iOS Teaching Yourself App Dev

[nashyo]

I've read a book called Objective-C for Dummies and I've watched all the videos on lynda.com for the following

Objetive-C essential training,
IOS 3.0 essential training,
IOS5 New Features training,
Xcode 4.0 New Features.

I'm also half way through Paul Hagarty's lectures in Stanford on iTunesU for app development in IOS 5.

I'm halfway through 1 week of annual leave from my day job, and I've spent at least 12 hours a day so far, over the past 4 days, studying further.

You might have noticed a lot of posts from me on the iPhone programming forum, asking ridiculous questions. But because of you guys, you have kept me on track.

Can I pull this off? Can I make an app in under a month, with no prior training? Has anyone?

 

[chown33]

It depends on what the app actually is.

If you were to start with an existing working app, then modify it to do something somewhat different, or with an additional feature, then you might pull it off in under a month.

Taking an idea for an app (which you haven't described to us) from concept to completion in under a month, I'd be betting against that, if I were placing bets. My main reason is simple: it's not easy even for an experienced developer to go from concept to completion in under a month.

An extremely talented developer could pull it off, but extremely talented developers (or artists, or designers), aside from being uncommon or rare, almost never have to ask themselves whether they can pull something off. That's not to say that every confident developer (or designer, or artist) is extremely talented. I'm just saying that talented people almost never question whether they can do something. They just do it.

I'm also not saying that pulling it off in under a month is necessarily an indicator of extreme talent. Sometimes an exceptional performance is just luck. Extreme talent implies doing it again and again.

 

[ArtOfWarfare]

I'd say you could absolutely do it if you're planning to make a simple enough app. Like, a single view app.

 

[MattInOz]

Depends what you call ready?
Even if you don't get it "finished" you might get it far enough that you can use it for personnel use and testing. Maybe even adhoc distribute to a few friends for feedback.

 

[thewitt]

A very simple app, sure, particularly if you are building off the example code in your training exercises.

We have apps that have taken a team of trained, talented, senior programmers many months - so it depends on what you are trying to do.

 

[Theclamshell]

Yes, I taught myself app development through youtube and other videos. It is definitely possible to make a simple application in under a month. You will run into problems and will have to troubleshoot a but but each time after that things will get easier and faster. Good luck.

 

[7on]

I wrote an Android app in 3 weeks with no prior training (though we brought a guy in to fix some bugs in it and to get started on an iOS version). Though I did have the logic of the app already completed in HTML/CSS/JS so it wasn't too bad.

This past week I've been looking over the part-time guy's iOS work and been teaching myself and fixing some UI (visual design background here) quirks. I think what has helped me the most is finding source files of what I want to do and seeing how others have implemented ideas.

 

[nashyo]

Souce files?

Where do you find source files?

It would be good to see how people implement design UI, such as button graphics and custom button styles. I have yet to embark on that stuff.