To learn Cocoa (Objective-C) / iPhone programming

Now I am a comfortable Mac OS X user. More than a user I am a huge fan of it. I was a power user of Windows and I used to write system software using Visual Basic and Visual C++. To be honest I was big fan of Win32 API. Mostly I create lot of activeX controls for companies and I have even released few controls as open source. After moving to web I have stopped sharpening my development skills on system side. Mostly not having time and the patience to learn new things.

For the past 6 months I was getting an interest to learn Cocoa (Objective-C) programming. One of the main reason is to write some personal software for Mac and to get into iPhone application development. The adoption rate for Macs is increasing steadily and it is a good idea to learn how things are done there.

I tried all different methods online to learn and nothing was successful. So I decided to go on shopping for big list of books through which I am sure I will at least learn a bit 😉

Cocoa Programming for Mac OS X For DummiesCocoa(R) Programming for Mac(R) OS XAdvanced Mac OS X Programming

Xcode 3 UnleashediPhone Application Development For DummiesBeginning iPhone Development- Exploring the iPhone SDK

Yes I am little crazy I have bought books worth around USD150. I have posted the books above in the same sequence in which I am planning to read. I am half way to complete cocoa for dummies and I should say I know a bit how Xcode works now 🙂

By Imthiaz

Programmer, SAAS, CMS & CRM framework designer, Love Linux & Apple products, Currently addicted to mobile development & working @bluebeetle

9 comments

  1. As a 17-yer Mac developer and former Apple employee I can only say you are dreaming – coming to the party way too late.

  2. I’d go for book #2 first if you haven’t started already. I’ve read 3 of those but not all. Best of luck! =)

  3. Hi,
    I am a fellow Koothanalluian and an ardent user of Mac and worked for Apple Centre at Dubai. Will u tell me how to use unicode (especially Tamil) fonts in Mac

    1. @shuja @bobo

      Bobo you are a kid. i learned iphone dev in 3 months and created my first app that was accepted by app store. so suck it up, you got competition.

  4. True it would seem you have a few hours reading ahead of you isnt there more interactive ways to learn Cocoa (Objective-C) like lynda.com or the likes?

  5. I suggest you learn objective-c first, use the book by Stephen Kochan: Programming in Objective-C 2.0

    Then you probably want to read an iPhone SDK book, the last book may work, but debatable, Erica Sadun’s is better.

    There is a free webcast to jumpstart your learning, layout things you need to learn step by step: http://classroomM.com
    After taking the webcast, you will have a better idea.

  6. For those app developers that don’t know Objective-C and Cocoa Touch and don’t want to outsource development, check out localbeacon at http://www.bigforge.com. Great for those who want to build just one app or developers interested in white label.

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