Posted by Michael on Sep 30, 2009 in
Books Head First iPhone Development: A Learner’s Guide to Creating Objective-C Applications for the iPhone is a new book by Dan Pilone and Tracey Pilone soon to be published by that prolific publishing house O’Reilly Press.
Let’s say you have an idea for a killer iPhone app. Great. Now, where do you begin? Head First iPhone Development will help you get your first application up and running in no time. You’ll quickly learn to use iPhone SDK tools, including Interface Builder and Xcode, and master Objective-C programming principles that will make your app stand out. It’s a complete learning experience for creating eye-catching, top-selling iPhone applications.
Whether you’re a seasoned Mac developer, or someone with strong object-oriented programming skills but no Mac experience, this book offers a complete learning experience for creating eye-catching, top-selling iPhone applications. This book is still in progress, but you can get going on this technology through our Rough Cuts edition, which lets you read the manuscript as it’s being written, either online or via PDF.
- Put Objective-C core concepts to work, including message passing, protocols, properties, and memory management
- Take advantage of iPhone patterns such as datasources and delegates
- Preview your applications in the iPhone Simulator
- Build complicated interactions that utilize multiple views, data entry/editing, and iPhone rotation
- Work with iPhone’s camera, GPS, and accelerometer
- Optimize, test, and distribute your application
Why waste your time struggling with new concepts? By using the latest research in cognitive science and learning theory to craft a multi-sensory learning experience, Head First uses a visually rich format designed for the way your brain works, not a text-heavy approach that puts you to sleep.
This book is still in progress, but you can get going on this technology through the publisher’s Rough Cuts edition, which lets you read the manuscript as it’s being written, either online or via PDF.
Tags: iphone, iPod Touch, programming
Posted by Michael on Sep 29, 2009 in
iPhone Tags: analysis, games, iphone
Posted by Michael on Sep 28, 2009 in
Books Cocoa and Objective-C: Up and Running: Foundations of Mac, iPhone, and iPod Touch Programming is a new book by Scott Stevenson that is currently in development for O’Reilly Press.
Get up to speed with Apple’s Cocoa programming environment and its Objective-C language quickly with step-by-step tutorials, hands-on tasks, and numerous examples in this thorough introduction. You’ll learn just enough foundation and theory before jumping right into building applications, managing events, creating GUIs, and more with Cocoa and the Application Kit.
Learn the tools most essential for building high-quality applications for Mac OS X, iPhone, and iPod touch. This thorough introduction to Apple’s Cocoa programming environment and its Objective-C language quickly gets you up to speed with step-by-step tutorials, hands-on tasks, and numerous examples.
With clear instruction from Scott Stevenson, the Cocoa programmer behind Cocoa Dev Central, you’ll learn just enough foundation and theory to ground you before jumping right into building applications, managing events, creating GUIs, and more with Cocoa and the Application Kit. You also get skill-building exercises, and key input from a Cocoa expert on the best use of these tools.
This book is still in progress, but you can get going on this technology through O’Reilly’s Rough Cuts edition, which lets you read the manuscript as it’s being written, either online or via PDF.
Tags: Cocoa, Objective-C, programming
Posted by Michael on Jun 23, 2009 in
Events,
Learning Pragmatic Studios, the Apple and iPhone training people, have announced a new class to be help both in Reston, VA, from August 4 to 7th and Denver, CO, from August 25th through 28th. They bill this as a class that can help you, “turn your idea into a killer app by learning how to create iPhone applications from start to finish.”
According to their release:
Learn how to create dynamic, visually-appealing iPhone applications from two experienced iPhone developers in this 4-day, hands-on training course.
- Learn how to use the major tools and APIs in the iPhone SDK 3.0 and how they all fit together, to develop mobile applications like the pros.
- Get hands-on coding experience and answers to your questions so you can start creating your own iPhone application with confidence.
- Save time and frustration by focusing exclusively on iPhone development for four days with expert guidance.
You’ll come away from this Studio knowing Interface Builder, Xcode, Objective-C, Cocoa Touch programming, and the APIs included in the iPhone SDK 3.0. You’ll not just know how to use these powerful tools, you’ll also understand why things are the way they are. You’ll be ready to create your first iPhone application, or improve upon your existing application.
The Pragmatic Studio offers training on cutting-edge technologies from highly qualified authors and experts. Since 2005, over 1500 developers have learned Ruby, Rails, iPhone, and other timely topics in our training courses.
Also, don’t miss the iPhone Developer’s Roadmap on their site. Really some great advice in there.
Tags: development, iphone, Pragmatic Studios
Posted by Michael on Jun 18, 2009 in
Web,
iPhone The non-availability of tethering in the U.S with the launch of iPhone OS 3.0 was probably the most disappointing part of the WWDC 2009 Keynote address for me. I really don’t care much about MMS, but because a lot of the places I go don’t have open wireless access for my laptop, I really needed that tethering. Luckily there are people out there who are obviously as desperate as I! Some different methods for enabling tethering have been posted on the net, but I came across one today that doesn’t require jailbreaking, is easily reversible, and requires not much more that the your web browser. All this method does is replace the carrier configuration file on your phone with one that has tethering turned on.
The kind folks at BenM.at have hosted a number of iPhone tethering configuration files for many carriers across several countries – including AT&T in the US. Of course, you will need the iPhone OS 3.0 to do this, but you do not need the brand new phone.All you need to do is go to http://help.benm.at/help.php using your iPhone’s Safari browser.
From there, under Tethering & Internet Settings, go to Mobile Configs and select your country and then carrier. Once that is done, a new config file will be downloaded. You will get a warning that the config file is not signed, but that is OK. Just approve through it to install the file. Once the install is done, you will need to reboot your phone. To reboot your iPhone just hold down the Home and Power button until it reboots and return you to the power on screen – this means hold both of those buttons down together for about 10 seconds.
After the reboot, your config is updated. Now all you have to do is go to Settings / General / Network and enable tethering! You will have the choice of tethering via BlueTooth or sync cable. Both worked fine with my uni-body MacBook and were instantly recognized and new network adapters.
Of course, all the normal disclaimers apply. This has not been approved by Apple or AT&T. You may incur extra charges from AT&T, and no one other than you is responsible for any damage to your iPhone. If you don’t like the patch, just do a restore on your phone to put it back to its pre-patched status.
Tags: AT&T, iphone 3.0, tether, tethering
Posted by Michael on May 25, 2009 in
Books,
Learning 
“The iPhone Developer’s Cookbook: Building Applications with the iPhone SDK
,” by Erica Sadun, continues to appear in the top listings of Amazon.com’s Computer & Internet and Professional & Technical categories, according to an official report. Rather than using exhaustive documentation, The iPhone Developer’s Cookbook provides readers with the skills they need to build apps by presenting them with single-task recipes and clear, fully documented examples.
In the book, iPhone developer Erica Sadun begins by exploring the iPhone delivery platform and SDK, helping readers set up their development environment, and showing how iPhone applications are constructed. In the following chapters, Erica offers single-task recipes for the full spectrum of iPhone/iPod touch programming jobs, including:
- Utilize views and tables
- Organize interface elements
- Alert and respond to users
- Access the Address Book (people), Core Location (places), and Sensors (things)
- Connect to the Internet and Web services
- Display media content
- Create secure Keychain entries, and much more
The book also focuses on the most common issues new iPhone developers face, including laying out windows, responding to user interactions, accessing local data sources, and creating visual and audio notifications, according to the people at InformIT, the online home for Pearson’s information technology publishers. In keeping with the report in question, Erica’s book is also the top-selling electronic title through InformIT.
“This book would be a bargain at ten times its price!,” Tim Burks, iPhone software developer, TootSweet Software, said. “If you are writing iPhone software, it will save you weeks of development time. Erica has included dozens of crisp and clear examples illustrating essential iPhone development techniques and many others that show special effects going way beyond Apple’s official documentation.”
“Programming for the Macintosh operating system, and especially for the iPhone, is one of the most exciting, fastest growing, topics in technology. We meet incredibly talented developers nearly every day, who really enjoy sharing their knowledge, skills, and secrets with other developers,” Paul Boger, publisher, Pearson Technology Group, added. “Pearson is committed to helping our authors share their expertise, whether in print books, in eBooks, or in training. This is a wildly creative community, and we’re really happy to be a part of it.”
Check out The iPhone Developer’s Cookbook: Building Applications with the iPhone SDK and let us know what you think!
Tags: Book Review, development, iphone, iPhone SDK
