iOS New Programmer Question Regarding C/C++/Objective-C

[BigOrangeSU]

Hi-
I currently want to learn to develop programs for the Mac and the iPhone. I have no programming knowledge but extensive computer/technology experience. I was reading the guide that is in one of the stickies and it talked about how I should think about learning C first. What would be the recommendation for the progression of learning languages to develop for the iphone. I picked up the following books:

The C Programming Langauge
C++ Without Fear
Cocoa Programming For Mac

I was thinking I should learn a little bit of C, then learn extensively C++, then Objective C, then finally Cocoa, and I would be prepared. What are everyone's thoughts? Thanks for the help!

 

[dejo]

I was thinking I should learn a little bit of C, then learn extensively C++, then Objective C, then finally Cocoa, and I would be prepared. What are everyone's thoughts? Thanks for the help!

Skip the C++. That's my thought.

 

[cherry su]

To really understand programming (and computer science), you should go through CollegeBoard's AP Computer Science AB curriculum. Barron's prep book for the AP exam does a good job of explaining things.

 

[teddfox]

I do suggest SOME C but you do not have to be a pro at it, in my opinion. I think if you can get thru a lengthy tutorial (and do the exercises with some confidence), you should have enough to tackle objective-c.

I suggest :

http://wally.cs.iupui.edu/n305/

it is distributed courseware I found helpful in my learning (still am). VTC has a good one also.

Then get the kochan book on Objective-C 2.0.
Apple has some great examples and docs also. Read them all...
CocoaLabs "becoming an xcoder" is awesome too.

All during that time read and practice the Hillegass book .

I am hellbent on learning Objective-c and Cocoa as my first real programming lingo.

I am working on my first 3 apps (not at the same time) and if I get stuck, I look at appkido and the docs to help out. forums like this are AWESOME because you can get out of a bind, but I always try to get the answer myself first.

You can read until the cows come home, but actually getting in there and coding is the only way to be descent at it.

I do not buck the traditional means of learning, but I do believe there is an ADD way of learning how to program on the Mac.

Stanford has some AWESOME courses on iTunes U (just search itunes for "Programming" ) to get you into the methodology and such about programming (watch those too while you are at it). If you plan on working as a programmer, you will have to know the best practices, etc for software development also.

my 2 cents

 

[firewood]

Skip the C++. That's my thought.

Yup. If your target is Mac/iPhone programming, spend your time on C and advanced C methodology, broaden your language horizon by reading some articles on Smalltalk and Squeak, and maybe even how their implementation works. A smattering of ARM assembly language (the original base ISA was fairly easy to learn) will help greatly with debugging.

imho.

 

[BlackWolf]

yeah, you can pretty much skip the c++ stuff since it differs very much from objective-c.

In the end, it doesn't really matter WHAT programming language you learn. of course it is best to learn objective-c (and buy book accordingly) if you want to program for mac and iphone, but if you know the basic concept of programming (and you know it well!) than you can learn objC from apple's documentation pretty quickly.

 

[chrono1081]

I'm going to have to agree with skip the C++. I primarily program C++ and have been learning Objective C and I can't see where learning C++ would really benefit.

 

[mccannmarc]

I'm going to have to agree with skip the C++. I primarily program C++ and have been learning Objective C and I can't see where learning C++ would really benefit.

Agreed, I'm also primarily a C++ programmer and unless you already have a large existing code base that you need to use in one of your apps, C++ has no place on the iPhone and would further complicate / extend your learning.