Head First iPhone and iPad Development: A Learner's Guide to Creating Objective-C Applications for the iPhone and iPad [Paperback]

Dan Pilone (Author), Tracey Pilone (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: June 30, 2011 | ISBN-10: 1449387829 | ISBN-13: 978-1449387822 | Edition: Second Edition

Let's say you have a killer app idea for iPhone and iPad. Where do you begin? Head First iPhone and iPad Development will help you get your first application up and running in no time. You'll not only learn how to design for Apple's devices, you'll also master the iPhone SDK tools -- including Interface Builder, Xcode, and Objective-C programming principles -- to make your app stand out.

Whether you're a seasoned Mac developer who wants to jump into the App store, or someone with strong object-oriented programming skills but no Mac experience, this book is a complete learning experience for creating eye-catching, top-selling iPhone and iPad applications.

• Install the iPhone OS SDK and get started using Interface Builder and XCode
• Put Objective-C core concepts to work, including message passing, protocols, properties, and memory management
• Take advantage of iPhone OS patterns such as datasources and delegates
• Preview your applications in the Simulator
• Build more complicated interactions that utilize multiple views, data entry/editing, and rotation
• Work with the iPhone's camera, GPS, and accelerometer
• Optimize, test, and distribute your application

  We think your time is too valuable to waste struggling with new concepts. Using the latest research in cognitive science and learning theory to craft a multi-sensory learning experience, Head First iPhone and iPad Development has a visually rich format designed for the way your brain works, not a text-heavy approach that puts you to sleep.

Editorial Reviews

About the Author

Dan Pilone is a Senior Software Architect with Blueprint Technologies, Inc. He has designed and implemented systems for Hughes, ARINC, UPS, and the Naval Research Laboratory. He also teaches project management and software design and engineering at The Catholic University in Washington D.C. Dan is the author of several books on software development, including UML 2.0 in a Nutshell and UML 2.0 Pocket Reference (O'Reilly).

Tracey Pilone, a licensed Civil Engineer, is a freelance technical writer who has worked on mission planning and RF analysis software for the Navy. She has a Civil Engineering degree from Virgina Tech and a Masters of Education from the University of Virginia.

Product Details

• Paperback: 670 pages
• Publisher: O'Reilly Media; Second Edition edition (June 30, 2011)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1449387829
• ISBN-13: 978-1449387822
• Product Dimensions: 9.2 x 8 x 1.6 inches
• Shipping Weight: 2.6 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 3.5 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (15 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #31,844 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
  • #14 in Books > Computers & Technology > Hardware > Macs
  • #54 in Books > Computers & Technology > Apple
  • #67 in Books > Computers & Technology > Programming > Software Design, Testing & Engineering > Object-Oriented Design

More About the Author

Dan Pilone is the founder of Element 84, a consulting and custom software development company. He has designed and implemented systems for NASA, Hughes, ARINC, UPS, and the Naval Research Laboratory. He has taught project management, software design, and software engineering at The Catholic University in Washington D.C. Dan has written several books on software development, including Head First iPhone Development, Head First Software Development, UML 2.0 in a Nutshell (0-596-00795-7) and UML 2.0 Pocket Reference (0-596-10208-9).

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

27 of 31 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars The Best So Far - An Operational Status Review., July 9, 2011

By 

J. Lawler (California) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Head First iPhone and iPad Development: A Learner's Guide to Creating Objective-C Applications for the iPhone and iPad (Paperback)

This is a partial review. I want to provide some feedback quickly in case there are others in my situation. I call this an operational review because I just want to become operational/proficient in iPad development - I'm not someone who can write pithy reviews.

First so that you understand the context of my comments, I am a retread. I've never programmed on any Apple computer before. I received an iPad for my birthday last year and I bought a MacBook Pro to write an App for the iPad. I can program in Visual Studio environment.

That being said I bought the "iPad for Dummies" book and gave up with that book half way through when this book arrived. I only received the Head First book last week and I've learned more in this book, and more quickly, than the Dummies book. Don't even consider the Dummies book unless you are more concerned with the philosophy of Apple development and not what I wanted to do - that is, write an iPad App.

I will also point out I purchased the "Programming in Objective-C" by Kochan at the same time I bought the Dummies book. If like me you never even looked at Objective C before this is a must have. It gives you the nuts and bolts of the language.

I intend to write more on each book as I progress. So far the score is Dummies book - 0, Head First - 5.

15 July 2011. Ok I am making progress with Head First. I still like it. I've found a few missing steps which caused me some angst. But that's not my focus and I figured it out. Again coming from Visual Studio, it really is a big jump. So I've been working in parallel with Kochan's book "Programming in Objective-C", 3rd edition. I'd really recommend this approach if your background is similar to mine. One really reinforces the other.

6 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars iPhone development made easy, July 26, 2011

By 

mko "mko" (Poland) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Head First iPhone and iPad Development: A Learner's Guide to Creating Objective-C Applications for the iPhone and iPad (Paperback)

Head First iPhone and iPad Development (second edition) takes you, again, on a great journey across iPhone development related topics. What you get here is a gentle introduction into iOS programming.

Book covers most common issues you will definitely face during iPod development. It starts with introduction to XCode (iOS devoted IDE). What's worth mentioning here, it covers XCode version 4 (most recent one). Then it presents how to develop simple "hello world" like application. This way, you can fell what coding for iPhone/iPad is in practice. Apart from that, you will be taught how to use multiple views (very common use case for iPhone applications), how to access data (both via plists and Core Data), how to use tab bars, and some of the iOS frameworks. In general, this is very gentle introduction to iOS related development. And it's written like any other Head Firsts series book. It uses simple language, simple examples and good analogies. This way, you don't have to pretend that you are an expert with the topic before you start to read it.

If you are new to iOS and Mac world you will definitely notice that Objective-C is something totally different than Java/C++/C#. Here, Dan provides you with the very basics of the Objective-C. However, these basics are tightly bound to UI related development. You won't get detailed syntax explanation here. If you want to get it, you will have to look somewhere else anyway. This is not that big disadvantage after all. In fact, most of the iOS development related books lack good explanation of Objective-C.

I have read Head First iPhone Development (first edition) some time ago. In fact, this had been one of the books I have learned to program iPhone from. I think it was a good choice at that time. I'd recommend it to all the people who are at the very beginning of the journey. If you know something about iPhone development already. It might be that this book will cover topics you already know. In that case, deciding for iOS 4 Programming Cookbook or Concurrent Programming in Mac OS X and iOS might be a better idea for you.

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

1.0 out of 5 stars XCode 4.2 makes this version very frustrating, December 10, 2011

By 

Matt - See all my reviews

This review is from: Head First iPhone and iPad Development: A Learner's Guide to Creating Objective-C Applications for the iPhone and iPad (Paperback)

The newest version of XCode makes this book (second edition, the latest one) frustrating to follow in some places and impossible to follow in others. I abandoned the book after realizing I could not complete chapters 7 and 8 with XCode 4.2. I would strongly recommend waiting for the next edition to come out.