iPhone App Development: The Missing Manual Review

Average Reviews:

(More customer reviews)I've been looking to get into iPhone OS development this spring, and most books I've come across have fallen into one of two categories:
1) they expect you to have a background in Mac OS X's Objective-C development frameworks or...
2) they're written like a reference book and thus make it difficult to learn the ropes in a step-by-step fashion.
Craig Hockenberry's iPhone App Development: The Missing Manual changes that frustrating pattern. By introducing the world of developing an iPhone app in a way that requires just a bit of programming experience, Hockenberry makes instantly accessible the Objective-C language, the XCode IDE, and the design processes that go into taking your app from notepad sketch to App Store success and beyond. The text is clear and approachable, and Craig's jolly writing style makes grasping important concepts and following along with examples both fun and memorable.
I highly recommend this book to anyone with any C-like programming experience who is interested in writing apps for the iPhone OS.

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Anyone with programming experience can learn how to write an iPhone app. But if you want to build a great app, there's a lot more to it than simple coding: you also need to know how design and market your creation. This easy-to-follow guide walks you through the entire process, from sketching out your idea to promoting the finished product.

Get to know the tools for developing your iPhone app
Design a great app before you start coding
Build a complex app with Xcode and Interface Builder
Decide how to brand your app-then beta-test that brand in the real world
Learn the inside scoop on how to get your app into the App Store
Promote your product, track sales, and build a strong customer following

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Learning iOS Game Programming: A Hands-On Guide to Building Your First iPhone Game Review

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(More customer reviews)Having nearly finished the book I thought it would be a good idea to write a review.
Reading the last review I felt even more compelled to write my own. The last reviewer really hasn't got a clue about what this book is about! He tries to pitch it as a book that covers many different technologies in great detail and fails. There is a note on the first page of chapter 2 that tells that totally contradicts what he says.
Note
It is not intended that this book will teach you how to develop in Objective-C or C or teach you everything you need to know about the other technologies in their own right; there are many excellent books and online resources that cover OpenGL and OpenAL in greater detail. We will however cover these topics in enough detail to allow you to understand why we are using them and how.
Thats what I love about this book! It tells you how to write an entire game from start to finish and doesn't bore you with incredibly complex algorithms or low level code or the ins and outs of every technology.
As for the game engine you write, it's very modular so you can include only the bits you need in your game. I wanted to recreate the JetPack game I played when I was younger. With this book I'm well on the way. It's saved me a huge amount of time trying to learn from other resources on the net.
Their forum and blog is quite active too, I've posted a few questions and they've answered promptly.

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Get Started Fast with iOS Game ProgrammingSince the launch of the App Store, games have been the hottest category of apps for the iPhone, iPod touch, and iPad. That means your best chance of tapping into the iPhone/iPad "Gold Rush" is to put out a killer game that everyone wants to play (and talk about). While many people think games are hard to build, they can actually be quite easy, and Learning iOS Game Programming is your perfect beginner's guide. Michael Daley walks you through every step as you build a killer 2D game for the iPhone. In Learning iOS Game Programming, you'll learn how to build a 2D tile map game, Sir Lamorak's Quest: The Spell of Release (which is free in the App Store). You can download and play the game you're going to build while you learn about the code and everything behind the scenes. Daley identifies the key characteristics of a successful iPhone game and introduces the technologies, terminology, and tools you will use. Then, he carefully guides you through the whole development process: from planning storylines and game play all the way through testing and tuning. Download the free version of Sir Lamorak's Quest from the App Store today, while you learn how to build the game in this book.Coverage includesPlanning high-level game design, components, and difficulty levels

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The Business of iPhone App Development Review

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(More customer reviews)In order to get a jump on this a few weeks ahead of print, I got the e-book version direct from Apress.
And what a treasure trove of great ideas & resources it is! Anyone interested in the business side of doing iPhone apps (and indeed, mobile apps in general) will find a lot of valuable info here.
In fact, this has to be one of the most comprehensive surveys of information & hard-won wisdom in the entire mobile sector (and much of this knowledge could certainly be applied to other platforms as well).
The author(s) cover an array of different topics, including:
- doing effective market research
- a great section on intellectual property and legal issues
- user interface design tips
- pricing strategies and case studies of different business models
- methods of distribution
- how to write an effective press release
- savvy marketing via web, blogs, Facebook, Twitter, et al
- and more ...
Moreover, they've have mapped out the chapters to correspond very logically into Planning / Development / Release phases ... and most importantly, the content consistently exudes experience and insight.
So, bottom line: I'd say this title is a no-brainer for anyone serious about doing business in the still-nascent -- and largely uncharted -- mobile space.
And as for me, I'm especially looking forward to perusing this little gem even more ... on my shiny new iPad. :)
Sweet!
~~~
Apress has created a number of great titles in just the past year or so, and if this is any indication of what's to come, they'll continue to be a preferred vendor for this kind of informative content.

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The Business of iPhone App Development is the book every iPhone and iPod touch developer NEEDS to own to maximize their chances for success on Apple's iTunes App Store. This is the only guide devoted just to the business aspects of developing great iPhone.

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iPhone SDK 3 Programming: Advanced Mobile Development for Apple iPhone and iPod touch (Wiley) Review

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(More customer reviews)this is a really good book. but be warned...advanced users only. it does take you from the beginning but the approach i must say...is not for absolute beginners.

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Get the expert guidance you need to begin building native applications for Apple's new iPhone 3G as well as the iPod Touch

Apple's iPhone is the hottest mobile device on the planet. More than one million iPhone 3G phones were sold in the first three days of release and millions more are sure to be in the hands of iPhone fans each year. Apple's iPhone SDK has been updated and includes more than one thousand new APIs that developers will want to get their hands on.
iPhone SDK 3 Programming shows you how to build great applications for the iPhone and iPod Touch. Inside, veteran mobile developer and Bell Labs scientist Maher Ali begins with a foundational introduction to Objective-C and Cocoa programming, and then guides you through building programs with Apple's iPhone SDK 3.
Covers the complete application development process, and highlights all the key device features including the camera, location awareness, and more
Completely revised and redesigned with more than 100 new pages of content
iPhone's new SDK release contains more than one thousand new APIs you will want to use right away
Includes a focused introduction to the Objective-C language and Cocoa frameworks that new iPhone developers need

With this advanced resource, you'll get the expert guidance you need to begin building native applications for Apple's new iPhone 3G as well as the iPod Touch.

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iPhone SDK Programming: Developing Mobile Applications for Apple iPhone and iPod touch Review

Average Reviews:

(More customer reviews)I bought this book after I'd gone through Beginning iPhone Development: Exploring the iPhone SDK (Beginning from Novice to Professional), hoping to get another set of useful skills and tools to use, such as a reference for XML & RSS, SQLite, and a little more depth on the collections objects such as NSArrays, etc. that was only brushed over in the Beginning iPhone Development book. Overall, this book does fill in some of those gaps, but it really doesn't stand well as a standalone iPhone programming book. I'm glad this is my second choice, because if it were my first I'd probably be more confused!
If you're building your foundation, this book may be worth your while.
My largest complaint about this book is actually the way the code is written out on the page. Instead of clear, Courier-font code blocks, the editors just stuck code in Times Roman font. Anyone who's ever read their share of programming books knows this just complicates life by making it harder to differentiate code from content and better recognize typos, etc. I hope they revise this and publish another edition of the book - it's extremely noticeable. Also, I think this book was pushed to market without double-checking that the graphic examples are copyright compliant, because instead of icons in some of the screenshots the author substituted ugly character graphics that just looked dumb.
Overall, this is an okay programming book. There are some nuggets of good information, but as a beginner's book it's too complex, nor does it have enough depth to be a compendium for an advanced programmer.

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With iPhone SDK Programming, developers have the expert guidance they need to begin building native applications for Apple's new iPhone 3G as well as the iPod touch. Inside, veteran mobile developer and Bell Labs scientist Maher Ali begins with a foundational introduction to Objective C and Cocoa programming, and then guides you through the building programs with Apple's iPhone SDK.

iPhone SDK Programming covers a wide range of topics, including:
The Objective-C programming language

Collections

Cocoa Touch

Building advanced mobile user interfaces

Core Animation and Quartz 2D

Model-View-Controller (MVC) designs

Table Views File management

Parsing XML documents using SAX and DOM

Working with Google Maps API

Consuming REST Web Services

Building advanced location-based applications

Developing database applications using the SQLite engine

Building Multimedia applications

Making use of the camera and video Working with the accelerometer

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Sams Teach Yourself iPhone Application Development in 24 Hours Review

Average Reviews:

(More customer reviews)I've read through the first nine or so chapters and tried a couple of examples - fairly impressed so far.
Good:
+ loads of color screenshots.
+ strong on UI description and diagrams.
+ easy read and good flow, without compromising content or making silly jokes all the time.
+ technically most of it is correct, with a few caveats.
+ quite strong on application lifecycle and the authors have an ability to put some points over (sometimes fairly complex points) in a surprisingly efficient and straightforward way.
Not as good:
- some typos/errors (missing pointer asterisks, diagrams that don't display what is discussed in the text).
- some fundamental errors related to properties (@property/@synthesize are not in any way required in order to make use of dot syntax), also the book declares properties and then doesn't use them, but makes the mistake of thinking they're needed in order to access properties of a pre-existing class. Interestingly - and I suspect not entirely unrelated - Mark and LaMarche made the exact same error in the first edition of their Apress iPhone dev book.
- ok Objective-C coverage but by no means great (though the authors stress the need to read up on it elsewhere).
The good points outweigh the bad and I'd recommend the book with the provisos: get an Obj-C book to go with it, and you'll probably want to read it with another iPhone dev book to get a different viewpoint (eg. Apress or Pragmatic Programmers).

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&>A clear, easy-to-understand tutorial for developers who want to write software for today's hottest market: iPhone, iTouch, and App Store!


The start-to-finish, hands-on introduction to iPhone programming for every developer, regardless of experience
Introduces the iPhone development environment and teaches every essential Objective-C concept with fully-documented, carefully-explained code
A complete tutorial package: step-by-step instructions, examples, Q and As, quizzes, exercises, tips, shortcuts, and more
iPhone is the world's hottest application market: more than 500,000 developers have downloaded Apple's iPhone software development kit in just one year. Now there's a friendly, accessible guide to iPhone development for every programmer, regardless of experience. In just 24 lessons of one hour or less, Sams Teach Yourself iPhone Application Development in 24 Hours will help beginning iPhone and mobile developers gain true mastery, so you can construct virtually any iPhone application. Each lesson builds on everything that's come before, helping you learn all they need to know without ever becoming overwhelmed. Coverage includes: preparing for iPhone development; navigating the development environment; mastering Objective-C and the MVC paradigm; using widgets and webviews; implementing multiple views; reading and writing data; building user interfaces; generating graphics; playing media; using maps; networking; using the touch interface; sensing motion; pushing application updates; debugging; optimization; distributing software via the App Store; and more. By the time you are finished you'll be comfortable enough to write real-world apps that sell.

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Sams Teach Yourself iPhone Application Development in 24 Hours (2nd Edition) (Sams Teach Yourself -- Hours) Review

Average Reviews:

(More customer reviews)This book inspired me to write my first-ever review on Amazon (after being a customer since virtually day one). The reason I was so "inspired" is that this book has some real problems. If you are not a reasonably accomplished programmer in other languages/platforms, stay clear. Typos, omissions and flat-out wrong code abound. I downloaded the errata and that doesn't even cover it all. My book is full of notes. Chapter 16 seems to be particularly bad. For example, they have you enter:
newCard.question = thisQuestion;
When the correct code is:
[newCard setValue:thisQuestion forKey:@"question"];
The other problem I have with it is that the authors (particularly whoever wrote the first 14 to 15 chapters make horrible variable and object naming choices. Sometimes the only difference between the type and the instance is a difference in capitalization:
int Int;
Not an actual example (don't care to go through the book to find a real one) but they are all over the place.
An extension of this is when they use similar names for different things and get them confused. For example: "wrongCount" and "wrongCounter".
They also call out for editing the wrong files at times and even confuse prior chapters' projects with current projects. Probably a cut-and-paste thing while writing.
There's a real difference in style between the two authors. Starting around chapter 14/15 the tone and approach changes. The second author tells you to "right click" all the time...when Macs don't have but one mouse button. Lucky for me the first thing I do to a Mac is throw away the useless mouse and replace it with a Logitech trackball...so, in my case, right-clicking works just fine.
I am just getting past chapter 16 and I will finish the book but it made me so angry for wasting so much of my time that I had to post a review.
Should you buy it? I don't know. If you are an accomplished programmer you might look at the above problems as an opportunity to learn more because of having to debug the code and figure out where they screwed-up. That's how I am taking it. I don't like it because I wanted to push through this book quickly and move on to more advanced books, but you play the cards you are dealt. Happy debugging!

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Sams Teach Yourself iPhone® Application DevelopmentSecond EditionJohn RayFigures and code appear as they do in XcodeCovers iOS 4.0 and up, and iPhone 4Additional files and updates available onlineIn just 24 sessions of one hour or less, learn how to build powerful applications for today's hottest mobile device: the iPhone! Using this book's straightforward, step-by-step approach, you'll master every skill and technology you need, from setting up your iPhone development environment to building great user interfaces, sensing motion to writing multitasking applications. Each lesson builds on what you've already learned, giving you a rock-solid foundation for real-world success!Step-by-step instructions carefully walk you through the most common iOS development tasks.Quizzes and Exercises at the end of each chapter help you test your knowledge. By the Way notes present interesting information related to the discussion. Did You Know? tips offer advice or show you easier ways to perform tasks. Watch Out! cautions alert you to possible problems and give you advice on how to avoid them.Printed in full color—figures and code appear as they do in Xcode Covers iOS 4.0 and up Learn the features of Xcode 3.2 and Interface Builder Prepare your system and iPhone for efficient development Get started quickly with Apple's Objective-C and Cocoa Touch Understand the Model-View-Controller (MVC) development paradigm Design highly usable applications with interactive widgets and web-connected interfaces Use Table views to navigate structured data Build rotatable and resizable user interfaces Read and write data and create System Setting plug-ins Use the iPhone's media playback and recording capabilities Create map and location-based (GPS) services Sense motion and orientation with the iPhone's accelerometer and the iPhone 4 gyroscope Create universal applications that run on the iPhone and iPad Write background-aware multitasking applications Distribute your applications through the App Storehttp://teachyourselfiphone.com

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