Hello I just bought a brand new MacBook Pro, this is my very first Mac and I'm very interested in trying to develop iPhone and iPad apps. My only downfall is I have no experience in any type of programming or developing at all. I am a heavy iPhone and iPad user and now that i have a mac i thought it would be nice to pick up a new hobby and try something new. I was wondering if anyone could lead me to a proper guide to start from the ground up with programming and the basics for development. I looked around but everything i found they always end up saying you need to learn something else before learning this and it got pretty confusing. Just looking for some proper guidance to great material to learn everything, thanks for any help.
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iOS New to iphone/ipad developing
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There are some stickies at the top of this very forum which will set you on the way.
Also, grab up some books because you ain't in for an easy ride, just read through them, see if u can actually understand, biggest mistake i made when i was younger was type everything over, make it run, and think i was the biggest badass of all time, but just copying code will smack you in the face real fast, when you try to develop something yourself
Also, grab up some books because you ain't in for an easy ride, just read through them, see if u can actually understand, biggest mistake i made when i was younger was type everything over, make it run, and think i was the biggest badass of all time, but just copying code will smack you in the face real fast, when you try to develop something yourself
Hi, I walked into this new hospital today, and am interested in doing some brain surgery. My only downfall is I have no experience in surgery or any other type of medical training at all. I am a regular visitor to hospital emergency rooms, and now that there is this new hospital nearby, I though I would try to pick up a new hobby and cure brain cancer. Can anyone give me a proper guide on the easy way to do this. I looked around but everything I found they always end up saying you need to learn something else before learning this and it got pretty confusing. Just looking for some proper guidance to great material to learn everything. Thanks for all your help. I give you discount for being my first brain surgery patient.
The quickest way to go from knowing nothing to being able to write your own iPhone apps is two steps:
Step 1:
Learn C. Pick up a copy of "The C Programming Language". It's a book with a plain white cover and a large blue C in the middle. It's a few decades old, but IMO is the best book for learning C. Some people say its too difficult to learn from, but I say if you can't learn from it, you're not cut out to program. That's not to say you can't ask for help as you go through the exercises, just that the other books essentially tell you to copy what they write, which is like trying to learn math by only copying down answers from the back of the book.
You'll also need a copy of Xcode which last I checked was $5 on the Mac App Store (if you have a Mac OS X install disc, Xcode can also be installed for free from that... But I don't think the new Macs come with those anymore.)
If you need getting C projects set up in Xcode just ask here once you have the book.
Learning C will only take a few weeks if you spend an hour or two each day learning it.
Step 2:
Stanford has a free course on iTunes U that teaches iOS development. They have twenty or so lectures, each an hour and a half long. Watch them all and do the homework they assign and you should be able to write some iOS programs within three or four months.
Step 1:
Learn C. Pick up a copy of "The C Programming Language". It's a book with a plain white cover and a large blue C in the middle. It's a few decades old, but IMO is the best book for learning C. Some people say its too difficult to learn from, but I say if you can't learn from it, you're not cut out to program. That's not to say you can't ask for help as you go through the exercises, just that the other books essentially tell you to copy what they write, which is like trying to learn math by only copying down answers from the back of the book.
You'll also need a copy of Xcode which last I checked was $5 on the Mac App Store (if you have a Mac OS X install disc, Xcode can also be installed for free from that... But I don't think the new Macs come with those anymore.)
If you need getting C projects set up in Xcode just ask here once you have the book.
Learning C will only take a few weeks if you spend an hour or two each day learning it.
Step 2:
Stanford has a free course on iTunes U that teaches iOS development. They have twenty or so lectures, each an hour and a half long. Watch them all and do the homework they assign and you should be able to write some iOS programs within three or four months.
You obviously have not interviewed a lot of junior job candidates with more than a few hours of courses involving C on their resumes or college transcripts.
A few are great. But many show strong indications of having learned almost nothing useable for all those hours spent. YMMV.
You can become familiar with C and programming by spending an hour or two a day for a few weeks. Actually learning it to the point of being able to implement something nontrivial in a reasonable amount of time will take months if not years depending on how dedicated you are and how naturally it comes to you.
I'd say "familiar" with C is good enough to start programming for iOS. He's talking about doing this as a hobby, not as a full time job.
For some people, a year or two of full-time university coursework using C isn't "familiar" enough. For others, it takes only weeks. Don't confuse the two types of people. The OP won't have any idea which way his coin flips until after he starts.
I've met medical doctors who are terrible programmers. The OP might well be one of those people who finds a dozen years of medical training easier than learning C.
Or the opposite.