Beginning iPhone Development: Exploring the iPhone SDK |  | Authors: Dave Mark, Jeff LaMarche
Brand: Apress
Category: Book
List Price: $39.99
Buy New: $12.00
as of 3/10/2010 15:46 MST details
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Seller: feathersbooks
Rating:  187 reviews
Sales Rank: 16564
Media: Paperback
Edition: 1st ed. 2009. Corr. 4th printing
Pages: 536
Number Of Items: 1
Shipping Weight (lbs): 3
Dimensions (in): 9.2 x 6.9 x 1.3
MPN: 9781430216261
ISBN: 1430216263
Dewey Decimal Number: 005.26
EAN: 9781430216261
ASIN: 1430216263
Publication Date: November 14, 2008
Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days
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| Features:
| • | Apress Beginning iPhone Development: Exporing the iPhone SDK | | • | 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. |
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Product Description
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.
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| Customer Reviews:
Showing reviews 1-5 of 187
 Great way to start iPhone programming! March 10, 2010
Duck (Santa Cruz, CA)
This book is a great tool for someone starting out with iPhone programming. I've found it to be very helpful but it doesn't have everything I'd like to know in it. It's pretty easy to follow along with the example applications.
Excellent source for starting iPhone programming! March 7, 2010
M. Weaver
This book has wonderful example code, that is fairly simple to type in. The language is easy to read
and things build from simple to more complex. It is not a book about Objective-C however. Another
book must be purchased for that. By the end of this book, though, every reader should have a very
good knowledge of the iPhone SDK and how to exploit it to create your own programs.
Code in the book works great, no issues of code not making sense. There have been a few changes
to the Xcode interface that are different from the book, but that should be expected.
All-in-all this is a great book for starters. I am looking forward to reading the second book in the
series about iPhone programming.
 Best Intro iPhone Development Book. A Lot of Errata Though. March 6, 2010
Jeremy J. Baker (Omaha, Ne. USA)
I've looked through many beginning iPhone development books and I can say this is the best one out there. I would prefer a big, thick, Deitel-style textbook though. I don't think there's anything like that out there for iPhone development. You should know some basic programming in C, C++, Java, or Objective-C(preferred), before you tackle this book. Otherwise, you will likely be confused. I recommend you learn the basics of Objective-C first too, though people with C, C++, Java experience may be able to understand the code. Apress has a decent book on Objective-C.
This book covers every topic you need to learn to start developing iPhone applications and explains the basics of Xcode and the iPhone SDK. It's a by example type book. You learn by writing actual applications. There are plenty of screenshots that help you stay on the same page.
Now, the bad things about this book. First, there is a quite a lot of errata. This isn't uncommon in programming books, but this book has more errata than usual. I think they cut corners putting out a new edition and forgot to update some of the code and check for other errors. Again, this is typical of programming books. They really should have had a programmer actually go through the book and type in the code, etc. before sending this off to print. I guess they couldn't afford the time and money to do this? Fortunately, there is an online forum with other readers of this book posting corrections. Secondly, the explanation of concepts and code is somewhat brief. Sometimes, you just have to look at the code and try to figure out what it does or just accept that it works.
In conclusion, this book is easy to read, well organized and will teach you how to get started developing iPhone applications by example. The typeface and design is easy on the eyes. You will likely have to look back at the code of the programs in this book when you start writing your own programs. You should read some other iPhone development resources also to supplement your knowledge, because the explanation of concepts and code is brief at times. The errata is somewhat annoying, but there's a companion forum with corrections. I don't know of a better iPhone development book out there, which means that there is no "excellent" iPhone dev book, yet.
Start with this book as a primer, then try writing some programs that you would like to make. Look back at the programs you wrote while going through this book, unless you have a photographic memory. Check out other resources too and ask questions in online forums when you run into problems. I have found that the best way to learn a programming language/SDK/etc. is to write programs you really want to write. You will have extra motivation to find the answers to get your program completed and learn the language at the same time.
After going through this book, check out The iPhone Developer's Cookbook: Building Applications with the iPhone 3.0 SDK (2nd Edition) for more, in depth coverage of development for the iPhone. It's more of a reference book than a how to book.
A Good Introduction March 1, 2010
Cody (Rock Hill, SC USA)
I've 30+ years of software design/development experience. I read at least 10-12 technical books a year. In those that deal directly with software development I've nearly always found errors within the examples. With that said, I have been amazed at the accuracy within this book. Hats off to the authors for a job well-done! Now, I will admit that some of the screen shots in the book are a bit different than what I see in my Xcode environment. I keep my Mac development environments up to date so I expected to encounter some differences but thus far none have been difficult to overcome.
With respect to some of the other reviewer's comments regarding this not being a "beginners" book... I have prior experience (5 years assembly language and 15 years C/C++) with languages that are close to the Objective-C syntax. (The last 10 years have been all Java and quite frankly I have enjoyed the return to a language that allows pointer manipulation.) But, I did read/study Stephen Kochan's book "Programming in Objective-C 2.0". It provides a solid foundation in the syntax and memory management and should prepare you for the iPhone development presented in this book. Working through the examples in Kochan's book reawakened the "old" C skill's quicker than I thought possible and has made the iPhone development easier to comprehend. It's been "fun" to step out of the Java world for a new adventure.
If you don't have the C language back ground then I would suggest getting Kochan's book. It's a great introduction and coupled with the information/resources available on Apple's web-site you should soon feel comfortable with the language and the examples/problems presented in "Beginning iPhone 3 Development" should start to "click".
 Not up to date anymore! February 28, 2010
Terry Carrigan (San Clemente,CA)
2 out of 2 found this review helpful
If your completely new to iphone developing I suggest you skip this book. With every SDK update these books become instantly outdated if you depend on them to give you word for word, line by line help. As soon a you run across a section of the book that is no longer current like the last line on page 133 your screwed. I'm new to all this so i'm pretty ignorant on Objective C and everything else that has to do with programming. Out of the three tutorials in this book I went thru so far I only got one to work. I copied word for word the code as they show in the book..only to get a half a dozen errors, which immediately stopped me from progressing in that chapter. I would love to see someone come out with a book that actually has a technical support number that you can call (at a reasonable cost..say $100.00 for unlimited support for 6 Months) This is the only way I could have someone help me when I hit a road block. As soon as Apple changes one page in their SDK software and your following along in this book, its like coming to a canyon and the bridge is gone. With no help in site. I'm going to be looking for an online class to take or a community college course to take some where...I need hand holding.
Showing reviews 1-5 of 187
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