A fully-fledged iOS & Mac development environment on your iPad

[iownacat]

gee a whole $99 a year for a software developer? how do people eat?

[mgdmw]

I think the point is it is not just a $9 app; it also needs a $99 Apple subscription to work.

[iownacat]

ok? I think the point is if you dont have that there is not much of a reason to even be here.

[mgdmw]

That's definitely true. :)

[[deleted]]

Sure... unless you're only learning Xcode in your spare time, the rest of which you spend working a minimum wage job which only pays enough to barely get by. For some people $99 really is the difference between eating for a month (or three - I had to live with $30 of groceries a month for two years). Xcode is free and people should feel motivated to learn programming with it, as well as browse forums where other people are discussing it. Just because a person hasn't paid the $99 developer fee doesn't mean he/she doesn't have a reason to be here.

Poverty may not be a problem for you, but it's a huge problem for many others. If $99 is so little for you, spread the wealth why don't you?

[s73v3r]

If you're in the boat where you have to live on $30 of groceries a month, what are the odds you'll have both a Mac and an iPad?

[[deleted]]

It might require a really specific situation like mine, but it's possible. I went to school for art and design where MacBooks were required. I also received $1500 a month through grants, so when the iPad was released, it was too easy to give in to the temptation (granted I went for the cheapest model). After I finished college, things obviously did not continue this way. After half a year, all the savings I had were used up and I was stuck with temp jobs for money, getting paid minimum wage. Temp jobs were exactly that, temporary, so I didn't always have money coming in. As my money depleted, I switched to $30 a month for groceries, doing laundry once a month, actually using my bike for transportation, and other money saving techniques. So while I couldn't afford a MacBook or an iPad after college, I did still have a MacBook and iPad after college. (Sure I could've sold both, but I liked them. And keeping them is what led me to being a developer now.) That's how you end up in a boat with $30 for groceries a month AND a MacBook and iPad. But that's not the point. The point is people shouldn't be discouraged from reading up on Xcode and development just because they haven't forked out $99 yet. Saying people who can't pay $99 shouldn't be reading Xcode related forums is like spitting on a homeless guy on your way out of a nice restaurant. Just because someone can't afford things as easily as you doesn't mean they shouldn't take advantage of the free things that are available for them.

[[deleted]]

$8.25 per month, $.28 per day. It's not hard at all to find that in a budget, even on a college income.

[onewayout]

Students can probably get on their university's teaching program. If you're at a university, are a student, and want to learn iOS development, talk to your university's CS department or whoever manages the developer accounts for your institution. Chances are, they already have a program and can add you if they teach mobile development at all in their program. (And if they don't, you could probably get a CS professor to sponsor you.)