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 May 20, 2009 in
Learning Interested in learning iPhone or iPod Touch development but having a hard time plowing through all the websites, manuals and how-to books? Well, a classroom course may be just right for you. But, chances are, your local university or technical college isn’t running any Intro To iPhone development courses. But, who needs them?!
Standford University has made their fantastic CSP193 – Introduction To iPhone Programming course available for free via iTunesU and the Internet. Each of the 14 lectures, plus additional materials is about an hour long. In addition, the website for the class has all of the assignments, guide, and even a list of links for document and resources.
The lectures are both informative and well presented – remember, this is a real class at Stanford University. It is hard to find a better learning environment than that. So the value of this course and material can’t be overstated. And if you have any doubts, just look at the credentials for the instructors….
Evan Doll is a Stanford CS alum and has been working at Apple for five years. After a stint in Pro Apps which included work on Final Cut and Aperture, he joined the iPhone team for version 1.0 and every release thereafter. His responsibilities include a variety of iPhone applications as well as the view controller classes in the UIKit framework.
Alan Cannistraro has worked at Apple for the last nine years, bouncing back and forth between roles as a designer and an application developer. His fondness for music and video has led him to work on several different products, including Final Cut Pro, iPod, and most recently the iTunes Remote app for the iPhone and iPod touch.
Paul Marcos has worked at Apple and NeXT for the last 15 years. Primarily focused on application development, Paul has most recently been working on applications for the iPhone. Before that he spent many years working on Mail, the email client that ships with Mac OS X, and helping to develop the first version of Aperture in the Pro Apps department.
Tags: iphone, iPod Touch
Posted by Michael on Aug 10, 2008 in
iPhone So what should you do if you are having problems with a particular application on your iPhone or iPod Touch? Well Apple has posted their troubleshooting steps in a support article entitled “Troubleshooting applications purchased from the App Store.”
Basically the steps boil down into this.
- Make sure you can replicate the problem. Not sure what to do if you can’t.
- Try rebooting your device. Hold the home and power button down at the same time for about 10 seconds until the device reboots.
- Delete and reinstall the application. Various experiences I and other have had indicate that it is best to install through iTunes than directly to the phone. For some reason things just go smoother with a fresh install via an iTunes sync.
- Finally, if none of this helps, report the problem to Apple. To do this, tap “Review” on the application’s information page to open the Reviews section. Then, tap on the composition button in the upper right to load the composition choices. Finally, tap “Report a Problem” to load the “Report a problem” screen.
So there you have it, Apple’s recommendation for troubleshooting troublesome apps on your iPhone or iPod touch. And don’t forget to check out the developer’s site in case they have posted any information there.
Tags: app store, applications, hints, iPod Touch, troubleshooting
Posted by Michael on Jul 25, 2008 in
Software,
iPhone Apple has released a new beta of the iPhone’s OS, ver 2.1. This update includes, among other things, the ability for Core Location to recognize the cardinal direction of an iPhone with GPS as well as its velocity, both of which are ingredients necessary to providing turn-by-turn directions.
Additionally, Apple is implementing a version of its background push notification service in the 2.1 firmware. As announced at the WWDC in June, this feature lets third-party native programs receive data such as alerts or new messages while not actively running.
This new release of the iPhone’s OS would most likely come out this fall. In the meantime, Apple and AT&T are currently testing iPhone 2.0.1, a maintenance release of the operating system that likely fixes some of the outstanding bugs with the initial 2.0 release.
Tags: GPS, iphone, iPod Touch, MobileMe, push
