Gran Leon Books - Beginning iPhone Development: Exploring the iPhone SDK

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Manufacturer: Apress

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Binding: Paperback
Dewey Decimal Number: 005.26
EAN: 9781430216261
ISBN: 1430216263
Label: Apress
Manufacturer: Apress
Number Of Items: 1
Number Of Pages: 536
Publication Date: 2008-11-14
Publisher: Apress
Studio: Apress

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Editorial Reviews:

Are you a programmer looking for a new challenge? Does the thought of building your very own iPhone app make your heart race and your pulse quicken? If so, then Beginning iPhone Development is just the book for you.

Assuming only a minimal working knowledge of Objective-C, and written in a friendly, easy-to-follow style, Beginning iPhone Development offers a complete soup-to-nuts course in iPhone and iPod Touch programming.

The book starts with the basics, walking you through the process of downloading and installing Apple's free iPhone SDK, then stepping you though the creation of your first simple iPhone application. You'll move on from there, mastering all the iPhone interface elements that you've come to know and love, such as buttons, switches, pickers, toolbars, sliders, etc.

You'll master a variety of design patterns, from the simplest single view to complex hierarchical drill-downs. You'll master the art of table-building and learn how to save your data using the iPhone file system. You'll also learn how to save and retrieve your data using SQLite, iPhone's built-in database management system.

You'll learn how to draw using Quartz 2D and OpenGL ES. You'll add MultiTouch Gestural Support (pinches and swipes) to your applications, and work with the Camera, Photo Library, and Accelerometer. You'll master application preferences, learn how to localize your apps into other languages, and so much more.

Apple's iPhone SDK, this book, and your imagination are all you'll need to start building your very own best-selling iPhone applications.

Reviews

"People ask me again and again about how to get started in iPhone development, but I never had a very good answer for them until now. Dave and Jeff's book starts at the beginning in clear English, making sure you understand the fundamentals with many large illustrations. From there, they progress into key concepts such as the MVC pattern and ImageBuilder fundamentals. Additionally, I find myself flipping back to it as a reference guide—the plethora of code samples make it a must-have."

—Steve Demeter, Creator of "Trism" and owner of Demiforce LLC

"Beginning iPhone Development delivers a clear picture of the entire development process from registering as an iPhone developer through creation of complete applications. There is a wealth of examples illustrating each feature of the iPhone. The authors did an excellent job of demonstrating "best practice" coding methodology throughout the book. You would be hard pressed to find a better guide to creating software for the iPhone."

—Aaron Basil, iDev2.com

"Dave Mark has always been the king of Mac programming authors, and now he's proven to be the reigning king for books on iPhone development!

"Beginning iPhone Development is the definitive guide for iPhone development, and anyone aspiring to develop for the iPhone should get this invaluable reference."

—Brian Greenstone, President & CEO, Pangea Software, Inc.

"Jeff and Dave have done an exceptional job exploring the iPhone SDK. This book is far and away the single best resource for iPhone SDK development. Developers will latch on to this book and find it useful as they create the next great iPhone application. If you're a developer with an interest in this amazing new platform, this is a must buy."

—Chris Stewart, Founder, iPhoneDevSDK.com

"If you're planning on coding for the iPhone, start here. Dave and Jeff know their stuff and also know how to explain it. I was amazed how much stuff they cover, from Hello World through analyzing user gestures. Not only do they cover the fun stuff like playing with the camera, they cover real-world development issues like localization. I learned a huge amount from them"

—Mark Dalrymple, Co-founder, CocoaHeads, and Principal Author, Advanced Mac OS X Programming

"Starting with an overview of the technology, how to approach the device, the authors lead us straight into the heart of iPhone development. As you progress, you'll learn more about various layout engines and view managers, as well as the more meaty topics like accelerometer and GPS APIs. This book is a must-have for anyone interested in getting started quickly and efficiently with iPhone development!"

—Chris Pelsor, Manager, Tarantell:Hybrid

Summary of Contents

Welcome to the Jungle
Appeasing the Tiki Gods
Handling Basic Interaction
More User Interface Fun
Autorotation and Autosizing
Multiview Applications
Tab Bars and Pickers
Introduction to Table Views
Navigation Controllers and Table Views
Application Settings and User Defaults
Basic Data Persistence
Drawing with Quartz and OpenGL
Taps, Touches, and Gestures
Where Am I? Finding Your Way with Core Location
Whee!
iPhone Camera and Photo Library
Application Localization
Where to Next?

About the Apress Beginning Series

The Beginning series from Apress is the right choice to get the information you need to land that crucial entry–level job. These books will teach you a standard and important technology from the ground up because they are explicitly designed to take you from “novice to professional.” You’ll start your journey by seeing what you need to know—but without needless theory and filler. You’ll build your skill set by learning how to put together real–world projects step by step. So whether your goal is your next career challenge or a new learning opportunity, the Beginning series from Apress will take you there—it is your trusted guide through unfamiliar territory!

Spotlight customer reviews:

Customer Rating:

Summary: This book is FULL of TYPOS!
Comment: This book is NOT for the beginner. If you are not familiar with C/C++/Obj-C, I wouldn't recommend this book. Furthermore, it is FULL of typos; most likely from the publisher. I type in the code examples and got errors. I wrote the author and he recommended I use the forum on his site. So, I joined the forum, stated my error(s) in a message, and people answered. Every few pages, I was having to go into the forum and ask about problems I was having with the code. After having done this several times, I noticed that the community was writing the authors with suggestions of a better way to write certain code snippets. The author(s) response was usually, "At the time of writing the book, we had a reason for writing the code that way. Probably due to a previous version of...". Part of that was probably true but, to me, it seemed like they always have an excuse for problems in the book.

I will say, however, that the book is very well explained in step-by-step detail. The authors explain why every new snippet of code was used. That is the ONLY good thing I have to say about this book.

Customer Rating:

Summary: Great Book!
Comment: Although I have only worked through Chapter # 7 so far, I have found this book to be an excellent tutorial for developing on the iPhone. The sample projects are well organized and build upon each other progressively. So far, I haven't found ANY errors in the sample code (from the book). I've made a few blunders of my own by mistyping code or accidently omitting steps while working in the Interface Builder. The title "Beginning" might be a little misleading for some folks. I'm an experienced developer with 15+ years experience ... but, without any background in Objective-C. I would suggest to folks without any development experience, get familiar with Objective-C (or at least plain C) before attempting the challenge of developing for the iPhone. You can still learn a lot from this book even without familiarity with Objective-C (or plain C). But, you should expect the learning curve to be difficult (without a proper foundation level understanding of the language).

Customer Rating:

Summary: Great for Beginners
Comment: This is a great book to start developing for the iphone, I have read one-fifth and the examples are great, am learning a lot perhaps Im not familiar with objective-c programing. I would recommend this book for people who does not know much about this code.

Customer Rating:

Summary: iphone omnipotence (iO)
Comment: Personally, I'm happy with what this book provides in the form of Objective C examples and fundamentals for creating iPhone native applications with Xcode and Interface Builder. The learning pattern of the book goes like this: write some code, run some code, and explain some code. This works well for most people with experience in application development.

If / when you get this book, however, do not put too much pressure on it to explain to you every possible concept there is to know about Objective C, patterns, explicit syntax, etc. It is more or less a guide for learning the fundamental abstract concepts of iPhone applications using concrete Objective C code examples.

Many reviewers have stated that this is not a beginners book and it may not be for people who have never been exposed to Objective C. This book alone may not get you to iphone omnipotence (iO) and you shouldn't expect it to by default, but seriously consider buying this book and one other Cocoa / Objective C book such as Cocoa(R) Programming for Mac(R) OS X (3rd Edition) in order to gain mastery of the subject matter.

Customer Rating:

Summary: Title is misleading, not for beginners
Comment: While the iphone concepts start out simplistically, this book is not for someone who is new to programming.

Perhaps a better title would have been "Beginning iPhone development for Objective C programmers" or maybe included a chapter or 2 as primers to C/Objective C.

This is my 3rd day on the book and I've decided to put it down and review Objective C (in another book by Sam's) before continuing simply because this book's examples start off with lots of Objective C, that even though I know C, looked foreign to me. I found it difficult to focus on the iPhone specifics while ignoring this new syntax.

The more I learn Objective C from the other book, the more I think a small primer would have went a long way.

This is not to ignore Appendix B, Objective C Language Summary, but as a matter of flow, from most basic to most complex - I think it would have been easier to digest "Beginning iPhone development" with a more natural flow. The appendix is really an Obj. C reference which is not so suitable to someone who is just learning it. It's analoguous to staring at the mountain when you're 2 inches away from it (changing your mind) versus walking towards it slowly from 100 miles away thinking the climb will be easy.

I'm kind of surprised at Apress - usually the book cover describes who the book is target to "From beginner to novice", "From developer to developer", etc...

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