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iOS Starting out with iOS Development...where to start?

W

webcity

macrumors member
Original poster
Have just submitted my registration for the iOS developer program but just wondering where to start with the whole developing process.

Are there any really good step by step guides available?
 
Also, a bit of your background would help. What is your experience with programming? Do you know any OOP? Etc.
 
itunesU has some great classes to watch. MIT basic programming, Stanford IOS app development, and a class from a german college (RWTH Aachen, in english) on iphone app programming. Without your skill sets it's difficult to recommend a start. search the forum for the am i to old to start programming thread. lots of ideas there too.
 
balamw said:
Have you read the FAQ? https://forums.macrumors.com/threads/518968/

How do you best learn things? From a book? From a class? from videos? ...

Not knowing any of those answers I'd recommend the Stanford course: http://itunes.stanford.edu/

B
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The Stanford course is great, but the level of assumed knowledge is pretty high, arguably too high for someone with no OOP experience. The conceptual complexity of the lessons ramps up very quickly.

I would recommend starting with Sam's teach yourself iOS in 24 hours (or an equivalent complete beginner text), then attempt the Stanford course.

tigres said:
Objective C would be a start.
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Personally I disagree with this. Much of learning iOS development (or any other platform really) is learning how to use the frameworks/APIs. You should start to pick up Objective C as you do this.
 
giobox said:
The Stanford course is great, but the level of assumed knowledge is pretty high, arguably too high for someone with no OOP experience. The conceptual complexity of the lessons ramps up very quickly.

I would recommend starting with Sam's teach yourself iOS in 24 hours (or an equivalent complete beginner text), then attempt the Stanford course.



Personally I disagree with this. Much of learning iOS development (or any other platform really) is learning how to use the frameworks/APIs. You should start to pick up Objective C as you do this.
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Much of learning iOS is the frameworks, it's true. But you need to understand the language and it's design patterns before the frameworks will make much sense.

The OP needs to give us more about his/her background.

The answer will be very different if he/she has been programming in C++ for 10 years vs. never programming before.
 
Welcome to my island! 😀

I think :apple: should issue registered developers with a little badge, like the ones Microsoft used to give out for MCP etc, it could be a yin-yang affair with one little dude banging his head on the keyboard, while the other is reading a book sitting in zen.

Anyway back to your question, I would recommend the Big Nerd Ranch books. They explain the concepts well and include "for the curious" additional sections at the end of each chapter.

This forum holds a wealth of knowledge with some very experienced programmers willing to help but be prepared to show your workings out.

Enjoy!

webcity said:
Have just submitted my registration for the iOS developer program but just wondering where to start with the whole developing process.

Are there any really good step by step guides available?
Click to expand...
 
charmofmaking said:
Welcome to my island! 😀

I think :apple: should issue registered developers with a little badge, like the ones Microsoft used to give out for MCP etc, it could be a yin-yang affair with one little dude banging his head on the keyboard, while the other is reading a book sitting in zen.

Anyway back to your question, I would recommend the Big Nerd Ranch books. They explain the concepts well and include "for the curious" additional sections at the end of each chapter.

This forum holds a wealth of knowledge with some very experienced programmers willing to help but be prepared to show your workings out.

Enjoy!
Click to expand...

+1 for big nerd ranch. their iOS book will recommend the Objective-C programming book for complete beginners. Good book and help forums. I did go over to the learning C the hard way, which then directed me to learning python the hard way. Very good instruction with those lessons as well.

http://www.bignerdranch.com/index

http://c.learncodethehardway.org/book/
 
Scrub175 said:
+1 for big nerd ranch. their iOS book will recommend the Objective-C programming book for complete beginners. Good book and help forums. I did go over to the learning C the hard way, which then directed me to learning python the hard way. Very good instruction with those lessons as well.

http://www.bignerdranch.com/index

http://c.learncodethehardway.org/book/
Click to expand...

+2 for the big nerd ranch books for beginners.

The objective C book is an excellent introduction to programming using Objective C as the starting language.

I would not recommend those books for more senior developers trying to learn iOS and objective C however. The Objective C book in particular teaches you programming from the very beginning. It moves much too slow for experienced developers.
 
Programming in Objective-C (5th Edition) (Developer's Library) [Paperback]
Stephen G. Kochan


Can find on amazon for about $30 or on safari books (I ran through the digital copy on there)

Gave me a good base and the rest is history! 😎
 
Duncan C said:
+2 for the big nerd ranch books for beginners.

The objective C book is an excellent introduction to programming using Objective C as the starting language.

I would not recommend those books for more senior developers trying to learn iOS and objective C however. The Objective C book in particular teaches you programming from the very beginning. It moves much too slow for experienced developers.
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Scrub175 said:
+1 for big nerd ranch. their iOS book will recommend the Objective-C programming book for complete beginners. Good book and help forums. I did go over to the learning C the hard way, which then directed me to learning python the hard way. Very good instruction with those lessons as well.

http://www.bignerdranch.com/index

http://c.learncodethehardway.org/book/
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I agree with this. I'm actually on chapter 17 of the Objective-C book. Very good book. It teaches you some basic C stuff at the start and then moves over to objective-c around chapter 12.

I did start Stanford's iTunes U course for the Winter 2013 with Paul. As someone said it ramps up in difficulty very quickly and I was soon a little lost. I realised I didn't have a good enough grasp on the Objective-C language and was missing out.
Hence picking up an beginners book on the language.

I'm not sure if I am going to go back to the Stanford's iTunes courses after the book. I am also going to read the iOS programming books.
 
TouchMint.com said:
Programming in Objective-C (5th Edition) (Developer's Library) [Paperback]
Stephen G. Kochan


Can find on amazon for about $30 or on safari books (I ran through the digital copy on there)

Gave me a good base and the rest is history! 😎
Click to expand...


What was your level of experience, and how did you find the pacing in that book?

It always pays to be specific about the target audience of a book and how well suited you think it is to that audience.
 
Duncan C said:
What was your level of experience, and how did you find the pacing in that book?

It always pays to be specific about the target audience of a book and how well suited you think it is to that audience.
Click to expand...

I had messed with vb6 as a kid and java 1 in college so I knew the logic of programming but c in general was new to me. The first 10 or so chapters were not bad 11 and on were a little hard. I think I ended up doing the first 10 chapters about 3-4 times and the whole book twice. I'm still not the best programmer but having that base helps.
 
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