New book

I've given up on Objective-C for Dummies, and decided to shelf Programming in Objective-C as a reference tool. I want to get into some actual app programming, not command line stuff. Also, I've noticed too many misspellings and errors in the Dummies book, I can't follow along anymore. I hope these errors are a result of the ebook conversion process, and aren't actually in the print book! These little things, like a function name changing from one page to the next, or typos in the code, really distract me and are making it hard to 'trust' the book. I've moved on the "Beginning iPhone 4 Development: Exploring the iOS SDK". We'll see how this one goes, seems to be more geared towards what I want to learn.

I'm so bad at this...

It's been over two weeks and I've only made it through four chapters in my "Objective-C for Dummies" book. All the basic Obj-C stuff that is boring but essential. You can only do so many NSLog prints to the console before you get bored. Slowly but surely I am making this happen though. In fact the next chapter I am starting goes beyond instruction sets and actually gets into some programming concepts and examples. Yay!

I met an Xcode developer the other day at my store, he was wearing a track jacket with the Xcode logo on it, proudly showing the world that he is a successful and productive developer. He was so excited to share, even for a few minutes, his love for his project (something about the Xcode toolchain...). It gave me a little inspiration to continue on with this.

From Bonsai to programming

My bonsai tree died before it even had a chance. Time to move on to another type of project...

My new year's resolution this year (along with the usual "work out more/eat healthier" one) is to get an app in the Apple app store. I have been interested in computer programming for years, and have started learning on a number of homebrew systems, but iPhone and iOS combination is the first system that combines the accessibility needed for a hobby developer and the opportunity to reach customers and make money. Everyone dreams of sharing the success of apps like Angry Birds. While this would be awesome, I'm setting a smaller goal; get one app published and approved by the end of the year.


I've gathered my materials, which I will share below. So far it has been a lot of reading, but I hope to update with tips, things I've learned, and a full journal of the app, whatever it will be, as it is being developed.

Here are two books I'm combing through now.




While these two books are by no means enough for me to get an app together, but they will be a great starting point. I also have a collection of links to share as days go on.