18 ms·

How to Learn to Write iOS Apps

170 points by AshFurrow 15y ago

laglad 15y ago
Thanks for this submission. I'm currently learning iOS development for the specific purpose of building an application. Ironically, my biggest obstacle has been choosing a path from the numerous options that can be found online. I've decided to pick a path that I find credible and stick with it regardless of its optimality. Your path is the way.
- revorad 15y ago
  So what path have you chosen? I am a Ruby programmer and want to make an iOS app. I'm planning to use the Stanford course on iTunes to get started. Do you know if that's any good?
  - mpakes 15y ago
    Optimize for your personal learning style. I learn best by immersion and example, so I just picked a project and started building. I looked at prominent open source iOS apps and constantly referred to Apple iOS SDK docs, Apple example code, and several prominent books on iOS development (Hillegass, et al). If you're more of a methodical or visual learner, use the iTunes U course videos.
    - nivertech 15y ago
      Care to list those prominent open source iOS apps? Maybe also links to their repos? Thanks
  - AshFurrow 15y ago
    The Standford course is really great, really well-recorded. They always make sure to repeat questions students ask for the sake of people who are watching them on iTunesU.
  - adriand 15y ago
    Also a Ruby programmer, and I'm currently on lecture 5 and assignment 2 of the Stanford course, and I'm finding it very good. I've dabbled here and there with various Obj-C tutorials, but this course takes you from knowing nothing about Obj-C, Cocoa Touch, and XCode, right into building apps. Because it is targeted at Computer Science majors who already know other languages there is no basic-level stuff like, "This is a loop", "This is what object orientation means", etc. I don't think of myself as a visual learner and I tend to avoid screencasts in favour of reading, experimenting, and hands-on learning, but the difference between web development with Ruby and mobile development on iOS is so big that the methodical, step-by-step nature of this course is helping me.
lowglow 15y ago
One of the biggest things that I stumbled over was whether or not I should code straight objective-c or use Interface Builder. In the end, I feel IB just gets in the way of being able to do cool things. I think if you're serious about making cool apps then stick exclusively to building apps with objective-c and avoid IB. (imho)
- poutine 15y ago
  If you did this then in IOS 5+ you'll be missing out on storyboards which are a great productivity improvement. Not a good idea. Indeed you don't want to use IB all the time, but you should learn when to use it.
- skylan_q 15y ago
  I've looked at reverse-engineering xib files in order to be able to produce my own, thinking it would make a pretty neat tool to use. It's a nightmare. Monotouch seems to have pulled this off somehow. For some reason, the boss insists we do everything using xibs. :(
  - poutine 15y ago
    In dev teams UI done in an xib will make the UI easier to understand. It's also much faster to do many things with the GUI.
    - FuzzyDunlop 15y ago
      And especially with storyboards in iOS5 you can now get a good idea of an app's flow at a glance. Xcode's a shining example of an IDE that knows how to do one thing and do it really well.
- TheRevoltingX 15y ago
  For normal interfaces XIBs are way easier to maintain and handle then a bunch of addSubView calls. The only things that should be hard coded are interfaces that are too unique or exotic. Even then, XIBs allow you to place arbitrary UIView elements wherever you wish and you can get the best of both worlds.
TheRevoltingX 15y ago
It's so much easier when you already know how to program anything. I was a Perl dev and dabbled in Java. I was forced at my job to learn iOS and produce a specific app in less than 3 weeks. Wasn't pretty, but working under pressure can be good motivation too.
- wallflower 15y ago
  That is pretty impressive. 3 weeks. I hope your app didn't have to do anything database-related (sqlite/CoreData - that can suck up time)
  - TheRevoltingX 15y ago
    Nah, it was actually a basic form and tableview. However, it did have in-app purchasing and that was tedious to implement. Not code-wise, but fiddling with xcode/apple dev center to generate ad-hoc profiles and signing and transferring to the device. That sucked up more time than the code, at least for the first prototype build.
- FuzzyDunlop 15y ago
  Pretty similar situation here. Was told to experiment with mobile apps first, but after deciding to use my own computer went native instead. From a background in PHP and only very limited knowledge of how Obj-C works, I managed to get an app mostly finished in the best part of a fortnight. The biggest hurdle was actually trying to create a native form; something which is remarkably difficult to find good resources for compared to other things. Had I tried to learn in my own time, without the pressure of having to get something working at all, I would have spent months reading textbooks and learning how to write basic hello world apps. Instead, I made more progress than I could ever have imagined just by being given a challenge and an idea of what to make. And that's sometimes the best learning experience you can get.
brador 15y ago
For those of you thinking about making an iOS app for your startup or for profit, make a note of this: Making the app is the easy part, it's the marketing that you really need to be working on and it's the marketing that will make or break your startup. It's the critical joint.
- wbobeirne 15y ago
  This is a very important point. I've got an incredibly simple app on the market, but because of some good publicity, it's gotten some good download numbers. On the flip side, I'll see great apps that've gotten < 1000 downloads simply because the author didn't get out there and write to every blog in sight.
  - brador 15y ago
    Care to expand on the good publicity angle? Was it a blog? Was it pure luck or a well worded email? etc.
    - wbobeirne 15y ago
      I just threw email darts at the dartboard that is Android blogs. A few of them stuck, and people started to download. That got me some decent ratings, and it's kept going from there.
  - Joshim5 15y ago
    How did you get this "good publicity?"
    - wbobeirne 15y ago
      As I said in another comment, emailing Android blogs got me a couple of app of the day type things. I also stumbled across my app being the top comment in a fairly popular Reddit thread which I responded to (as the developer) which got me a spike of good ratings and activity. To be quite honest, it was a fair amount of luck.
flyosity 15y ago
I wrote a 30+ page guide/book called Building iOS Apps From Scratch a few months ago, here's a link if anyone is interested. http://designthencode.com/scratch/ http://designthencode.com/scratch/
- srik 15y ago
  Hi Mike, I am actually halfway through your guide right now. It is awesome. Just wanted you to know that your effort is much appreciated. Will be picking up Texture soon. Thanks again.
- markbao 15y ago
  That's a fantastic guide. Thanks, Mike!
- gfodor 15y ago
  Your design tutorials look awesome, I will be picking them up. Do you have any recommendations for similar books, blogs, etc, that focus on low-level technique for creating user interface elements for iOS? I really like your technique of using layer styles, etc, and have always wondered what are some other tricks of the trade are ways to create realistic UI elements. (I am proficient in Photoshop as a tool, but not really proficient in applying it to the end of creating UI elements.)
  - flyosity 15y ago
    Thanks! There really aren't many, which was a key reason why I put some together. There are lots of free PSD sites, but obviously they don't include any instructional material. However they are great to poke through to see how things are constructed so I'd recommend heading to Dribbble and 365psd and poke around for some free PSDs. They're great to learn from.
    - gfodor 15y ago
      Awesome, thanks. Is that generally the main way you learned in addition to just playing around? Any other tips for a newb?
_corbett 15y ago
-track down an example app to hack around with. this was the single biggest thing that got me from the hurdle from a Hello World app to a production full featured thing -learn objective-c yes there is no way around it! try rewriting your favorite python or C example to get your head around some of the translation -stackoverflow is your friend -it's easier to get started working without Interface builder, so you can do that just to learn a thing or two with a sample app but then do the same thing using IB; it will be quicker and cleaner in the end. this may be the hardest thing to start to wrap your mind around as it involves lots of clicking and less hacking -design is everything. if you really want a quality app it's key to go from the bare bones to something a designer put skill into. once you get the hang of IB this can be a quick and amazing makeover. find a good designer to collaborate with. What I did was make a simple app highlighting each skill I wanted to learn (Tables, Pickers, etc.). Realize that a lot more time than you think will go into submitting to the store, provisioning, and getting your ducks in order there. Don't leave one hour to do this the first time. Also don't asume because it was easy the first time it will be the next. XCode gets very confused with multiple provisioning profiles sometimes. Things expire. etc. I read the O'Reilly iOS book and Tapworthy along the way. And an Objective-C book or two; but I don't remember which.
- Aqua_Geek 15y ago
  > track down an example app to hack around with. Just watch out - as with every language, there is a lot of bad code out there. While I agree with the notion of reading others' code (personally that helps me a lot to learn a new language), I'd go through the Apple-provided sample code before venturing into code of random apps.
  - phil 15y ago
    Unfortunately, much of the Apple sample code is also pretty terrible. Here's one heuristic: if you see any Objective C++ files (*.mm) in the project, you can probably ignore it as an example of good style.
    - stuartjmoore 15y ago
jlgosse 15y ago
My biggest piece of advice is to just do it. Jump right in and start writing some apps. You'll never get good if you don't actually build anything, for the most part, so just jump in and build something.
- cellularmitosis 15y ago
  Between stackoverflow and all of the iOS blogs, google actually makes this approach ("I'll just hack until I have a question") totally reasonable. The modern Internet has very much changed the experience of picking up a new platform.
signalsignal 15y ago
Save yourself money and just go here: https://developer.apple.com/library/ios/navigation/index.html?section=Resource+Types&topic=Sample+Code https://developer.apple.com/library/ios/navigation/index.htm... Many of the how-to ebooks just add a code change here and there in the Apple Examples and publish it as their own.
Joshim5 15y ago
Has anyone written something similar for Ruby on Rails?
markholton 15y ago
The Big Nerd Ranch books are great resources and kept up to date. Kindle formats of these books are good too.
GoldenMonkey 15y ago
iOS app development was a steep learning curve for me, coming from a C#/.NET background. After 3 years of professional iOS hacking, I created a video course a month ago, targeted to programmers. I think Stanford is a great place to start as well as the book route. The goal I had with making these tutorials was to create a see-and-do way of learning iOS. If you take the course for a spin, let me know what could be improved. http://www.learnapps.org/?page_id=66 http://www.learnapps.org/?page_id=66

170 points by AshFurrow 15y ago

Thanks for this submission. I'm currently learning iOS development for the specific purpose of building an application. Ironically, my biggest obstacle has been choosing a path from the numerous options that can be found online. I've decided to pick a path that I find credible and stick with it regardless of its optimality. Your path is the way.

revorad 15y ago
So what path have you chosen? I am a Ruby programmer and want to make an iOS app. I'm planning to use the Stanford course on iTunes to get started. Do you know if that's any good?
- mpakes 15y ago
  Optimize for your personal learning style. I learn best by immersion and example, so I just picked a project and started building. I looked at prominent open source iOS apps and constantly referred to Apple iOS SDK docs, Apple example code, and several prominent books on iOS development (Hillegass, et al). If you're more of a methodical or visual learner, use the iTunes U course videos.
  - nivertech 15y ago
    Care to list those prominent open source iOS apps? Maybe also links to their repos? Thanks
- AshFurrow 15y ago
  The Standford course is really great, really well-recorded. They always make sure to repeat questions students ask for the sake of people who are watching them on iTunesU.
- adriand 15y ago
  Also a Ruby programmer, and I'm currently on lecture 5 and assignment 2 of the Stanford course, and I'm finding it very good. I've dabbled here and there with various Obj-C tutorials, but this course takes you from knowing nothing about Obj-C, Cocoa Touch, and XCode, right into building apps. Because it is targeted at Computer Science majors who already know other languages there is no basic-level stuff like, "This is a loop", "This is what object orientation means", etc. I don't think of myself as a visual learner and I tend to avoid screencasts in favour of reading, experimenting, and hands-on learning, but the difference between web development with Ruby and mobile development on iOS is so big that the methodical, step-by-step nature of this course is helping me.

lowglow 15y ago

One of the biggest things that I stumbled over was whether or not I should code straight objective-c or use Interface Builder. In the end, I feel IB just gets in the way of being able to do cool things. I think if you're serious about making cool apps then stick exclusively to building apps with objective-c and avoid IB. (imho)

poutine 15y ago
If you did this then in IOS 5+ you'll be missing out on storyboards which are a great productivity improvement. Not a good idea. Indeed you don't want to use IB all the time, but you should learn when to use it.
skylan_q 15y ago
I've looked at reverse-engineering xib files in order to be able to produce my own, thinking it would make a pretty neat tool to use. It's a nightmare. Monotouch seems to have pulled this off somehow. For some reason, the boss insists we do everything using xibs. :(
- poutine 15y ago
  In dev teams UI done in an xib will make the UI easier to understand. It's also much faster to do many things with the GUI.
  - FuzzyDunlop 15y ago
    And especially with storyboards in iOS5 you can now get a good idea of an app's flow at a glance. Xcode's a shining example of an IDE that knows how to do one thing and do it really well.
TheRevoltingX 15y ago
For normal interfaces XIBs are way easier to maintain and handle then a bunch of addSubView calls. The only things that should be hard coded are interfaces that are too unique or exotic. Even then, XIBs allow you to place arbitrary UIView elements wherever you wish and you can get the best of both worlds.

TheRevoltingX 15y ago

It's so much easier when you already know how to program anything. I was a Perl dev and dabbled in Java. I was forced at my job to learn iOS and produce a specific app in less than 3 weeks. Wasn't pretty, but working under pressure can be good motivation too.

wallflower 15y ago
That is pretty impressive. 3 weeks. I hope your app didn't have to do anything database-related (sqlite/CoreData - that can suck up time)
- TheRevoltingX 15y ago
  Nah, it was actually a basic form and tableview. However, it did have in-app purchasing and that was tedious to implement. Not code-wise, but fiddling with xcode/apple dev center to generate ad-hoc profiles and signing and transferring to the device. That sucked up more time than the code, at least for the first prototype build.
FuzzyDunlop 15y ago
Pretty similar situation here. Was told to experiment with mobile apps first, but after deciding to use my own computer went native instead. From a background in PHP and only very limited knowledge of how Obj-C works, I managed to get an app mostly finished in the best part of a fortnight. The biggest hurdle was actually trying to create a native form; something which is remarkably difficult to find good resources for compared to other things. Had I tried to learn in my own time, without the pressure of having to get something working at all, I would have spent months reading textbooks and learning how to write basic hello world apps. Instead, I made more progress than I could ever have imagined just by being given a challenge and an idea of what to make. And that's sometimes the best learning experience you can get.

brador 15y ago

For those of you thinking about making an iOS app for your startup or for profit, make a note of this: Making the app is the easy part, it's the marketing that you really need to be working on and it's the marketing that will make or break your startup. It's the critical joint.

wbobeirne 15y ago
This is a very important point. I've got an incredibly simple app on the market, but because of some good publicity, it's gotten some good download numbers. On the flip side, I'll see great apps that've gotten < 1000 downloads simply because the author didn't get out there and write to every blog in sight.
- brador 15y ago
  Care to expand on the good publicity angle? Was it a blog? Was it pure luck or a well worded email? etc.
  - wbobeirne 15y ago
    I just threw email darts at the dartboard that is Android blogs. A few of them stuck, and people started to download. That got me some decent ratings, and it's kept going from there.
- Joshim5 15y ago
  How did you get this "good publicity?"
  - wbobeirne 15y ago
    As I said in another comment, emailing Android blogs got me a couple of app of the day type things. I also stumbled across my app being the top comment in a fairly popular Reddit thread which I responded to (as the developer) which got me a spike of good ratings and activity. To be quite honest, it was a fair amount of luck.

flyosity 15y ago

I wrote a 30+ page guide/book called Building iOS Apps From Scratch a few months ago, here's a link if anyone is interested. http://designthencode.com/scratch/ http://designthencode.com/scratch/

srik 15y ago
Hi Mike, I am actually halfway through your guide right now. It is awesome. Just wanted you to know that your effort is much appreciated. Will be picking up Texture soon. Thanks again.
markbao 15y ago
That's a fantastic guide. Thanks, Mike!
gfodor 15y ago
Your design tutorials look awesome, I will be picking them up. Do you have any recommendations for similar books, blogs, etc, that focus on low-level technique for creating user interface elements for iOS? I really like your technique of using layer styles, etc, and have always wondered what are some other tricks of the trade are ways to create realistic UI elements. (I am proficient in Photoshop as a tool, but not really proficient in applying it to the end of creating UI elements.)
- flyosity 15y ago
  Thanks! There really aren't many, which was a key reason why I put some together. There are lots of free PSD sites, but obviously they don't include any instructional material. However they are great to poke through to see how things are constructed so I'd recommend heading to Dribbble and 365psd and poke around for some free PSDs. They're great to learn from.
  - gfodor 15y ago
    Awesome, thanks. Is that generally the main way you learned in addition to just playing around? Any other tips for a newb?

_corbett 15y ago

-track down an example app to hack around with. this was the single biggest thing that got me from the hurdle from a Hello World app to a production full featured thing -learn objective-c yes there is no way around it! try rewriting your favorite python or C example to get your head around some of the translation -stackoverflow is your friend -it's easier to get started working without Interface builder, so you can do that just to learn a thing or two with a sample app but then do the same thing using IB; it will be quicker and cleaner in the end. this may be the hardest thing to start to wrap your mind around as it involves lots of clicking and less hacking -design is everything. if you really want a quality app it's key to go from the bare bones to something a designer put skill into. once you get the hang of IB this can be a quick and amazing makeover. find a good designer to collaborate with. What I did was make a simple app highlighting each skill I wanted to learn (Tables, Pickers, etc.). Realize that a lot more time than you think will go into submitting to the store, provisioning, and getting your ducks in order there. Don't leave one hour to do this the first time. Also don't asume because it was easy the first time it will be the next. XCode gets very confused with multiple provisioning profiles sometimes. Things expire. etc. I read the O'Reilly iOS book and Tapworthy along the way. And an Objective-C book or two; but I don't remember which.

Aqua_Geek 15y ago
> track down an example app to hack around with. Just watch out - as with every language, there is a lot of bad code out there. While I agree with the notion of reading others' code (personally that helps me a lot to learn a new language), I'd go through the Apple-provided sample code before venturing into code of random apps.
- phil 15y ago
  Unfortunately, much of the Apple sample code is also pretty terrible. Here's one heuristic: if you see any Objective C++ files (*.mm) in the project, you can probably ignore it as an example of good style.
  - stuartjmoore 15y ago

jlgosse 15y ago

My biggest piece of advice is to just do it. Jump right in and start writing some apps. You'll never get good if you don't actually build anything, for the most part, so just jump in and build something.

cellularmitosis 15y ago
Between stackoverflow and all of the iOS blogs, google actually makes this approach ("I'll just hack until I have a question") totally reasonable. The modern Internet has very much changed the experience of picking up a new platform.

signalsignal 15y ago

Save yourself money and just go here: https://developer.apple.com/library/ios/navigation/index.html?section=Resource+Types&topic=Sample+Code https://developer.apple.com/library/ios/navigation/index.htm... Many of the how-to ebooks just add a code change here and there in the Apple Examples and publish it as their own.

Joshim5 15y ago

Has anyone written something similar for Ruby on Rails?

markholton 15y ago

The Big Nerd Ranch books are great resources and kept up to date. Kindle formats of these books are good too.

GoldenMonkey 15y ago

iOS app development was a steep learning curve for me, coming from a C#/.NET background. After 3 years of professional iOS hacking, I created a video course a month ago, targeted to programmers. I think Stanford is a great place to start as well as the book route. The goal I had with making these tutorials was to create a see-and-do way of learning iOS. If you take the course for a spin, let me know what could be improved. http://www.learnapps.org/?page_id=66 http://www.learnapps.org/?page_id=66