Customer Reviews

iPhone Application Development For Dummies (For Dummies (Computers))

5 star:		(13)
4 star:		(6)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(3)
1 star:		(3)

 

 

Except for Mr. Goldsteins...iPhone Application Development For Dummies
I have been writing software packages for the PC market since 1979 and I teach programming at the college level. Being a PC (Microsoft) person the iMac and iPhone are new to me. However, I fell in love with the iPhone and decided to purchase everything I could on the subject of writing Apps for it. First I had to get a handle on the iMac so I went out a bought one - a very slick machine.

Then came the shock - I don't know the first thing about the iMac, iPhone, cocoa, xcode or Objective-C. The selection of books came next. O my God, I guess there's no such thing as a straight "How to do it" book anymore. After spending over $ 750 on books for both platforms, I didn't get any closer to my goal. All the available books were written for experienced Apple programmers - they also started teaching development in the wrong direction - write code, write code, write code then work on the interface.

Anyone who developed Apps with Microsoft's ".Net" platforms learned to build the interface first - then code the events. This is how "iPhone Application Development for Dummies" leads you through the process of developing Apps. Every step is explained in simple terms and reinforced by example. If you want to get a handle on writing Apps for the iPhone this "For Dummies" book is the only one you need to purchase. Everything else is on Apple's iPhone developers Web site.

I got this book this past Friday (May 8, 2009) and so far I have already devoured 5 chapters! I have tried reading, studying and learning how to program on the iPhone from other sources but found them to be over the top or just too complicated. Also the amount of material already on the subject can be overwhelming. iPhone Application Development has made learning the ins and out of the iPhone Framework, environment, programming concepts, design, etc easy and accessible to grasp and learn. The author does an exceptional job in explaining difficult concepts easy to follow and understand. He will walk you through this process from the beginning!

I highly recommend this book to anyone considering learning how to program on this amazing device called the iPhone! Before you read any other book on the subject save yourself a lot of frustration by reading this book first. You'll be glad you did! Can't wait to continue learning from this book and looking forward to building my first iPhone app and contributing to the richness and the wealth already available and accessible for the iPhone.

I am about half way through this book - it really is well done. It goes into control flow in depth which is an important subject - control flow is somewhat unique on the iphone. You may want to have some knowledge of objective-c to fully understand all the information presented, however its not critical. There are some typos as another reviewer pointed out, fortunately most of them ( if not all ) are easy to catch and correct by the reader.
Great book for the price - get it!

This book is a excellent primer to understanding iphone app development. I tried other "beginner" books (before this was released) and was dismayed at their complexity. This book starts at the beginning and gives you a sound foundation. I am a fair PHP, javascript programmer. This is my first foray into Mac/iphone apps. One thing I really like about the book is that the Mr. Goldstein builds code using the interface builder. Using the interface builder makes complex coding much easier.

I heard he is writing other books on objective-C and a more detailed iphone book apps ... I can't wait!

Programming is not for everyone, and object-oriented programming is not for every programmer. Nonetheless, Neal Goldstein has managed to produce a book that takes the aspiring iPhone developer through the process of designing and implementing a practical iPhone app in a book that is accessible and even enjoyable.

In the book, Goldstein walks you through the basics of object-oriented programming and the Objective-C programming language (in which iPhone apps are written), the underlying model-view-controller paradigm (upon which well-designed iPhone apps rely), the basics of Apple's iPhone software development kit and the Xcode integrated development environment (with which you build, test, and debug an iPhone app), and how you deploy an app through the iPhone App Store. And he does it all with clear explanations, good humor, and copious illustrations. He even provides complete source code and additional useful information on a web site associated with the book.

Make no mistake: if you have no experience as a programmer, this book won't get you over that hurdle. But if you have some programming experience (and you don't need all that much), this book can definitely get you started on iPhone app development.

The only real quibbles I have with this book are not Goldstein's fault but that of the book's editors, who have missed some typos and ignored some of Goldstein's intentions, which makes the book harder to follow than it should be (for example, Goldstein explicitly intends to show before-and-after code examples with deleted code presented in strikethrough text, but the editorial staff did not follow through on his intention).

Quibbles aside, this book offers real value to any aspiring iPhone app developer. I strongly recommend it.

Maybe because I wasn't expecting too much from this book I was pleasantly surprised when it came.

If you're new to Xcode & Objective-C, if you have no experience with Cocoa and have used the Mac for the first time just a few weeks ago, this might be the right book for you.

The book will get you started with Xcode, Interface Builder, Debugger and Instruments. It will guide you through the registration and AppStore application. It will even show you how to build a few simple, but complete applications.

Buy this one first, then buy all the other iPhone development books.

I like most people when new to a project will buy all the books on that subject we can find. I purchased four other books on iPhone SDk programming and had no luck with them, most were poorly written in terms of walking you through their projects and making the subject clear. The book, "iPhone Application Development for Dummies" really is a great book for starting to learn Xcode and the iPhone SDK. The projects are simple and the explanations are very well done. I have not completed the book yet, but I am well on my way to completing my own first project thanks to this book.

This book put the fun back into learning to program for the iPhone. I highly recommend it as your first iPhone programming book if you are truly new to Xcode and the iPhone SDK. I hope this one helps all you as much as it has helped me.

JMW

Long ago, in a life far far away, I was a C programmer. I learned C, caught onto the beginnings of C++ and then changed my career path to that of an Oracle DBA. Now, I find myself interested in Objective-C programming. Go figure.

I picked up Neal's book as the second book in my effort to both relearn the C programming language (and C++ and Objective C, etc..). As an author myself (of Oracle Database books), I found this book to be a worthy effort and a good start in my Objective-C life.

I found the beginning chapters (Parts I, II and III) to be quite well done and while I found a few minor mistakes, they were pretty obvious and easy to figure out. I would say that Parts I, II and III are above average in their quality and completeness. The code examples are quite complete and I don't believe I found a single mistake in the code in these parts (though a few mistakes in the text were found). I did find some descriptions lacking clarity, but this was not a constant problem. I have high hopes that these issues will be addressed in the next release of this book which I see is due soon. If I were judging this book on Parts I, II and III it would get 4.0 stars. One thing I do wish is that Neal would comment his code (or, at least, that the download code would have comments in it). He does provide good explanations on what the individual code snippets do, but I'd like to have ready-made comments in the code itself. Not a big deal, I added them myself. Still, commenting is good coding practice and I'd like to have seen that demonstrated here.

I wish I could say the same about Part IV, frankly. I get the sense that perhaps Neal was working within either page count constraints or time constraints (as an author I understand and respect both).

In Part IV we get into more advanced concepts and a much bigger example application (and cooler!). It is in this part that we find some missing code (mostly stuff in the header files) and some resulting frustration. Additionally I find the descriptions in this part to be less informative and complete than in the previous parts of the book.

Finally in Parts I through III, the code is re-compilable at several points along the path of development. This makes it easy to see what your changes are actually doing in the resulting application. I find this less so in part IV, which might be just part of the nature of the app, but I think that it might more be a factor of whatever caused part IV to feel a bit haphazard when juxtaposed to the other parts.

I think Part IV introduces some very important concepts and ideas and I'm a bit disappointed in it. So, 3 stars for Part IV.

Overall, I recommend this book for someone like me. You should have a basic understanding of C++ (objects, methods, messages, etc) and you should be ready to do a little digging in Part IV (which from a learning point-of-view might not be all that bad of a thing). I'll probably buy the new edition when it comes out and see how it has changed. Good job Neal!

In an effort to simplify the material, the author strings out explanations too much. This was actually counter-productive for me. Also, this covers SDK 2.1 instead of 3.0 which came out in June 2009.

Instead get the "Beginning iPhone 3 Development" book from Apress. Its the best one out there and the edition covering SDK 3.0 is coming out early July 2009. I've read the eBook version (already available from Apress) and its great!

Also recommend "iPhone SDK Development" book from Pragmatic Press. Also covers SDK 3.0. Also currently available in eBook format only - paper copy should be coming Sep 2009.

If you are having trouble rapping your head around Objective-C and the SDK for the Iphone then this is the book for you. For someone like myself that hasn't programmed in several years this book did what four other Iphone programming books could not, Help!!!! This book has completely lifted the fog surrounding the SDK and how Objective-C works. If you have never programmed in Object oriented programming then this is a must read. Mr. Goldstein has done a great job of taking the complexity out of this frustrating language and putting it in a language we can all speak.