Customer Reviews

iPhone and iPad Apps for Absolute Beginners

5 star:		(23)
4 star:		(9)
3 star:		(14)
2 star:		(12)
1 star:		(20)

 

 

First, to all the people giving low ratings because of a few typos - Get Over It! Any first printing of a technical book like this will have them, especially when things like the OS, SDK and dev tools are updated all the time. You have to judge the book on it's content, not a few mistakes in printing.

As for the book, this is EXACTLY what I needed. I've never programmed anything before in my life, but like everyone else I want to learn iPhone programming & make a million dollars. :P

I started with a few other "beginning iPhone programming" books and every one of them was way too out of my league. Inevitably the first chapter would say "You need to know Objective-C first...". So I'd grab a book on Objective-C for beginners and that would be over my head & the first chapter of those would say "You need to know C first..." So I'd grab a book on C for beginners. The one thing all of these books had in common was THEY DIDN'T EXPLAIN WHY THINGS WORK. So after reading a couple books on C, a couple on Objective-C, I was still completely lost when I started on the iPhone books.

Then I found this book. It is really the start I needed. Things are explained quite well and I was finally able to actually understand what I was doing, not just memorizing code. When learning something this foreign, it is much more helpful to have it explained thus; "This piece of code controls... and make the program do this..." or "This bit of code makes... happen because...". Analogies are used in a terrific way so you can understand the mechanics behind it all.

To use an analogy, if you never worked on a car engine,it would be far more helpful if someone explained what a spark-plug does than just telling you you need to have them. That is the kind of teaching Dr. Lewis provides in this book. I can't praise it and thank him enough for writing it & can't wait for more from him.

As for the typos (and there are really only a few), I actually benefited because it gave me a bit of a crash course in debugging and figuring out how things should really work. If you get confused or lost because of them, don't fret it, just come to the forum for this book and one of us will be happy to help out. [...]

If you are like me, "An Absolute Beginner", then you'll be hard pressed to find a better book to get you started. Trust me, I wasted many months trying.

If you have been a long time Mac and iPhone user you may have had an idea for an application you wished someone would build. But unfortunately, developing software is not as easy as dragging and dropping media into say iDVD and producing a nearly professional DVD with titles, chapters, and background music. Learning the language of Objective-C programing is not the same thing as even producing your own dashboard widget--remember those?

If you know nothing about UITableViewController class, switch view interfaces, objects and properties, IBActions and IBOutlets, then I can nearly guarantee that Dr. Rory Lewis's iPhone and iPad Apps for Absolute Beginners is probably the best book for getting you started with mobile app development.

This book peaked my interest because I'm one of the absolute beginners whom the author is addressing. I have dabbled a little in CSS and HTML languages, produced some AppleScript and Automator workflows, but none of that compares with learning Objective-C and Cocoa programming--the basis of iPhone and iPad applications.

I've tried a few other iPhone app development books and while the authors maintain their book is for novices, I didn't find that the case. Sure I could work through a simple step-by-step "Hello World" program, but by the second chapter, most authors are off and driving fast, telling you how to drive a car, while at the same time explaining how the engine works. One other book I tried literally spent three chapters explaining Objective-C programming using only one sample lesson; but then the fourth chapter leads off with, "Now that you understand Objective-C..."! There's no way you can learn Objective-C or app development by simply reading a chapter about it.

You have to get your hands--okay, your mind--dirty with writing code. For the most part, Dr. Lewis has the ability to make app development manageably understandable. He takes nothing for granted when it comes to what his readers need to know, and he doesn't pretend that just because he spent an entire chapter explaining something that you will understand it.

Now, to be honest, what makes this book stand apart, for me anyway, is very simple. Dr. Lewis has produced instructional videos that nearly mimic the instructions in the book. These videos mirror he ones he developed as part of the classes he teaches on iPad and iPhone development. In many cases, without the instructional videos I would have been completely lost. There are times in the book though, when Dr. Lewis tries to give step-by-step instructions while also explaining the why of those instructions. That makes it very difficult to follow along if you're an absolute beginner.

So my approach has been to read parts of a chapter and follow along with the videos. Then go back and re-read the lessons that I successfully and unsuccessfully completed in X-code.

But I must admit, and say again, software development is not like editing video in iMovie. It takes time and focus to learn app development. Leaving out a semicolon, a word or two of code can mean all kinds of errors when you try to compile and run your application. It's very frustrating to spend twenty minutes typing out code only to find that you missed something along the way.

The book's accompanying web page does include the source code for you to compare your own work with. If you get stuck, I recommend opening the source code in say TextEdit and printing it out. Then go back over your own code using the source as a guide. If you still get stuck, just copy and paste the code and run it. You don't want your small errors to prevent you from understanding the concepts.

So coding is for those with patience and a determination to learn. However, I think, having worked through about two-thirds of the book, I can tell you that iPhone app development is not rocket science. It is indeed possible to produce many of the types of basic apps uploaded to the app store on a daily basis. I think this type of programing could be learned without taking a class, though a course on the subject would probably get you much further.
By the end of chapter of six, Dr. Lewis highly recommends re-doing the lessons of each chapter, like 10 to 15 times. I couldn't concur more.

What's great about this book is that Dr. Lewis revisits a few basic concepts in each lesson. So by the first nine lessons, you get a working understanding of some basic tools of programming, because you have done them more than once. But then there's the leap you must gain by understanding how things are running under the hood, so to speak. You must understand how the code makes things happen, which is the most difficult part.

There are some errors in the book that I have reported to Dr. Lewis, and if I'm correct I hope he posts them on his Errata page. But for the most part, I think if you are an absolute beginner like myself, with some time and patience, you can work through this book. (If you're like me and have an absolute beginner's interests in iPhone app development, write me. I'd be glad to share what little I've learned so far.)

And by the way, the book instructs you to download the current version of iPhone SDK, which will cost $99. But you can use the X-Code application, Interface Builder, and the iPhone simulator that comes installed on the Mac OS X Snow Leopard DVD. I wouldn't pay the $99 for the download until you're actually ready to submit your app to the App Store, which will then cost you the $99.

iPhone and iPad Apps for Absolute Beginners will probably not be the only book you'll need to produce your own iPhone and iPad apps, but it is the book to help you get started.

I bought this book based on all the rave reviews--but right away I ran into trouble. Some of the initial examples of code that the reader is supposed to type in and run (specifically, on p. 44) are so full of typos that I was stopped dead in my tracks with compiler errors and not a clue how to proceed. I looked on the publisher's website for corrections. In the "errata" section someone had indeed posted these same typos and asked for clarification. However, the corrections given (by the author?) were so short, enigmatic, and full of typos themselves (!) that they were not helpful.

Luckily, someone else had posted a comment that the videos on the author's website cleared up the typos. I went to the videos (links provided in book) and watched the author type in the correct code and run it, and figured out how to correct my code. I am now using the book OK and when I run into another of the numerous problems (such as incorrect file names, incorrect lines of code, examples in book that don't match the videos, URLs in the book that lead nowhere, typos) I can generally figure it out by referencing the video for the chapter in question or going to the publisher website and downloading source code from there.

Setting aside the typos, sloppy (or non-existent) proofreading, and last-minute changes made to the book but not to the downloadable source code (resulting in pointless confusion), the author's unique "do it first, understand it later" approach works well for me. He presents lots of easy exercises and repeats them with variations to drive his points home. I find that very helpful. Nevertheless, I'm not sure how a complete and utter novice would fare because I do know a bit of very basic Objective C. Enough so I can at least recognize when something in the text doesn't look right, and understand the author's explanations first time through. A total novice might well be mystified and give up. Still, this is the best beginners' book I've found, and I've tried several. (The "Dummies" book, by Neal Goldstein, for example, is not really a beginner's book--in Chapter One he states that it's written for people with some prior experience with object oriented programming.)

I would definitely give this book 4 stars, maybe even 5, for the author's enthusiasm and unique approach, but because of the sloppiness on the publisher's (and/or author's?) part regarding the numerous typos and inconsistencies I think 3 stars is generous. Having said that, I encourage you to try the book if you know some basic programming but can't seem to "get it" using the other books out there. If you don't know any programming at all, or want to get up to speed with Objective C, get the truly excellent Programming in Objective C 2.0 by Stephen G. Kochan, and work your way through the first 200 pages or so. Even better, take one of Kochan's online courses in which he emphasizes the parts of Objective C you need to know for iPhone programming.

So, who wrote those rave reviews? I don't think that any "absolute beginner" working his or her way through the book and doing the exercises could fail to get tripped up by the typos. The author is a professor of computer science at Colorado State University, and likely a popular one. This book is based on one of his courses. My guess is that some of his loyal students, familiar with the material in the book from his classes rather than through the book, wrote at least some of the 5-star reviews.

One final word: The author's original title for the book seems to have been "Getting Started with iphone and iPad Application Development" (I found this title in a caption of one of the videos on the author's website). And note that the Amazon title includes "(Getting Started)" after the title, but the book itself does not have these words in the title. Obviously, the title went through various revisions--probably by the publisher. The original title makes clear what the current title does not, that this book was intended by the author as a starter or primer and not much more. Indeed, the Foreword of the present book states in smallish print that this book was conceived as a lead in to a more advanced "beginning" book by the same publisher: "Beginning iPad & iPhone 3 Development: Exploring The iPad & iPhone SDK." By Dave Mark, Jeff Lamarche. Nothing wrong with that, just don't expect that having finished this book you will be ready to write useful apps. You will only have finished the "getting started" stage in preparation for the "beginning" stage. There are no magic bullets here. Learning this stuff is a long slog and you are going to have to work your way through yet another book or two to reach your goal.

Before Dr. Lewis came into my life I'd NEVER PROGRAMMED ANYTHING! I bought an iPhone and loved it, so I bought a Mac, then an iPad, then I thought: "Hey I'd like to program!" BUT after trying 3 books aimed at beginners - I felt horribly stupid, depressed and angry.


But then Dr. Lewis came into my life with his fabulous of teaching people like me (I'm not a "dummy" & those books don't work on me) how to program. He knows what to leave out, what to repeat over and over and then ... the unimaginable! I was programming my first iPhone and iPad apps! Now I'm on Chapter 6 looking at his videos while I read along and program with the book and him just like I was in his class. I've been up almost 2 says programming like "A GEEK" as Dr. Lewis says.

Thank you. Thank YOU Dr. Lewis.

PS. Those spelling errors are minor. See the videos here h[...]

This is the new 2nd Edition but the author couldn't be bothered to updated his old code. This book is promoted as being for 'Absolute Beginners', however, for absolute beginners, a current work environment is absolutely critical. Don't buy it.

Prelude: I'm a Machead for the last 10 years. Though it was only restricted to Apple's products (MacBook/iPhone/iPod), I never had any inclination to enter the programming jungle. However, in the beginning of this summer I've gathered enough courage to enter the forbidden territory and face predators like Objective C and Coca Touch. So before I enrolled myself as an iPhone Dev, my first lookout was for a book that will teach me in a layman's language. So I searched Amazon and the result was "iPhone and iPad Apps for Absolute Beginners" by Dr. Rory Lewis.

First Impression: When I bought the book I was looking for couple of things. 1) The publisher 2) The author 3) Language used and 4) Teaching techniques. I was not looking for geeky content but a book that will inspire me to become a geek. And on July 16, I took the first step towards that with Dr. Lewis by my side. And since, there's been no looking back.

What's there in the book: Do you remember when your dad first taught you how to ride a bike? He gave you the support and you did exactly as he said without questioning. He didn't teach you the reason you were moving forward or what was the functionality of the different parts. This book is like that. It will help you understand the complex Objective C and suddenly you'll realize that you are taking about `methods, arrays, properties and delegates'. This book will make you believe that someone with a non-computer science background can write codes for Apple's revolutionary devices.

What's not there in the book: As mentioned in the first few chapters, this book is not for those who are looking to master the iPhone development. It's not for those students who are looking for pages and pages of coding. In short, it will teach you how to ride a bicycle but if you want to know the mechanism and are looking for a motorbike to ride, then buy Dave and Jeff's book: "Beginning iPhone 3 Development".


Mistakes: There are few print errors in the book. But that actually helped me a lot, following which my built was not working. But I found my way around. Again thanks to Dr. Lewis blog.

Result: On July 28 I've submitted my first app (MeterDown) on the App Store. It's now available for free download. To be honest the book didn't teach me how to develop my first app. But it taught me the basics of creating any app.

Thank you Dr. Rory Lewis for making me an iPhone Dev in just 13 days!

Honestly, I don't know much about coding. I said it. Right there. But I do have a knack for picking up things easily so when I had an idea for an app I wanted to learn, I got this book. The information is concise and the chapters are easy to follow however (COMMA) some of the typos (especially in the coding examples) were downright annoying. If you have access to the internet, do yourself a favor and go to his website and watch the videos before during and after following the tutorials in the book. It makes a world of difference when what the book has listed is:

[cell.textLabelsetText"@"Hello World!"];

when what it really needed to say was:

[cell.textLabel setText@"Hello World!"];

The book is filled with errors, both typos and code errors. How can you possibly offer for sale a text that is fraught with errors to "absolute beginners"? It appears that the editors and the technical reviewers had the day off when it came to this book! The support from the Apress site is nonexistent. For example, over one month ago, I submitted the following errata via the Apress web site:

Errors found in Chapter 5:

Page 96 "As in the previous chapter, you may want to customize your icon." >> I found no reference to customizing icons in chapter 4.

Page 97, top line "have a recommended size of 320 X 480 pixels." >> The correct size is 57 X 57. NOTE: The author confirms in the ERRATA listed on the APRESS site that the correct icon size is 72 X 72 ... THIS IS INCORRECT!

Pages 104 & 105. There are three code listings that contain the line:
"@interface testViewController : UIViewController {" >>> testViewController SHOULD BE helloWorld_005ViewController.

Page 116. 10..." You'll do this just as you've done in the past, by COMMAND dragging from your File's owner to the BUTTON." >> SHOULD READ: 10... by CONTROL dragging from your File's owner to the LABEL."

Page 117. Figure 5-17. "button" SHOULD READ "label".

Page 117. 12. Replace COMMAND drag WITH CONTROL drag.

Page 119. 1. Replace COMMAND drag WITH CONTROL drag.

Page 119. 2. Replace COMMAND 0 WITh COMMAND RETURN.

The errata page has not been updated with any of this information. In fact, the errata page for the book contains errors!!! This was my second errata submission; the first submission never made it to the errata page either.

It appears that a number of readers have been proofreading and debugging the book for Apress and the author. This is nonsense - buy a book that has been edited and properly reviewed by a technical reviewer = don't waste your time and money on this title. I usually donate my used technical books to the local library or resell them on Amazon; not this title - there are easier ways for people to learn iPhone programming. Read the 1 star reviews before you decide to buy this book. Thanks and good luck.

This is one of the worst programming books I've ever read (and I've been reading programming books since the early 1980s). It's written by an egomaniac who constantly refers to himself as "Dr. Lewis" (he has a Ph.D.) and it seems half of the books is about what a great teacher he is (and how bad other iOS dev books are).

The contents themselves are unstructured and contain tons of errors. The teaching is in tutorial style, but the steps are full of typos and errors so make it very hard to follow. The worst part is, there is no structure to the teaching, and concepts are mentioned without introducing them or explaining them, such as "view controllers." Even the For Dummies book is better.

I started with several 'beginner' books for the making iPhone apps - this was the only one to make any sense. The author includes screencasts of each app, which was invaluable when I was stuck, or couldn't understand why something wouldn't work. If you're a newbie, this is the only intro book that's worth buying.