Jaytee
01-23-2009, 08:16 AM
I know there are tons of threads already about "How do I start programming for iPhone?" or "I want to write game for iPhone, where do I begin?" but it seemed to me that the vast majority of these threads were focused on people who had never tried their hand at programming before. This is not my case, so I was hoping for some more personalized advice.
Myself... I won't pretend that I'm some kind of coding wiz-kid, but I'm not a total beginner. In high school (2000-2004), I took four years of programming classes, spending 1 year on Visual Basic and 3 years on C++. The only graphical programming I did was my year in Visual Basic; many basic shooting games were written that year. In C++, I never got past text-based programming for the console, but I feel as though we got pretty deep into programming theory (though it was so long ago I couldn't tell you where I left off). I then spent a year of college (04-05) in the computer engineering program. I quit this after taking my first linear algebra/diff.eq./circuits class, realizing that I really hated all the high level math and that all I wanted coding to be was a hobby. But it turns out that there's not a lot of opportunity for an English major to practice his coding, so I haven't really done anything since then (or really, since high school; I didn't take any actual programming classes in college).
What I'm trying to say, is that there is a fair amount of knowledge up in my brain; even if I can't access it all right now, I'm sure if I started coding again, it would come back pretty quickly. And now, having just received an iPod touch for xmas, I've been feeling an itch to create a really killer game for it.
So with that in mind, where do I begin programming for iPhone/iTouch? I'm assuming I should dive right into objective-C instead of spending my time with C++ again. Is there a book or online lesson targeted at people with general programming experience, but zero experience with objective-c or guis?
I should also point out that all of my experience with coding was in VisualStudio (meaning also that there was a major switch in my life from PC to Mac, if that makes a difference). I briefly tried out xCode several years ago, but couldn't figure it out, so I also need an introduction to that.
Any help you guys can offer is greatly appreciated.
(also, still running on a college budget, so keeping costs down is a plus!)
Myself... I won't pretend that I'm some kind of coding wiz-kid, but I'm not a total beginner. In high school (2000-2004), I took four years of programming classes, spending 1 year on Visual Basic and 3 years on C++. The only graphical programming I did was my year in Visual Basic; many basic shooting games were written that year. In C++, I never got past text-based programming for the console, but I feel as though we got pretty deep into programming theory (though it was so long ago I couldn't tell you where I left off). I then spent a year of college (04-05) in the computer engineering program. I quit this after taking my first linear algebra/diff.eq./circuits class, realizing that I really hated all the high level math and that all I wanted coding to be was a hobby. But it turns out that there's not a lot of opportunity for an English major to practice his coding, so I haven't really done anything since then (or really, since high school; I didn't take any actual programming classes in college).
What I'm trying to say, is that there is a fair amount of knowledge up in my brain; even if I can't access it all right now, I'm sure if I started coding again, it would come back pretty quickly. And now, having just received an iPod touch for xmas, I've been feeling an itch to create a really killer game for it.
So with that in mind, where do I begin programming for iPhone/iTouch? I'm assuming I should dive right into objective-C instead of spending my time with C++ again. Is there a book or online lesson targeted at people with general programming experience, but zero experience with objective-c or guis?
I should also point out that all of my experience with coding was in VisualStudio (meaning also that there was a major switch in my life from PC to Mac, if that makes a difference). I briefly tried out xCode several years ago, but couldn't figure it out, so I also need an introduction to that.
Any help you guys can offer is greatly appreciated.
(also, still running on a college budget, so keeping costs down is a plus!)