I've been thinking of a career change for quite sometime, it is always a daunting task to go out of you comfort zone and learn something new. I very much understand that this is a process. A long and tedious process. Something that takes time, effort, and perseverance in order to succeed, and LOTS of it. With that out of the way, I want to know how to go about it. I've done some research but I am the point where I dont really know where to look. While youtube videos are problem my worst source, I felt that it was generally the quickest way to give me a run down of what is expected. I am at a point where I need to figure out which would be my first step. My initial fear is that I might start off on the wrong foot, learn something so left field that would completely obliterate my chances of succeeding. (someone told me to go learn BlitzMAX but I wasn't sure) Basically, I want to know where to get started. My general consensus is that I would/should learn C. Am I right in thinking so? If I am, how should I approach this? Online courses? Self-taught books? What would give me the best chance at this?
Get these books: Programming in Objective-c, Stephen G. Kochan, Third edition Ios Programming The big nerd ranch Guide, 2nd Edition Go to amazon.com and copy that into search. Read each chapter and do all exercises in them. When you are done you will have solid foundation. Also, those books are very fresh and up to date - both released near 25th June 2011.
I agree with Voley. Plus you might also want to consider an alternative language...C++ I use Marmalade for developing apps. It's a cross-platform SDK. Though I only use C++ myself, both languages are useful (Objective-C and C++). I use the PC version of the SDK via Microsoft Visual C++. For the Mac you would use XCode. If I was to learn to develop on the Mac too then the "EDK" would also come in to use for me...check it out, especially if you're a PC developer...as for the Mac version of the SDK, I haven't tried it yet. You will certainly experience "the process" that you mention, for many years. But it will get much easier to find your direction! Good Luck with your career change!
I am too biased to answer that! See what others think, though I think developers here are mostly Objective-C iPhone coders on Macs I'm a C++ iPhone coder on a PC I guess it might come down to what your main development machine is? Though I'm sure there's plenty of other things to consider too.
ya see, this is why I need to get my story straight! Here I thought, I need to have a Mac environment to get started...in my search, most people point to that conclusion, but a good 30% of my other searches tell me that I could do this on a PC, I am extremely confused. If OS X is what I need, I don't mind spending a little money and setting up my laptop as a Hackintosh to get me started. If I do get anywhere, I will considering buying a mac mini or a macbook.
Would you recommend these books for an absolute newbie programmer? There's a 14 year old who is interested in learning this, and I've been trying to figure out what direction to point her in...
Yes, Kochan book is for total beginner, he doesn't assume the reader has any programming knowledge at all. Second book is for iphone development, you should read Kochan book first and Big nerd ranch after.
If you're a begginer to programming don't do this, please, you will suffer... C is hard to learn if you have no experience. Go the expensive way,get unity3D and learn Java and C# (well easier languages) to learn well use the lessons on design3.com (free this week)
I had a lot of trouble picking up Objective-C myself. Don't discount looking into 3rd party SDK's as they may be better suited to you. I did the same as you a few months ago. I bit the bullet and bought a MacBook Pro, started taking online courses and am still applying myself and learning as I go. This was outside of my comfort zone too, although I wouldn't say this is a career change. More of a hobby as I am enjoying developing a game.
I guess "career change" is over stating what I want to accomplish, I guess the proper word would be "considering" what kinda Online courses and where are you taking them? I'm actually surprised that there isnt some sorta sticky on this topic, I would expect this topic has came up plenty of times, I did a little searching before I posted this but it would be nice to see a write up.
The standard program gives you the ability to create both free and commercial applications for distribution on the iTunes App Store. The Standard program also gives you full access to the iPhone DevCenter, the ability to test your applications on either an iPhone or iPod touch, access to search and submission rights in the Apple Developer Forums, and distribution of your applications via the Ad-hoc method.
For specifically learning Objective C, I would definitely check out the free Stanford class on iTunes U here. I think following the link to the course can give you pdf downloads of the assignments. I worked through the entire class during my spring break this year, and the best part is that it's free. For coding games using some objective C methods, I highly recommend Learning iOS Game Programming by Michael Daley. It's highly informative and also allows you to download the entire source code for the game built in the book. It's the book that was used to create Tiny Wings among other less well-known games. Michael also has some pretty awesome video tutorials found at: http://www.71squared.com/iphone-tutorials/. There's also a bit of a community over at 71squared.com.
I second Learning iOS Game Programming by Michael Daley! Even though it's Objective-C and I developed my game in C++ (although i do know Objective C quite well), it goes through every aspect of developing an App Store ready game. I initially learned with another book, but found I had to constantly adjust things from the old code because Michael Daley's book just did things better. It should also be mentioned that this book utilizes OpenGL ES. There are a few chapters that teach OpenGL ES in this book, so you should be a-okay on that front.
I took classes at Xcelme.com because it was led by a live instructor webinar style and it was very cheap. You could also access all the classes afterwards as they are all recorded. I just looked up design3.com and it actually looks pretty good PLUS right now until the 10th of July it is totally free although they seem to lean toward more 3D engines. Shinobe that may be a good place to start depending on what you are looking to make.
Programming in Objective-c, Stephen G. Kochan, Third edition Is that a good book for someone who is interested in programming games? or should I go with the Mike Daley one? I looked at them and the Mike Daley one doesn't appeal to me as much. So, would the book above be okay for me trying to learn objective-c for game programming.
It is not about games programming, but you can't program games if you don't know basics of Objective-c like loops, classes, etc. So you need to learn it before getting into game dev itself.
