What is iOS Development?
iOS is the mobile operating system developed and distributed by Apple. If you are interested in learning to create games and applications for iPhone and/or iPad users, you will need to learn all about iOS. The current version is IOS 7.
It seems that everyone and their dog wants to learn how to create the next killer iPhone game and use the proceeds to retire to the Bahamas. Unfortunately, it is not that simple and the App Store has become a highly competitive marketplace where only the strongest survive.
iOS games and applications are written in a programming language called Objective-C. It is quite a difficult language to learn, but anyone that is prepared to put in the effort will be rewarded with the exciting opportunity to harness the full power of Apple's fantastic development platform (Xcode) and begin to use it to make great games and apps.
My Background in iOS
There is also going to be an element of subjectivity when reviewing books and I am not an expert in iOS by any stretch of the imagination.
However, about 14 months ago (and at the age of 38!) I decided to learn how to create iOS apps without any previous experience of computer programming. It has been a tough journey, but I am now starting to reap the rewards and, whilst I am unlikely to create the next "Clash of Clans" or "Minecraft" anytime soon, I do have apps on my own iPhone that I created myself!
The feeling of seeing your own work appearing on your own iPhone is indescribable, however modest the result and if I can do it anyone can.
Since I have read many, many iOS books in the past 14 months, I feel well qualified to offer a valid opinion upon the argument about which is the best iOS development book. There are some very bad efforts on the market and you are well advised to stick with those that are written by genuine experts rather than those written by people just trying to cash-in on the Apple/iOS bandwagon.
If you heed my advice it will save you a lot of money, frustration and disappointment!
The Best iOS Development Book
The book that I found most helpful in learning the iOS development framework was:
- iOS Programming: The Big Nerd Ranch Guide (4th Edition), by Conway, Hillegass & Keur
The Big Nerd Ranch Organisation has been publishing computer programming books and delivering computer programming training courses for many years. They are not only experts in the field (Aaron Hillegass previously worked at NeXT and Apple), but they are also highly skilled in explaining sometimes difficult concepts to absolute beginners.
This book does not presume that the reader has any prior knowledge of iOS programming and, if you can only afford to buy one programming book on iOS, this is the one that I would recommend.
The book is helpfully organised into manageable topics and each builds upon the knowledge acquired in the previous chapters. There are projects to follow along with and assignments to complete to ensure that you genuinely are understanding the concepts and not just skim reading in the hope that it will all sink in.
But, by far the most important feature of this book is that the Big Nerd Ranch Organisation has set up a dedicated forum on their website so that people from all around the world can share their early iOS programming experiences and get help with the books' assignments.
The 4th Edition was published yesterday (10th February 2014) and so is completely up to date. The importance of this factor is something that cannot be over-emphasised since Apple is continually updating iOS and being out of date is not only "uncool", but is also going to prevent you from learning how to do thing in the correct manner.
Click here if you would like to read more about this and other iOS development books.
Click here if you would like to read about the best Objective-C books.
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