Target C for iOS ... good resource for php programmer?

Question

I have been developing web applications for many years (primarily) using php and a bit of python, mysql, etc. I am well versed in objective development and make maximum use of objects in my projects, although I, of course, do not fully use them. I'm comfortable enough to be dangerous with C ++, C, and even touched a little ruby.

Everything that Objective C said is very hard for me. I’m not sure if this is the syntax, file structure, etc., but I just don’t understand how to properly assemble the various components of the application, despite the fact that he went through several tutorials and explanations on the Internet. I have xcode, and I tried to do some basic things, but quickly get lost in the real implementation.

My question is: Can someone recommend a really solid book / books with good examples that I can go through to help me better understand this language? My primary interest is interacting with databases (or xml parsing) and the ability to stream / deliver audio.

Any suggestions would be much appreciated! Thanks!

Answer 1

3 elements:

The syntax will not be long. Just keep reading Objective-C code, and pretty soon the brackets will start to seem familiar, like dots (or other forms of punctuation abuse) in other OO languages.

If you are a procedural language coder, you will need to come up with an event driven application design. The basic idea is that you cannot always tell the OS what to do when you want to do it, and then do the following. You must learn to grind your procedural code into callbacks, and then let the OS call your code when the OS is good and ready. You may need to learn how to maintain the appropriate state between callbacks (for example, you cannot use the “loop index” between callbacks without saving it somewhere.)

You may also need to get used to the object-oriented MVC design pattern. It’s like clarifying the difference between writing procedures for a one-person store and creating operations for a larger business with units in separate buildings. The guy talking to the client is not the one who closes the books. The same with MVC, a view representing a user interface for a user is not necessarily the same object that stores or updates data representing what the user sees or does. When you learn the logic of separation, figure out which file to look for in something will be a little easier.

Answer 2

I found Aaron Hillegass's book really helpful in teaching Objective-C

IPhone Big Nerd Ranch Programming Guide

There are tons of good chapters to help you create your own applications that you can deploy directly to your iPhone / iPad or run in a simulator. He explains some of the heavier concepts, i.e. Core Data is really good.

In addition, Apple Developer is an excellent and invaluable resource.

Answer 3

The official documentation is excellent: http://developer.apple.com/library/ios/#navigation/

This is a great book. You need to understand Objective-C before you jump into building applications (Cocoa Touch): http://www.amazon.com/Programming- Objective-C -2-0-Developers-Library / dp / 0321711394 / ref = sr_1_2 s = books &? t = UTF8 & QID = 1296848502 & avg = 1-2

This is a great intermediate book: http://www.amazon.com/ Cocoa -Design-Patterns-Erik-Buck / dp / 0321535022 / ref = sr_1_1 i.e. = UTF-8 &? QID = 1292262048 & avg = 8-1

This is a great forum for exploring the material, in addition, obviously, here: http://www.iphonedevsdk.com/forum/

Apple's developer videos are also great, and you can download them using iTunes if you want them to be on the go: http://developer.apple.com/videos/

Also, watch Stanford iPhone programming class videos in iTunes.

EDIT:

Here are the documents in the Apple XML class, NSXML: http://developer.apple.com/library/mac/#documentation/Cocoa/Reference/Foundation/Classes/NSXMLDocument_Class/Reference/Reference.html

And if you intend to use databases, they will probably be SQLite, and you will definitely want to check out this shell for SQLite: <a6>

Answer 4

I can’t recommend any books (I learned about this through many experiments), but if you want to get started with Objective-C, I would recommend knowing which pointers and how to use them. They make up the bulk of Objective-C, and once you understand them (and NSObject), you understand 50% of the language itself.

You could, of course, read the Apple documentation at http://developer.apple.com/library/ios/#referencelibrary/GettingStarted/Learning_Objective-C_A_Primer/

Answer 5

I would recommend:

IPhone Programming: Big Nerd Ranch Guide

This is a very nice beginner's guide for both Objective-C and iOS programming.