Here are the three things that you must know to develop iPhone apps:
Procedural Programming in C
Many people already know, or think they remember, how to program using the C programming language with functions. This is the world of loops, variables, pointer variables and functions. This is essential Programming 101 stuff and you do need a background in it (or a means to get the background).
Object-Oriented Programming in Objective-C
Object oriented programming (OOP) is something that I have found people either love it or hate it. OOP is meant to help organize our code in a people friendly way but sometimes the ideas used in OOP seem very abstract. This is especially true for people who spend most of their life doing typical C programming. Objective-C is the OOP language that you must know to use the major iPhone framework, Cocoa-Touch.
Model-View-Controller (MVC) in Cocoa-Touch
Cocoa-Touch is the code library on the iPhone that is responsible for all those shiny buttons and user controls that you know and love. MVC refers to a way of organizing your application components at a high level and it is steeped in every part of the Cocoa-Touch frameworks.
There is actually more to it
As with most platforms these days you should also know about HTML, XML and other web related technology. But, these are not essential to creating iPhone apps. C++ is yet another programming language that you will sometimes find used on the iPhone, but again it is not essential and you should spend your whole career without seeing C++ code at all.
Confusing but Powerful
Each technology that you need to learn is not really difficult. But, the fact that all of these things are in play can make them confusing as a whole. Especially, if you only have a dim memory of one or all of the technologies. Once you learn these technologies and how they all relate in iPhone development you find them to be a very powerful tool.
Here is One Place to Learn All 3 Key Technologies
In the latest revision of my ebook (coming out soon) I added material to help you learn all three of these essential technologies. I have also make an effort to only spend time going over exactly what you need to know for the iPhone because I don’t want you wasting a lot of time learning the general details or the details that just relate to desktop or Windows software.
Here is a summerized table of contents for my latest ebook so you can see precisely what I mean:
How to Make an iPhone App
Table of Contents
Before You Start
Part One: Your First iPhone Application!
Part Two: Programming 101
Section One: Procedural Programming in C
Lesson 1: Programming Basics
Lesson 2: Functions
Lesson 3: Variables and Arrays
Lesson 4: Program Flow
Lesson 5: Loops
Lesson 6: Complex Data with Struct
Lesson 7: Putting It All Together
Section Two: Object Oriented Programming in Objective-C
Lesson 1: What is Object Oriented Programming?
Lesson 2: Using Objects and NSString
Lesson 3: More Strings, Lists and the For Each Loop
Lesson 4: Memory Management
Lesson 5: Designing your Own Classes
Lesson 6: Extending Classes with Categories
Lesson 7: Protocols & Key-Value Coding
Section Three: Cocoa-Touch and the Model-View-Controller Design
Pattern
Lesson 1: Model-View-Controller Overview
Lesson 2: Model
Lesson 3: View
Lesson 4: Controller
Lesson 5: A Closer Look
Lesson 7: Exercises
Part Three: App Development Formula
Step 1: Develop Your Product Idea
Step 2: Define Your Project
Step 3: Outline Components
Step 4: Setup Project and Add Files
Step 5: Add the View
Step 6: Finish the To-Do Item Model
Step 7: Finish the To-Do Item List Model
Step 8: Main Table View Controller, Part One
Step 9: Detail View Controller
Step 10: Main Table View Controller, Part Two
Step 11: Create Marketing Materials
Step 12: Add Polish and Shine to Your Application
Part Four: Tips, Tricks and Resources
XCode Tricks
Essential Apple Developer Docs and Source Code
If you would like to know more about this upcoming ebook head on over to http://howtomakeaniphoneappbook.com and sign up for the mailing list. You will be notified immediately as more information becomes available!
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