(Part 2) Best products from r/iOSProgramming

You can dive right into Objective C, I was only vaguely familiar with C and I've published a few apps without any problems. However, if you're intent on learning C pick up 'The C Programming Language' (K&R), not only the best C programming book, but one of the best programming books ever written.

Objective C books, I recommend one of the two or both books,
'Programming in Objective C 3rd edition' or
'Objective C: The Big Nerd Ranch Guide'

Both of these books are excellent resources for learning and I keep them close by whenever I have a question.

In terms of learning iOS development. I recommend going into iTunes U and downloading the latest Stanford University iPhone development course. I believe Winter 10 is the newest, follow along those classes and the class website, treat it like a real class, do the homework and all the assignments. There is no text book for the class, but this other book by Big Nerd Ranch, 'iOS Programming: The Big Nerd Ranch Way' is totally awesome.

After these classes and books you should have a great foundation for iOS development. Once you feel comfortable with everything and have an app or two under your belt, download Madison Technical College's Advanced iPhone Development course videos from iTunes U and Apple's own WWDC Session Videos.

Each MTC video is about 3 hours, watch them in chunks. The professor, Brad Larson is one of the best iPhone developers out there and in my opinion is one the best contributors to the community, (see his posts on stack overflow).

Lastly, check out www.raywenderlich.com. My personal favorite iPhone development website. It's updated every Monday, Wednesday, Friday with great technical tutorials that are funny and educational.

Best of luck to you and welcome to iOS development :-D.

Reading books is a good way to get a good grasp of how iOS applications work. This one is really good and isn't too difficult for a beginner especially if you already have some experience with object oriented programming languages.

This course is overall one of the best ressource you can find on the internet in my opinion. It is very well explained and after finishing this course almost everything you'll encounter will be a lot easier to understand.

The only downside to this course is that it's oriented for people who have a strong understanding on how OOP languages work. If you're kinda new to them, you'll be overwhelmed quickly. But this is what I like about this course. Unlike most tutorials you'll find on the web, this one isn't aimed at complete beginners and it'll teach your in depth the foundations of iOS applications. So if you're new, check out the first book first it's extremely potent.

Even if you look kind of new to programming you shouldn't be afraid. You don't have to be extremely good at programming to program applications. In fact it's the same for everyone, our first real application is not that great but eventually you'll build better and better applications. There is no shortcut to be a good programmer, everybody that's great at programming were at the same exact position as you are now. Yes there are people who'll understand things faster than you, but that's basically the same for everything. It doesn't prevent these people from being stuck a whole afternoon because of a stupid bug.

If you see someone on the internet that has an easy time at doing thing you find extremely difficult, it just means they just spent a lot more time than you on the subject.

If you're determined, just pick up a book or starts with the basics at http://www.raywenderlich.com/ simple as that.

You can read some stories about people who got into iOS programming or programming in general with no prior programming experience. In fact I remember seeing not too long ago, someone who just quit his job because of that. He planned to have enough money for him and his wife beforehand, because he couldn't bear his job anymore. I remember another dude who quit everything after getting his master's degree in law.

There are kids who start programming at 12 and make you feel like shit because they are way more competent, but there are also people starting programming past 30 years old who are as successful. No matter your age, your background, if you REALLY want to developp apps you will succeed. You'll just learn like everyone and it will take time but fortunately for you there are awesome people on the internet who can teach you things for free.

Hey all - this is Ray from raywenderlich.com. @mugiwaraJD is correct, the best book for beginners from our site is the iOS Apprentice by Matthijs Hollemans. I think it's a great way to get started but obviously I'm a bit biased, so I'll let the reviews speak for themselves:

• amazon.com reviews
  
  Note those reviews are actually from the older version of the book; we just came out with a new 3rd edition that is fully updated for iOS 8 and Swift (and was a free update for existing PDF customers).
  
  If the book is too expensive for you, we also have plenty of free tutorials on our site.
  
  Hope this helps, and best of luck in your iOS adventures! :]

Hi there!
I can't say much about the iOS part, as I'm a .NET guy, but I've implemented an isometric 2D engine as part of my thesis, so I'll give you my 2cents on this.
I couldn't find an easy solution for it, so I went deep into the topic to understand the rendering and mapping logic of the isometric 'world'.

I used this book as my primary reference:
http://www.amazon.com/Isometric-Programming-DirectX-Development-Software/dp/0761530894
...and it covers everything you need perfectly. Starting from the rendering logic to mouse/screen/game world mapping, different isometric types, everything.

The book is for DirectX and win32, but it was easy to understand the logic and port it to .NET/WPF. It shouldn't be too hard to port it to anything else I think.

Good luck!

I would get a good reference book on objective-c like: http://www.amazon.co.uk/Programming-Objective-C-Automatic-Reference-Developers/dp/0321811909/ref=sr_1_5?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1367517200&sr=1-5&keywords=ios+programming

Maybe try some Cocos-2d game development (features on Ray's site)?
Also, maybe try creating some utility apps such as the standard shopping / things to do list app to get a good foundation in table views and storing data.

stackoverflow.com is a good FAQ type site with lots of questions on which you may find useful while you are developing.

icodeblog has some good info on, although it's not updated as much as it used to be - http://www.icodeblog.com/category/tutorials/

I've just come across this site (parse) which seems to have some good tutorials with downloadable code https://www.parse.com/tutorials which you might want to look at.

Also tuts+ http://mobile.tutsplus.com/category/tutorials/iphone/

maniacdev http://maniacdev.com/category/ios-developer-tutorial

may be of some use? http://docs.xamarin.com/guides/ios

edumobile http://www.edumobile.org/iphone/

ioscreator http://ioscreator.com

The one you linked might be fairly decent (I haven't read it yet, since it is brand new, but Matt Neuburg has done books in the past which are well done).

You might also consider the Swift Programming:
The Big Nerd Ranch Guide https://www.bignerdranch.com/we-write/swift-programming/ For beginners this is one of the most highly recommended books out there.

And if your looking for something to follow it up with I would recommend The Swift Developers by Erica Sadun https://www.amazon.com/Developers-Cookbook-Content-Program-Library/dp/0134395263 This is a great book once you've got the basics down and really want to refine your Swift skills.

If you already know a couple of languages with C/C++ being one of them, diving into Swift should be pretty straightforward. This is a good Swift intro tutorial:

https://www.raywenderlich.com/115253/swift-2-tutorial-a-quick-start

also
 

The Swift Programming Language by Apple is a must read and an excellent place to start.
https://itunes.apple.com/us/book/the-swift-programming-language/id881256329?mt=11

 

Learning iOS is its own thing. There is a lot of good material out there. These are the two books that helped me the most:


2D iOS & tvOS Games by Tutorials. This book and its predecessor are outstanding. I spent a lot of time on stackoverflow and google that could have been saved just starting here.

https://www.raywenderlich.com/store/2d-ios-tvos-games-by-tutorials


Programming iOS 8: Dive Deep Into Views, View Controllers, and Frameworks by Matt Neuburg. iOS 9 is out now, but this is still an excellent book.

http://www.amazon.com/Programming-iOS-Views-Controllers-Frameworks/dp/1491908734/ref=la_B00TW6AB8E_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1457813711&sr=1-1

I'm assuming you are not talking about games which have their own special UI challenges. Rather I'm assuming it's "any other purpose" or app category.

Read the Apple UI design guide lines iOS and/or Mac OS X

Study up on the basics of the theory of UI design: Tim Oren's GEM User Interface Homily (PDF) is probably the best. Written in the 1980s about Atari ST GEM GUI but the concepts were originally codified at Xerox PARC in the 1970s. Natural Apple UI concepts stem from these ideas. It's pure gold.

Then look at various references Information Design. This includes Tufte but also integrates a lot of the above ergonomic concepts. Please don't create Soviet Propaganda apps. Be aware of concepts like "chunking" and such.

And then learn a bit about Use Case Analysis and Process Analysis.

Personally I've used Rummler-Brache books and consulting relating to process analysis - they made sense to me. These two subjects are closely intertwined. But YMMV.

A key part is the "user-centric capability" view of things: why does a process fail? What prevents the actor in the process from being successful within the process. This gets applied to how they do things now (IS) and how they'd do it with my app (SHOULD). They may fail because the IS is flawed but also the SHOULD of your app should never make things worse.

Basically this gets down to 1) REALLY understanding what the user is really trying to accomplish (both the "IS" version and the "SHOULD" version), and 2) remove the barriers to the user accomplishing their goals with your app. This is a ton of up-front leg work you need to do first for this.

Lastly, as I've said before: you should know your market and it's financials, know your user and their goals/tasks first before you create a single graphic or write a single line of code. Otherwise you are going down a road that involves lots of wasted time and money. Epic Fail from a project management point of view.

I always do an estimate of pricing and market size first. If it can't justify the effort I have to ask if I want to do the project for love of the challenge or technology instead.

If you do either graphics or code before hand it's only to learn the tools (photoshop/illustrator or Objective C) and not to create an app. If you are learning either, create toy projects that let you polish that tidbit of knowledge. Then try slightly larger projects to understand using them together. Works for graphics and for code.

I would say you'll see much better performance improvements from RAM than a faster processor. Even if you just take the difference between the upgrades: an i5 to i7 could maybe be a 10–20% performance gain, whereas 8gb to 16gb of RAM is a 200% increase. Plus I think RAM is much more important for most real-world situations than processor speed. Processor speed would be most noticed during compiling.

Side note, for the love of god do not get a (non-Pro) Macbook. You will regret it. They're incredibly slow, and they only have one port.


You're essentially comparing two different generations of computer. The MBPs 2015 and earlier have a wider variety of ports, better keyboards, but no USB C, a display that's not as good, and a slower SSD. MBPs 2016 and later have only USB C ports (meaning you need dongles for any real-world usage), worse keyboards that are prone to expensive failures, a beautiful and bright display, and a super fast SSD.


To answer your questions about MBPs:

1. No, essentially nothing is upgradable (internally). Don't count on being able to upgrade the internal SSD—it's soldered to the logic board.
   
2. Yup. Those and SSD speed, and MBPs have very fast SSDs built into them, especially 2016 or later models.
   
3. Yup. Just know that you'll need a docking station, or a bunch of dongles, if you want to connect monitors and other peripherals to a 2016 or later MBP. They switched to all USB-C in that year, which means you can't just plug an HDMI display or a USB keyboard into them. I use this dodocool dongle, which works fairly well, allowing me to connect a 1080p display via HDMI, power over USB C, keyboard on USB A.
   
4. Nope. No upgrades here. And I would recommend not going for a "fusion drive", which is what they call a HD with a small amount of SSD storage built in. I have heard nothing good about them. Go all-SSD if you can.

Hello!
I'm an experienced iOS developer that is looking for a project to do in my free time.
I have 3 years experience in the field and great applications in the Appstore.
I have also worked with Sprite Kit and published a book on the topic - Sprite Kit Book.
I'm concentrating on great quality and UX.

Highlights:
Beautiful clothes outlet for iPad
[Biggest Eastern European Lottery Store (universal)] (https://itunes.apple.com/en/app/stoloto/id579961527?mt=8)
[All In One Payment/banking solution (universal)] (https://itunes.apple.com/ru/app/paystore/id696639743?mt=8)
Russian News Agency
Sprite Kit Game

You can contact me via Skype (dmitry.volevodz) or via email - dimavolevodz@gmail.com

I use this: https://www.amazon.ca/MoKo-Universal-Rotatable-Aluminum-Smartphone/dp/B00OXR0H0O/ref=sr_1_8?ie=UTF8&qid=1479416298&sr=8-8&keywords=adjustable+iphone+stand+moko

There's a lot of standard nightside dock solutions that I really didn't like. Those seem geared to being able to read a notification when you're lying in bed or something, but while developing I found the angle to be far too vertical; a more or less 45° angle is what I'm looking for.

That product does a great job, as you can adjust it to virtually any angle, can even charge with it unlike some other products (obviously necessary for dev work), and there's a gap in the middle that makes tapping the home button trivial.

Only gripe is that I wish it was "dockable" like the nightside docks, where you can just slide it in. May jury-rig something to hold the lightning cable firmly in place, but it does a good job.

Mechanical keyboard - KUL ES-87 - In my opinion there is nothing better than typing on a mechanical keyboard with some blues or any switches really. I can't stand typing on regular keyboards now. Also I like having a wrist rest as well. Here is my keyboard setup.

I got this stand that I keep my MacBook on.

I like it because I can keep it back and too the side when I don't need the touchpad like this but then if I want to use the touchpad I can bring it towards me like this and have the touchpad right there.

I also like having my monitors up a bit as seen in the pictures so they are more at eye level (I'm kinda on the taller side) so I built the stand seen in the pictures from stuff from Ikea.

Lucky cat figurine

Bong

Design+Code is an excellent book and a very good introduction to Sketch as well.

If you'd like to educate about UI in a more fondamental way, I would also recomment Golden Krishna's book The Best Interface is No Interface which is a book any designer sould read.

This might be the best thing, get your hands dirty then learn as you go. I can easily see myself taking all these courses (which I want to eventually) but I'd also like to get into iOS development while I am still hungry, you know what I mean? I just want my learning to be more precise and directed, and not spend time on things I don't really need to know. A lot of people on reddit seem to have enjoyed learning Head First Java, I might just go that route with MOOC.fi and watching some of the CS106A lectures (I don't care that it is in Java, I am more interested in learning OOP for iOS). It doesn't look like CS106B teaches OOP at all.

Macbook Pro Touch Bar, fully specced out, in clamshell mode on a BookArc. Two Thunderbolt displays mounted onto pneumatic monitor arms connected to a UPLIFT standing desk (72" x 30", 4 power plugs). 4 extra drive bays at Thunderbolt speeds thanks to ThunderBay 4.

Two AudioEngine speakers and a Polk Audio Subwoofer always playing the many study/programming Spotify playlists available. Apogee Duet 2 & Pioneer HDJ-2000 when I really need to get into the zone.

A 3D printed capture of my girlfriend as my rubber ducky debugging tool. HiRise iPhone/iPad stand for easier on-device debugging. Das Keyboard Ultimate 4 for the blank keycap street-cred and so I can be heard typing anywhere in the house. Magic Trackpad 2, Griffin PowerMate for assigning to tasks like stepping over/in, relaunching a single test case, etc. TUL pen and Post-Its for fast note taking. Wall calendar, whiteboard, and cork board for keeping track of projects, putting up notes, and the good feeling that comes from having a physical Kanban board. Desk plant because I've heard having plants in your office increases productivity.

Absolutely MacBook Pro. The 15" is pretty good. I barely use the touch bar but you can customise it at will (I use it to run my automated tests).
As for the monitor, we have these at the office. I'm pretty satisfied with it. The size is up to discussion though.

Sorry for all the questions but I want to learn the best way possible. This one?

https://www.amazon.com/Swift-Programming-Ranch-Guide-Guides/dp/0134398017/ref=pd_sim_14_9?_encoding=UTF8&psc=1&refRID=N4NTMT05S0YAJ91AVXN1

1. You should learn Objective-C. Start with Learning Objective-C from the Developer site, and follow the rabbit trail to other documents. Also, read up on iOS Application Design
   
   
2. Yes. You can register your app to be woken up in case of a significant location change. Or, you can register your app for continuous location updates in the background, which will kill the user's battery if not used correctly. See Executing Code in the Background.
   
3. It may be easier for you to pick up Cocoa programming on the Mac before going to the iPhone. Pick up Aaron Hillegass's excellent Cocoa Programming for Mac OSX and read the first five chapters. (I noticed that Hillegass has produced a new iPhone Programming textbook. I haven't read it but it has good reviews).

Sorry that I allow myself to intervene, but I have been discouraging newcomers from using Ray Wenderlich since I have myself realized that they teach bad practices sometimes, so felt urged to do it here as well — I needed to relearn lots of things after I wasted my money on their subscription. I list some examples here: https://www.reddit.com/r/swift/comments/cyuk65/dealing_with_the_endless_how_do_i_get_started/eywi27y?utm_source=share&utm_medium=web2x

Though I agree, these examples are sort of subtle. But another, much stronger reason why I don't think RW is a good resource is their 'do this and then that' teaching fashion — they simply do not give you a satisfiable amount of theory, they don't teach you to think, just to copypast, and a lot of people agree with that.

What taught me to think though, was this book: https://www.amazon.com/Programming-iOS-12-Controllers-Frameworks/dp/1492044636/ref=sr_1_1?__mk_de_DE=%C3%85M%C3%85%C5%BD%C3%95%C3%91&keywords=neuburg+ios&qid=1567076010&s=gateway&sr=8-1


For the 50 bucks I gave for this book, I learned 10x more than for 300+ bucks I've spent on RW subscription and books.

I've only begun learning iOS and Objective-C, with very little previous coding experience (some work with Visual Basic in high school...Har har). I'm using The Big Nerd Ranch Guide to iPhone Programming and Programming in Objective-C 2.0. Both come pretty highly recommended, and are even suggested for beginners, though both seem geared towards those with some previous coding experience. Either way I haven't had too much trouble yet, so I imagine someone with expertise in another language shouldn't have issues with these books.

Big Nerd Ranch's Swift book came out in December 2015 and its iOS programming (5th Edition) book was released a day later. So the code should work side-by-side.

You can find them on Amazon: [Swift] (http://www.amazon.com/Swift-Programming-Ranch-Guide-Guides/dp/0134398017) and iOS Programming (5th Edition)

In the Swift book, you'll be making command-line programs that teach you the basics of the language. But I find that app development isn't so much about knowing Swift/Obj-C but more about knowing how to use the frameworks/APIs, which is what BNR's iOS Programming will teach you.