda.com because they have a few good courses on things like Core Data with Simon Allardice, which I think is a very useful skill to know in and of itself. Something like Core Data can be almost impossibly difficult to understand at first, since every major concept of core data is completely dependent on every other part, so it can be hard to grasp at first. But Simon Allardice explained it well enough that I can now pretty much do anything in core data.
Books are also great. I find that I can learn just as quickly from books, but I think the video courses I've mentioned are better for some people who have never done any coding before so you can see how they move around xcode and see some tricks you could never have learned from a book. When I have a question about the actual language I mainly use Programming in Objective-C by Stephen Kochan.
It's super fun even as just a hobby. Learning iOS development has been extremely rewarding for me, it's fun just to think up new ways of doing things. Even if they've already been done by others, creating something new without anyone else's help or reference is very fun.
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Thank you for all your suggestions. Can't wait to get cracking!!!
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With Lynda.com in what order would I want to start in term of videos. Just been on the site and hundreds of video came up.
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With Lynda.com in what order would I want to start in term of videos. Just been on the site and hundreds of video came up.
Honestly I couldn't really say. I have only used it as sort of a supplement for the iOS 7 course on stacksocial.com when they come across a topic that is complex and they don't have enough time to cover such as Core Data or unit testing methods, things that really deserve their own courses all by themselves. I'd really recommend starting with the iOS 7 course first since that is what I did and it has worked perfectly for me, I have never really used any of the beginner iOS stuff on Lynda so I couldn't really recommend it from personal experience.
Programming as a hobby is really fun. If you really want to make anything beyond following a tutorial, be prepared to give up all other hobbies. You kind of need to be obsessed to make it stick. Good luck!
iOs7 course is really for those that have never done coding before. I'm getting conflicting messages on the message board. Some say they have never done code before and it helps, other saying that unless you have basic knowledge of code then the courses isn't for you?
I imagine that if someone has extensive knowledge and understanding of object oriented programming, you probably don't need the course, I would say that's correct. You could probably get away with learning just the core of the language from a book I imagine, without all of the coddling that a beginner like myself needed.
But unless you have a pristine knowledge of subjects like delegation, memory management, data structures, enumeration, etc. then the course would probably still help even if you already have some experience in Java or something like that.
+1 to this.
You can't really treat this as a casual learning experience. If you do, you won't retain what you're learning.
I just want it to start off as a hobby. If I fell like I'm professing then of course I will drop things in my life to make way for it. But I don't want to quit my job and then start designing apps straight away...
Oh, you can do it as a hobby, but not if you have a bunch of other hobbies. Keep in mind it sounds like you're in a Catch-22. You don't want to devote much time to it unless you progress, but in order to progress you'll likely have to devote significant time to it.
I don't really agree with this. I have been doing iOS development as a hobby and I remember every tiniest detail I've learned. Then again I have hundreds of pages of detailed notes. But still, you don't have to quit your job to learn it or anything like that, I've been learning just fine learning as a hobby. I have a part time job and I am a full time college student in biology and I still learn Objective-C and iOS development very well.