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iOS The Path to Become iPhone Developer

L

laur5730

macrumors newbie
Original poster
Oct 29, 2009
17
0
Hi!

I just want to ask you guys, what way did you go for becoming iPhone or Mac developer! What books did you read? What can you recommend you did? What can you recommend not to do? What languages should I learn first from what books? Etc.

Many many thanks in advance :)
 
Initial question: can you already program in either on Object-Oriented or Procedural programming language? Also: have you read the sticky at the top of this forum?
 
robbieduncan said:
Initial question: can you already program in either on Object-Oriented or Procedural programming language? Also: have you read the sticky at the top of this forum?
Click to expand...

No, I have no experience in any language, I'm completely new to programming. Yes, I have read the sticky. But I still wanted to hear what you did. I like to hear people meaning before I read a book or go internet because some people say "Go learn C and you will in no time learn Objective-C" while other "No, not C! It will be hard to learn Objective-C because of 'blah blah blah'" so wanted to hear what you did :)
 
laur5730 said:
so wanted to hear what you did :)
Click to expand...

I taught myself Basic on a Sinclair Spectrum, then on a BBC Archimedes. At secondary school we did Basic and Pascal. Then I went to Uni and learnt C and MIPS Assembler in CS and Prolog in AI (first year). I then taught myself Java and learnt ML. I've also picked up shell scripting and Perl at work.

So teaching myself Objective-C was easy :p

In all seriousness C is a very good foundation in syntax and pointer basics before Objective-C
 
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I started out with web developing. I suggest http://www.w3schools.com for a start on that. Learn languages such as html, javascript, and php (in that order). Once you are more than familiar with that, learn Objective C. I don't have a tutorial to lead you to but I found some good information from google. Once are more than familiar with C, go on to -C. View other posts for good -C tutorials.
 
@ laur5730, those are good books and a good progression of information. I would probably suggest that you look at http://www.amazon.com/Learn-C-Mac-Dave-Mark/dp/1430218096/ref=sr_1_7?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1257001691&sr=1-7 instead of Kernighan and Ritchie. K&R is a bit more of a reference book. I won't say that Mark's book is 'better' in some objective manner but if your objective is to learn enough C to move on to Objective-C you would probably do better with the Mark book.

You might also prefer one of Stephen Kochan's books on Objective-C. He also has a C book.

Also, if you work through one of the Objective-C books you can avoid the Hillegass book. That book is very good but if your goal is iPhone development once you have learned Objective-C you don't have to learn Mac programming before learning iPhone programming.
 
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Depends on your goal.

A little Javascript for dummies might be all you need for the simplest of iPhone web apps.

But if you want to be an iPhone code Ninja, then several university courses or equivalent reading and project work involving plain C, OOP languages with dynamic introspection, database queries, *nix sockets and threading, web page design, HTTP and RESTful services, 2D graphics, 3D graphics, Open GL shader language, signal processing, ARM assembly language for several different ISA variations, code and cache use optimization techniques, UI design, and the list goes on. ... as well as Obj C and Cocoa Touch.

I suggest learning (way) more than one programming language.

ymmv
 
I can't believe that it takes to learn
firewood said:
plain C, OOP languages with dynamic introspection, database queries, *nix sockets and threading, web page design, HTTP and RESTful services, 2D graphics, 3D graphics, Open GL shader language, signal processing, ARM assembly language for several different ISA variations, code and cache use optimization techniques, UI design, and the list goes on. ... as well as Obj C and Cocoa Touch.
ymmv
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to make some basic iPhone apps that could go off the iPhone AppStore. I'm not the programmer so I won't say more :)

But would the book I listed be a good idea to read? Maybe switch those out PhoneyDeveloper mentioned.

Thanks for all the answers so far! Just waiting for the final "kick" to start reading which books and learn what when ^^
 
If you're talented and able to pick things up quickly, I would say that the only books you need are Stephen Kochan's "Programming in Objective-C 2.0" and Dave Mark and Jeff LaMarche's "Beginning iPhone 3 Development".
 
dejo said:
If you're talented and able to pick things up quickly, I would say that the only books you need are Stephen Kochan's "Programming in Objective-C 2.0" and Dave Mark and Jeff LaMarche's "Beginning iPhone 3 Development".
Click to expand...

Would it be stupid to go Learn C on the Mac first and then Stephen and end with either/both 'Beginning iPhone 3 Development' - Aaron Hillegass' 'Cocoa Programming Mac OS'
 
laur5730 said:
I can't believe that it takes to learn
...
to make some basic iPhone apps that could go off the iPhone AppStore.
Click to expand...

Not for basic apps. For that, all you might need is a little web design and simple JavaScript.

Depends on how much you want your apps to stand out from the crowd of 100k other apps, and how easy you want your apps to be to copy by beginners.
 
laur5730 said:
Hi!

I just want to ask you guys, what way did you go for becoming iPhone or Mac developer! What books did you read? What can you recommend you did? What can you recommend not to do? What languages should I learn first from what books? Etc.

Many many thanks in advance :)
Click to expand...

I started with Applesoft BASIC when I was 8-9 years old on the Apple ][+, //e then Pascal on a Mac in the 70's and early 80's.

I loved programming but stopped for the next 25 years to pursue my career and educational goals. I just restarted programming by reading Kochan's Objective C 2.0 book then Dave Mark's iPhone SDK book.

Not having ever been exposed to OOP before as a child, I was happy to discover that I found OOP fun and intuitive.

I think you could do the same by starting with those two books if you have above average intelligence and motivation.

Even if you have below average intelligence, you could start with Objective C. It just might take you a longer period of time, but I still think it will be quicker than if you started with C or even a scripting language.

A lot of beginners say that from start to finish, it takes about two months to have a simple app produced from the day you begin your study.

Just try to enjoy the process of learning.
 
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