iOS Lynda tutorials

[BioCore]

Good Morning everyone,

I have recently started learning objective-C in the hopes that I will be able to implement what I learn to the iPhone OS and later on even the Mac OS X.

The book I chose was Cocoa and Objective-C: Up and Running by Scott Stevenson. I think it is an amazing book and have learned quite a bit, the only issue is that there a lot of features that I question if I will use. Stuff like Dynamic messaging or selectors. Seems like feature you would use if working in a group based environment (which I don't intend for now).

Maybe its just because I'm still a newb (thus don't see the benefits yet), but I was wondering if I should use a tutorial video like Lynda.com. Or should I continue on with the book and then move on to a beginning with iPhone development book?

 

[balamw]

Personally, I'd suggest something a bit more formal like Kochan or Hillegass as a next step. I think Stevenson is a good book for giving a quick whirlwind tour, but IMHO you need to supplement that with a bit more basic understanding of Objective-C and Cocoa.

B

 

[BioCore]

Hey Balamw,

Thanks for the recommendation, I was looking at both books, and I think the Kochan book looks a bit more interesting to me (or at least the way it was written). I did noticed that the author has video tutorials under the same name, anyone ever try those out?

Also, after completing a book like Kochan's, what would be a good other book. Some have been recommending "Beginning iPhone development", but I'm not sure about that. Is it a good book to use for introduction to iPhone?

 

[chown33]

Also, after completing a book like Kochan's, what would be a good other book. Some have been recommending "Beginning iPhone development", but I'm not sure about that. Is it a good book to use for introduction to iPhone?

Finish your first book first, then choose the next one. You can't line up books like a perfect series of stepping stones before starting, because you can't predict how the first one is going to work out.

 

[BioCore]

Finish your first book first, then choose the next one. You can't line up books like a perfect series of stepping stones before starting, because you can't predict how the first one is going to work out.

Very true. I guess I will do that obviously . In your opinion though, how much practice would I need to dedicate before I should delve into developing for the iPhone, or should I use that as my practicing environment? (I guess you never really do stop learning or practicing, just getting better).

Thanks for the recommendations guys.

 

[chown33]

No one can predict how much practice you'll need. There's a lot of individual variation.

If you can apply logical analysis to a problem and write a program for it, you're in good shape. Do it consistently for problems within your skill level, writing programs with no crashes or memory leaks, and you're ready to advance.

For example, write a blackjack program that works using only stdin/stdout text streams in Terminal. It should shuffle, deal, let you make bets, take cards, etc. If you don't know what any of that means, you have some work to do.

As further examples, do the same for any number of simple classic games like Battleship, Twenty Questions, What Number am I Thinking Of, etc.

If you've solved all those using stdin/stdout and simple text interaction, then write the network-playable versions. You'll need to learn about networking to do that.