
Show HN: I learned Rails and Objective-C in a year to build this - jpn
What I built: Bonjournal, a travel journal app<p>- iOS app  (https:&#x2F;&#x2F;itunes.apple.com&#x2F;us&#x2F;app&#x2F;bonjournal&#x2F;id719266933)<p>- web app (https:&#x2F;&#x2F;bonjourn.al)<p>What and how I learned (in order of importance):<p><i></i>* Ruby on Rails <i></i>*<p>- Michael Hartl&#x27;s Ruby On Rails Tutorial<p>- Railscast<p>- Code School<p>- Ruby Toolbox<p><i></i>* Objective-C <i></i>*<p>- Nerd Ranch iOS Programming<p>- NSScreencast<p>- Code School<p>- WWDC Videos (for performance improvements)<p>- CocoaPods Rank (https:&#x2F;&#x2F;gist.github.com&#x2F;luvtechno&#x2F;8842522)<p>And of course, a lot of Stack Overflow.<p>I didn&#x27;t think it would be possible. I thought I was too old to learn. But I had a project in mind that I cared about, and I wanted to see it completed.<p>It&#x27;s never been easier to learn -- go out there and create!<p>Special thanks to my wife, who is also my designer. Besides all the wireframes, marketing, and testing she has done, she also learned a little SASS and Objective C to make all those little pixel and font size adjustments. That was HUGE.
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hansy
I still affirm that Michael Hartl's "Ruby On Rails Tutorial"
([http://www.railstutorial.org/book](http://www.railstutorial.org/book)) is
one of the most beautifully simplistic and effective tutorial books ever
written. Combine his book with Ryan Bates's Railscasts
([http://railscasts.com/](http://railscasts.com/)) and you can pretty much
build anything you can think of. I learned RoR we these resources as well and
am just starting to take the plunge into iOS. I haven't looked into
NSScreencasts much, but I did obtain a copy of The Big Nerd Ranch Guide to iOS
Programming ([http://www.amazon.com/iOS-Programming-Ranch-Edition-
Guides/d...](http://www.amazon.com/iOS-Programming-Ranch-Edition-
Guides/dp/0321942051)).

Anyway, congrats on launching both an iOS and web application. Bonjournal
looks awesome!

~~~
jpn
Thanks!

Good luck with iOS. NSScreencast is not as useful as Railscast, but there are
some pretty useful tips. For example, I thought this episode was really
helpful starting off:

[http://nsscreencast.com/episodes/63-from-
scratch](http://nsscreencast.com/episodes/63-from-scratch)

I've also been hearing great things about Treehouse, which I plan to use when
I tackle Android:

[http://teamtreehouse.com/](http://teamtreehouse.com/)

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doodilin
Thanks all for the kind words of support! Another essential resource was
Basecamp's (formerly 37Signals) book, Getting Real. It is a must-read for
anyone building software, especially for first-timers like us.

[https://basecamp.com/books/Getting%20Real.pdf](https://basecamp.com/books/Getting%20Real.pdf)

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redrory
Congrats.. so how much fail to actually deliver. The app looks beautiful.

Question - in terms of the iOS web, what's the Ruby vs Objective-C breakdown?

Are you using the same Rails back-end from the web app with the iOS app. Would
love to speak with you, shoot me an email - username @ gmail.com

~~~
jpn
We're pretty happy with the end product. All of the features that we wanted
are there.

Breakdown is probably 75% Ruby 25% Objective-C. Yes, same back end as the web
app, which I think is key. The iOS app is essentially a glorified browser. So
everything is pretty DRY and easy to maintain.

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mcintyre1994
Congrats! :) I'm not sure how you're implementing responsiveness (it works
fantastically btw) but if it's feasible it could be nice to de-emphasise the
iOS app a bit on other mobile devices. I can see the site is basically the
same as desktop but with the big iOS banner it felt a lot like a limited
content mobile site.

That said the iOS app looks really nice - design reminds me a bit of airbnb
which is definitely a good thing. Can I pay for an Android app some time?
Congrats again!

~~~
doodilin
Thanks, mcintyre1994! We're using Susy and Compass for responsive CSS. We have
plans for an Android version, as soon as jpn learns Java. :)

Great feedback on our home page -- you're right about the iOS emphasis, and
limited content feel. We're currently refreshing our home page, and will be
sure to work these issues out. Thanks!!

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AndrewTerry
You say that you took a year to learn RoR and Objective-C for this, but can I
ask: were you starting from scratch as a programmer and was this a full-time
project (or were you balancing your learning and development alongside having
another job)?

Congrats on the launch! Both the app and the website look beautiful.

~~~
jpn
Thanks!

I basically started from just Excel/VBA and a little bit of .NET.

Initially, I was doing this along with another project, but during the second
half, it was full-time.

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evolve2k
Clickable:

Bonjournal, a travel journal app \- iOS app
([https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/bonjournal/id719266933](https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/bonjournal/id719266933))

\- web app ([https://bonjourn.al](https://bonjourn.al))

~~~
jpn
Cool. Thanks!

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mostlybadfly
Wow, this is great, good job!

I am currently teaching myself while working full time in a non tech related
career. May I ask how old you are? This is very encouraging. I'm currently
Hartl's tutorial and CodeSchool, so hopefully I'm on the right track.

~~~
jpn
I'm 35.

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mostlybadfly
good to know, a bit of the insecurity I've had comes from seeing people who
have been doing some of things since what seems like forever. Good to know
there is still hope!

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nicholas73
Beautiful and simple way to log trips! It never occurred to me to do it, but
your app made me want to! Honestly think you can charge a buck more, and I
rarely buy apps. Well, unless you have competition.

~~~
jpn
Thanks, nicholas73!

We're going to bump up the price to 2.99 after this promotional period. We
want to give our currents users/followers a way to get the app at a discount.

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joshdance
Nice work. Great to see you go from not much to a nice polished app. And props
for including your resources.

~~~
jpn
Thanks, joshdance.

There are so many quality resources out there for a newbie developer!

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blipper2001
Balling! I'm actually going to Canada today so I will give it a test drive.

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jpn
Great! Happy travels!

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unfed
Quite an achievement. Best of luck to you and your wife.

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jpn
Thxs!

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2close4comfort
That is an amazing site, congratulations.

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jpn
Thank you!

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grimborg
Beautiful!

~~~
jpn
Thank you!

