Ask HN: Good iOS Tutorials? | Hacker News Reader

Ask HN: Good iOS Tutorials?

54 pointssnihalani27 comments

I have started learning iOS app development from Apple's developer resources but those look like to be designed for a bit more smart audience. I googled for good iOS tutorials but most of them seem outdated and in no way match the current XCode UI. How do you learn iOS application development? What tutorials did you use?

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I personally had tremendous fun following Matthijs Hollemans' tutorials (http://www.raywenderlich.com/store/ios-apprentice).

You can get the first tutorial for free if you sign up for the raywenderlich.com newsletter. It assumes no prior knowledge of iOS or Objective-C and runs you through building a simple game. Then for 54$ you can get the three other tutorials.

The second tutorial shows you step by step how to build a checklist app (using Storyboards).

The third tutorial is about doing a simpler version of Foursquare (using Core Location, Map Kit, the camera and photo library, Core Data and Core Animation).

And in the fourth tutorial you'll learn how to make a clone of the default iTunes app by using the iTunes Store Search API (http://www.apple.com/itunes/affiliates/resources/documentati...) as well as AFNetworking.

Stanford has a free series of iOS lectures that you can get on iTunesU: http://itunes.apple.com/itunes-u/ipad-iphone-application-dev...

I highly recommend them.

This is my recommendation as well. From the basics of Objective-C (for people already familliar with object oriented programming) to best practices, design patterns and individual components. No other single resource has given me a stronger grasp of all the important concepts of the platform, and I'm still amazed that it's available for free.

Starting Tuesday, (when my first Macbook arrives!) I will be going through this course and posting my daily results and thoughts on my blog, which I will also set up on Tuesday.

I currently am slightly comfortable with Python, I have gone through some C tutorials, and I will keep going through OOP tutorials until Tuesday.

I plan on spending 10+ hours a day on this until I finish the course and feel comfortable enough to create my first app, which will be the next step.

Post a link when you get it all set up!

The best tutorials I've come across: http://www.raywenderlich.com/tutorials

Open source iOS apps: http://maniacdev.com/2010/06/35-open-source-iphone-app-store...

http://developer.apple.com/library/ios/navigation/#section=R...

http://www.appsamuck.com

I have a super-simple tutorial on UITableViews here: http://www.cocoacontrols.com/posts/2012/08/01/ios-basics-uit..., and I'm planning on spending a good amount of the next couple weeks developing similar content. What are you looking to learn, exactly, and how familiar are you with software development in general?

I am good with software development. I know java, C and python. I am not looking for way simple tutorials. I fall in the audience where people know how to program but need a good tutorial to show where things are and how they are connected.

Ah, got it. You're probably better off looking at http://www.raywenderlich.com for now. Or, just downloading the source for Cheddar and running the app through a debugger.

I'm a big fan of books.

I found this one very useful to get started: http://www.amazon.com/Beginning-iOS-Development-Exploring-SD...

Sounds like you're a new developer. You need to be able to see the big picture and gain a sense of progress. Apple lays out a learning roadmap for you here: http://developer.apple.com/library/ios/#referencelibrary/Get...

After that, go with the tutorials that everyone else is recommending. http://www.raywenderlich.com/tutorials

Lynda: http://www.lynda.com/iOS-tutorials/iOS-SDK-Essential-Trainin...

I just wanted to throw this out there:

you should first read the objective-c primer.

https://developer.apple.com/library/mac/#referencelibrary/Ge...

You mentioned the apple docs feel complex to you but I'd honestly recommend truly taking your time and working through them as they really are the best.

This is as good as it gets: http://www.stanford.edu/class/cs193p/cgi-bin/drupal/

I recommend:

    * Stanford's videos and homeworks
    * Ray Wenderlich's site
    * Big Nerd Ranch's iOS and Obj-C books

If you want to learn Cocos2D for game development, also check out Learning Cocos2D.

To shamelessly plug, we also run a full-time, in-person iOS course (http://hashmaplabs.com).

http://www.raywenderlich.com/tutorials/ is pretty useful in places.

Stackoverflow or Google when you have specific questions.

When you say the Apple Developer resources are designed for a bit more smart audience I assume you mean already informed and knowledgeable about the basic APIs.

Stuff at MakeGamesWithUs (http://makegameswith.us/tutorials/getting-started/2#_=_) isn't too bad since it will help you get up to speed, and you can always turn to them to do the marketing if you decide you're more interested in developing than selling.

Around 9 months ago I wrote about my iOS development at http://cherrypopapp.com/blog#iPhone_Development

Take-away is; I started with the stanford tutorials (great!), but then just decided to dive in and learn along the way.

It worked well for me using http://diveintoios.com/

If you checkout http://ioscodesamples.com they have tons of code samples, although there aren't tutorials there is a lot of working code that does various things, it might help you figure out what you need to do.

This isn't out yet, but it looks like it's going to be awesome: http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/eallam/try-ios-iphone-ap...

Signed up as well can't wait!!!

I've been digging the apprentice trailmaps from thoughtbot, they have one for iOS too: https://github.com/thoughtbot/trail-map/blob/master/trails/i...

It's not really online reading, but we have an iOS "trail map" at thoughtbot: https://github.com/thoughtbot/trail-map/blob/master/trails/i...

If you're interested in building games and have done some programming before you should check out MakeGamesWithUs (www.makegameswith.us). The tutorials take you through building a clone of Angry Birds and are tailored to beginners.

I found the SEE (free Stanford) courses to be best: http://see.stanford.edu/see/courses.aspx

Just wanted to share my other findings here:

http://thenewboston.org tutsplus.com

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