My iOS Development Learning Plan

Posted: September 1st, 2012 | Author: | Filed under: iphone | No Comments »

Since our family of four has slowly become an iFamily (two Mac Book, one Mac Book Air, one 21-inch iMac, two iPads, three iPhones, and one iPod), figure it is time that I should seriously consider learning how to develop iOS app. My thinking is that, even if I can’t make much off the App Store, at least I can make apps that our family and friends can use. And maybe one day, I could quit my day job and do iOS app development for a living, but that is for much much much later.

Here are what I would need

  • To just develop using the simulator (comes with XCode)

Get a Mac (if you do not have any Mac, you could consider getting a MacMini which is affordable). Or if you do not want to buy or can not afford a Mac at this time, check out this instruction on how to Run Mac on Windows

Upgrade the OS to Mountain Lion

Download and install XCode 4.4 and up from App Store

  • To test on a real device and to put app on the Apple Store

Sign up for the iOS Development program

Apple charges $99 for individual license and $99 for the company/team/organization license. If you would like to apply for your company, you need to provide documents to prove your affiliation with the company.

 

I have started and planned to continue following these steps:

1. First Step (Video Tutorial)

Take the This is How You Make iPhone App – iOS Development Series online course from The App Dojo (offered vis Udemy.com)

This course costs $149 but it’s worth every penny. The instructor is clear and the information organized. I could follow his video without a problem. What I find helpful was to watch the video on my iPad and follow the instruction step-by-step on my iMac. Here is the routine I follow for each lesson:

  • Watch the video once (often while running on the treadmill)
  • Watch the video again but follow it step-by-step on the Mac

To practice in this step, will create the following Apps

  • Calorie Calculator (simple)
  • Flash Card

2. Read Some More and Practice Some More

Read Beginning iOS 5 Application Development by Wei-Meng Lee (Wros Press 2012)

Read and follow example of Learn Object-C on the Mac: For iOS and OS X, Second Edition

Read Pro iOS Table Views: For iPhone, iPad, and iPod Touch

To practice in this step, will enhance the following Apps

  • Calorie Calculator (with additional features such as storing and graphing)
  • Flash Card (with additional features such as quiz, voice recording, and goal setting)

3. Learn how to design beautiful iPhone app

Read this post from Lee Munroe

http://www.leemunroe.com/designing-iphone-apps-photoshop/

Use the GUI from http://www.teehanlax.com/downloads/

To practice in this step, will enhance the following Apps with eye-popping theme

  • Calorie Calculator (with new theme or skin)
  • Flash Card (with new theme or skin)

4. Dig into iOS SDK

  • Audio and Video API
  • Map API
  • Location API
  • Camera API
  • Networking API
  • Data Storage

 

To practice in this step, will create the following app:

  • ???

 

5. Investigate Open-Source API

  • Voice Recognition (OpenEar)
  • OpenCV
  • Telephony
  •  Security

5. Learn to write iOS Game and Multi-Media Apps

Read

6. Learn about web services

  • Google API
  • Facebook API
  • Twitter API
  • Amazon

 

 

 

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