Hi, I am in a similar position as you, and have sought help in much the same way. The most common responses I got were:
Programming in Objective-C - Kochan (http://www.amazon.com/Programming-Objective-C-4th-Developers...)
I am currently halfway through this book, it is primarily focused on the actual Objective-C language, and almost nothing on actual iOS/Cocoa Development (some small bits in the later chapters). I was recommended this to learn the underlying language before jumping in, very enjoyable so far, the exercises are great.
Finally, if you enjoy learning through video, the Stanford course is very highly recommended, through iTunes (http://itunes.apple.com/us/itunes-u/ipad-iphone-application-...). I found them very useful to start with, but I felt I wasn't learning much syntax through the videos, the talking portions are very in depth, but the coding portions are very quick (and went over my head due to not knowing Objective-C!). I will likely return to these when I have a working understanding of Objective-C.
I'm a big fan of Erica Sadun's "iOS 5 Developers Cookbook" http://www.amazon.com/The-iOS-Developers-Cookbook-ebook/dp/B... She starts off showing you how an iOS app works from main() on up, which gave me an understanding of how some of the "magical" parts of iOS work, like nib loading. The bulk of the book is a decent cookbook that you can cherry pick from as needed.
If you've worked with other event-driven GUI frameworks in the past, check out Sadun's book.
I've seen the Objective-C book from The Big Nerd Ranch and 50% of the book is about basic C. This is not appealing to me, obviously if you know nothing about C (or you have limited experience) this could be a good match for you.
Then skip the intro to Objective-C textbook, instead dive right into iOS development. Big Nerd Ranch's iOS Programming textbook offers three chapters worth of an introduction to Objective-C. The authors primarily talk about using the Cocoa Touch framework to write native apps in Xcode, which is what you want to do?
Comments
Hi, I am in a similar position as you, and have sought help in much the same way. The most common responses I got were:
Programming in Objective-C - Kochan (http://www.amazon.com/Programming-Objective-C-4th-Developers...) I am currently halfway through this book, it is primarily focused on the actual Objective-C language, and almost nothing on actual iOS/Cocoa Development (some small bits in the later chapters). I was recommended this to learn the underlying language before jumping in, very enjoyable so far, the exercises are great.
I have heard good things about both Nerd Ranch books (http://www.amazon.com/iOS-Programming-Ranch-Guide-Guides/dp/...) and will likely use that for introduction to Cocoa and iOS SDK.
Originally I planned on using "Beginning iOS 5 Development" from Apress as the iOS SDK learning book (http://www.amazon.com/Beginning-iOS-Development-Exploring-SD...), but it seems that the reviews are quite low compared to previous versions.
Finally, if you enjoy learning through video, the Stanford course is very highly recommended, through iTunes (http://itunes.apple.com/us/itunes-u/ipad-iphone-application-...). I found them very useful to start with, but I felt I wasn't learning much syntax through the videos, the talking portions are very in depth, but the coding portions are very quick (and went over my head due to not knowing Objective-C!). I will likely return to these when I have a working understanding of Objective-C.
(Most of these tips from my understanding of: http://stackoverflow.com/questions/3403049/best-book-resourc... and http://stackoverflow.com/questions/1939/how-to-articles-for-...)
I'm a big fan of Erica Sadun's "iOS 5 Developers Cookbook" http://www.amazon.com/The-iOS-Developers-Cookbook-ebook/dp/B... She starts off showing you how an iOS app works from main() on up, which gave me an understanding of how some of the "magical" parts of iOS work, like nib loading. The bulk of the book is a decent cookbook that you can cherry pick from as needed.
If you've worked with other event-driven GUI frameworks in the past, check out Sadun's book.
Kochan seems OK.
I've seen the Objective-C book from The Big Nerd Ranch and 50% of the book is about basic C. This is not appealing to me, obviously if you know nothing about C (or you have limited experience) this could be a good match for you.
Then skip the intro to Objective-C textbook, instead dive right into iOS development. Big Nerd Ranch's iOS Programming textbook offers three chapters worth of an introduction to Objective-C. The authors primarily talk about using the Cocoa Touch framework to write native apps in Xcode, which is what you want to do?