Get a book.

There are several books out now for iPhone development; I'd recommend iPhone Programming: The Big Nerd Ranch Guide or Beginning iPhone 3 Development: Exploring the iPhone SDK. Either book will show you how to add different UI elements, handle user input, save (and load) data, detect touches, taps and swipes, use the location manager to see where you are, use the accelerometer to detect motion, and lots more.

If you've never done programming before, you may also want to pick up Programming in Objective-C 2.0.

Take a class.

Big Nerd Ranch offers an excellent iPhone development class which takes you from novice to iPhone developer in just 7 days. Tuition includes room and board for the week.

Pragmatic Studio (from Pragmatic Programmers) offers iPhone SDK training classes. Upcoming classes are in Reston VA and Denver CO.

The classes listed above will provide you with in-depth, hands-on training in iPhone development. There are also a number of Conferences for iPhone Developers.

Read the Apple Docco.

There's a ton of information, documentation and examples on the Apple site. Here are some to get you started:

• Learning Objective-C: A Primer
• iPhone Development Guide
• iPhone Application Programming Guide
• Creating an iPhone application
• iPhone Human Interface Guidelines

Visit Apple's iPhone Developer Site for more documentation.

Jump in and start coding.

The best way to learn is by doing. Figure out what you want your app to do, and start building it. You can refer to Apple's sample code for ideas; also check out the code on this site for examples. If you get stuck, ask for help on the iPhone Programming Forums on MacRumors, or on Apple's iPhone Developer Forums. And don't forget about Google; you can search for the thing you're trying to code, or the bug you're trying to debug, and turn up lots of useful info.

Good luck!

Top • Home