Hey all, quick question. My end goal is to start developing apps for the iPhone but my current skillset is pretty limited. I'm wondering how far back I should go back and where I should start as far as becoming familiar with coding before the iPhone SDK course on Lynda.com isn't something that makes my eyes glaze over.
My experience: I taught myself html from the html for dummies book maybe 10 years ago, I've taken a dreamweaver class and built a few sites with it, and I've customized a self hosted Wordpress blog by playing with the php code.
Any tips on where I should start if I want to head down the road toward developing for the iPhone? Thanks!
If the iphone is what you want to do then I would recommend starting with the iPhone SDK and some samples. Deving native apps iPhone is pretty different than HTML - it is mostly Objective C where you have to worry about memory allocation/cleanup and pointers, but the quickest way to find if you like it or not is to download the free SDK and try it out.
If you find you don't like it, the browser capabilities on both iPhone and iPad are pretty advanced and I have seen some very good browser based apps built using web technologies.
I put together this list of resources for learning iOS Development:
http://bkbeachlabs.com/blog/ios-programming-resources-for-learning-ios-development/
Hope that helps!
Related
Me and my friends are starting app development. We have created 2 apps now, and have 3 more in the works. We're looking for a development tool or environment that will allow us to build games that works on all the major handsets. We're using Flash at the moment for cross-platform, but are there any better and more powerful options?
Or would it be best to write the code in one language, then convert it line by line to the others? How do the creators of games like Angry Birds do it?
Thanks.
There are many options:
PhoneGap
SAP Sybase Unwired Platform
Appcelerator Titanium
RhoMobile
Kony
Out of all these mentioned tools i will recommend PhoneGap.
Also PhoneGap and Corona
My friends are using this for making games , and am a designer so not much into programming of that. But still as far my friends say this is good for most of the applications, though there are very few things which cant be implemented.
My friends have created a utility app and a game tic tac to using this.
For developing games i would recommend Corona.
For a native feel and look i would recommend Titanium
For fast and simple development and using html/js i would recommend Phonegap
You should also check out Worklight from IBM. You can easily download the fully functional development tool from their developerworks Web site. The only restriction is that you can't use what you write for a production version. Their tutorials are great and escort you comfortably through the short learning curve.
I'm a Titanium Developer, I find this framework great because it gives me the chance to develop cross browser mobile with Javascript. This is a big advantage for people that have Web Developing background like me. If you are gonna develop basic cross browser application und you will do it quick (and if you have javascript know-how), then appcelerator is good for you!
Im new to the development of apps and i've got some questions.
First let me tell you about the app i need to make.
As an intern at a company i need to develop an iPhone and Android app, they want me to create an app that is based on a existing CRM database.
I need to get data from the database and show it on the iPhone, this data should be edited and send back to the database.
The company itself does not has experience in the development of mobile apps.
EDIT:
The requirements i wrote above are the basic of the application, it will have alot more functionality implemented after the basic has been made. Something like an auto sync, either the database or phone will sync with each other once in a while. And when you are called on the phone it will also check the number in the database and if found the name is displayed instead of an unknow number. Just 2 things that should be implemented after the basic app
Is such a thing possible with an iPhone/Android?
As i have no experience with Objective-C, and little experience with java
Is it easy to learn, i have good knowledge of C#
What platform could you suggest for me?
As i need to develop for both iPhone and Android,
What is the quickest way of developing for both at the same time?
i've done research but as i do not have an mac at the moment i can't try stuff out for the iPhone.
Titanium Appcelerator is something i liked, and since this works for both iPhone and Android i think this might be a good option. But as i do not have any experience i want some good advice from those who have experience before i start programming.
tnx in advance,
~kamikze the rookie
You can also try PhoneGap.
You can use web services to connect to databases
As per your requirements, use Titanium Appcelarator, which will make you write your code in JavaScript, and will generate apps for both, iPhone and Android.
What you're wanting it to do is fairly simple and shouldn't introduce a lot of complexity before you.
Go ahead with Appcelerator, if you don't want to spend a lot of time learning Android SDK and Objectiv-C
It sure is possible to access/change databases.
If you have good C# knowledge then getting started with Java should not be an issue for you.
I think it should be quite easy to implement for Android, but I also have no experience in iOS development (don´t have a mac)
A client do not want to consider MonoTouch for a new project.
MonoTouch.info has a long list of apps, but I have not found any on the caliber that can convince a client too choose a technology. The client has seen the list, and actually use the bland screenshots as an argument against MonoTouch.
Where can I find examples of applications useful as motivation. High profile apps created using MonoTouch, the apps you call home about. The apps that made it to the top 25 lists in their category.?
I responded on Twitter but thought I'd reply properly here;
The first app I will mention is iCircuit - http://icircuitapp.com/ - this application is featured on the Apple website here - http://www.apple.com/ipad/business/apps/index.html#workflow-icircuit - and is a pretty good seller.
Diggify is a Digg application which hit the top #8 sold application in Canada apparently - http://www.intomobile.com/apps/diggify/359756952/
An application that I built myself (it's a little old now admittedly) but I do think that it looks rather nice - http://bit.ly/gfxmasappstore :)
London Bike App is another nice looking application - http://www.londonbikeapp.com/
Update: Wow, this is an old question, there's a whole bunch of great apps using MonoTouch at http://xamarin.com/apps
Hope this helps,
ChrisNTR
I know of a couple apps that were built using Monotouch and sold very well but due to the uncertainly surrounding the terms when MT first came out and later the 3.3.1 mess the devs didn't make a big fuss out of it. I suspect they aren't the only ones not publicizing what technology they used to make their app.
If your client is using a handful of screenshots on a website as the reason to rule out using Monotouch then you might want to rethink your pitch. Whether or not an app has been developed in native Objective-C or C# via Monotouch makes no difference on the overall design or appearance because both rely on the CocoaTouch framework for UI. Being able to deliver an app that meets your client's idea of what makes a great app has nothing to do with the language you use and has everything to do with your ability to translate the essence of their ideas into a solid design and UX. Sell that, not the framework.
I found this article to be helpful when I'm trying to explain to others why I use Monotouch over native objective-c.
"Why we chose MonoTouch to write the Diggify iPhone app"
I want to start developing IPhone application.
I need to understand something about it - I am working with a graphic designer.
If she supplies the GUI in HTML - will it be easy for me to develop with it?
How does it work? like regular web development?
Apple uses Objective C and Cocoa for iPhone applications. Neither uses HTML; you'll instead be using interactive controls like you'd find in a desktop application. Whether it's easy for you to develop using an HTML mockup will depend entirely on your skills with Cocoa. (In the same way I encourage designers to give me mockups in Photoshop knowing that I can easily build HTML versions of them.)
You might want to start with some of Apple's documentation on iPhone development: http://developer.apple.com/devcenter/ios/index.action
For GUI development of your own apps you have several options:
Code: UIKit framework in Objective-C
Interface Builder: Tool to click
your GUI together, but the logic
will be coded like in 1 in C, Obj-C
or C++
You can build a HTML gui and
present it in a web view, but for
native apps, this will only bring
you so far.
Oh, and no native Flash on iOS. :-)
You could write an app that uses HTML for its UI - in essence you'd simply be wrapping a webkit widget and driving your app from events generated by that UI. However, that's not going to give you a UI that really takes advantage of the phone.
For that, you need to get down and dirty with Objective C and the Cocoa Touch API for iOS. Another option is using Flash CS5, which is ActionScript based.
Strictly speaking, the answer is no, your HTML skills are not transferrable.
That said, there are two projects that deserve looking into, both of which are about producing native (or "native-ish") apps from HTML and JavaScript. The first is PhoneGap, and the second (which I think is more robust and promising) is called Appcellerator.
Neither of them give you really-and-truly full access to to the iPhone API, but they do allow a significant flattening of the learning curve for people who already have well developed web app skillz.
If you go the native route, bear this in mind: it took me about a month to go from being a web developer to being a slightly competent iOS developer, and six months or so to feel solid and reliable and productive with iOS.
Am looking into developing an iPhone native app using Titanium Developer
Since this is still in beta, I am wondering if there are any better options and/or if its a good idea using such software to develop native apps (which are not games; not graphic intensive)
If you don't want to wait, you can do what a lot of us did: develop apps in Cocoa Touch. It works perfectly well for games as well as non-graphic intensive apps.
The similar and more mature PhoneGap framework has been used in a number of iPhone apps and Apple only seems to object if the application autoupdates.
That being said, I wouldn't recommend using web frameworks unless your application is really simple--you will get a much better experience from a native application (on both Android and iPhone)
My company uses Titanium and it's working fine so far. It's also a pleasure to develop iPhone app using javascript and co. I'd recomend you give it a try, it's really simple to set up and start coding.
Some reading up: http://boldr.net/iphone-app-with-titanium-mobile/