

Ask HN: Writing my first iPhone app - japhyr

I am trying to find a good tutorial to follow for writing my first iPhone app. There are so many things to think about, I'd like a little guidance e on what direction to take.<p>I have a working prototype written in JavaScript, and I am familiar with C, java, and python. So I don't need a whole bunch of background resources, just a tutorial that runs through building a simple app.<p>I have found some good tutorials, but many of them date back to 2008-2010. I don't want to work off of something too out of date. Can someone with a good understanding of current best practice recommend a good tutorial?
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ninthfrank07
I personally had tremendous fun following Matthijs Hollemans' tutorials
(<http://www.raywenderlich.com/store/ios-apprentice>).

You can get the first tutorial for free if you sign up for the
raywenderlich.com newsletter. It assumes no prior knowledge of iOS or
Objective-C and runs you through building a simple game. Then for 54$ you can
get the three other tutorials.

The second tutorial shows you step by step how to build a checklist app (using
Storyboards).

The third tutorial is about doing a simpler version of Foursquare (using Core
Location, Map Kit, the camera and photo library, Core Data and Core
Animation).

And in the fourth tutorial you'll learn how to make a clone of the default
iTunes app by using the iTunes Store Search API
([http://www.apple.com/itunes/affiliates/resources/documentati...](http://www.apple.com/itunes/affiliates/resources/documentation/itunes-
store-web-service-search-api.html)) as well as AFNetworking.

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japhyr
Thank you, this is exactly what I was looking for to get started. It's up to
date, and focuses on getting an app working, with just the right balance of
theory and application.

I notice this tutorial uses the visual editor in Xcode to place buttons and
widgets. Do most experienced iOS developers use the visual editor, or do good
developers write the ui code directly?

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ssmc
+! for Paul Hegarty's iOS course from Stanford found here:
[http://itunes.apple.com/itunes-u/ipad-iphone-application-
dev...](http://itunes.apple.com/itunes-u/ipad-iphone-application-
development/id473757255?mt=10)

Seriously can't go wrong with it. He's ex-apple I believe and was something
like the 10th employee or something. IE: One of the makers of Obj-C.

Great lectures packed with tons of demos to get you coding as he talks.

He doesn't do any Cocoas2D stuff though; so if you're looking for games I
would go somewhere else.

Ray Wenderlich's site is also a really good resource here:
<http://www.raywenderlich.com/>

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danielna
Me and a team of 3 others recently completed an iPhone app for the Evernote
DevCup (I literally just submitted this link 3 minutes ago:
<https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=4228897>). From what the two iOS devs
told me, the best resource is the Stanford iOS lectures on iTunes U. They
offer lectures as recent as the last semester of classes. Good luck!

~~~
japhyr
I'll take a look, but I work much better from written tutorials. Any
suggestions?

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kyle_martin1
Agreed, the Stanford videos are AWESOME. The professor was actually one
writers of Objective-C at NeXt. He explains how most of the major frameworks
work and the design decisions behind them which gives you a strong intuition.
Honestly, I can't recommend these enough.

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cnp
Forget ALL of that and use RubyMotion! www.rubymotion.com.

Complete Obj-C - Ruby cross-compatibility. Our entire team switched and we no
longer outsource anything, nor deal with 1/2 of the bugs. Best company move of
our life.

