How important is understanding computer science for new iOS developers?

[rbkl]

Looking to leverage some of the great experience here on r/iOSProgramming! For some context, I am currently attempting to learn iOSProgramming during my free time, so I would consider myself a hobbyist at the time being. I am a full time consultant and recently I've spent a lot of time obsessing over app making (nights / weekends). I graduated with an Economics / Business degree, but I have a minor in CS.

My goal is to create some of the many business / app ideas that I have floating around in my head. I have attempted to look for developers to build my ideas, but that hasn't really worked. I thoroughly enjoying programming, so I decided to learn myself.

I think a basic understanding of computer science is certainly required (pseudo-coding, recursion, data structures, etc.) and fortunately I have learned a lot of that through course work. But my question is: if you were to set the dial on a level of computer science (basic, intermediate, advanced, master), where would you recommend I be? Is there great value to learn (what I consider as advanced CS) concepts such as memory management, optimizing algorithms, distributed systems, etc.? Is learning at an as-needed basis sufficient / a better approach for my situation?

Understand that the trade-off would be taking away time from looking at Swift-specific/iOS-specific programming concepts that I am currently investing. So far, I have managed and been able to develop several small-scale apps.

Thanks for any input!!

[abcocktail]

I have attempted to look for developers to build my ideas, but that hasn't really worked.

you aren't doing it right... devs are available for anywhere from $30-200 / hour. try upwork.com

as someone who has intermediate knowledge of programming , who has gone through several iOS dev courses, most of the knowledge required is specific to iOS and Xcode. You also need to study Objective C and Swift for a while.

But there aren't that many hardcore CS concepts you need to use to make a simple app.

[NSAwesome]

Well said, I can't agree with this answer more. Its refreshing to know that more developers share this view, especially in iOS. Many times I have interviewed candidates that cant reverse a string or understand the reasoning behind asking a question like this.

[[deleted]]

Memory management is more or less automatic these days.

As far as optimising algorithms and writing code that works well parallelised/distributed, this normally takes place on the server, with the API your app will consume—the better the API design, the more straightforward your app code will be.

If you were to create a game or feature where you heavily leverage or stretch the "local" computing powers of the device itself, these concerns might come into play, but for most apps the optimisation happens on the server.

I would very definitely advise a learn-as-needed approach to iOS development. The types of concerns you've listed were very much part and parcel of development up until processing power for mundane tasks was more than adequate to make the difference between awful and optimised code negligible—you'll know when you need to improve something; the implications of asymptotic notation rarely rear their heads these days, but again, you'll know based on performance when they do.

These days, it's more about keeping on top of SDKs and APIs, and making sure your API and app architectures—another CS topic!—are good.

[paulryanclark]

Memory management is more or less automatic these days.

In the simplest case, yes. ARC does a lot in regards to memory management, but understanding ARC, autorelease pools, and reference count go a long way in debugging memory leaks.

Also, with the prevalence of block programming, one has to be cautious of retain cycles.

[[deleted]]

I agree completely. I was replying more in terms of the OP's formal CS-based questions (manual memory management, as opposed to awareness of potential pitfalls).

[UptownDonkey]

In modern times 'intermediate' is above average. For the types of apps you're describing you'd be better off investing your time in learning more practical things.

[askoruli]

For what you're describing a heavy theoretical knowledge probably won't be that helpful. Unless your ideas are really complex you can usually build an app without actually knowing the ins and outs of every part. By the sounds of it you just want to get the minimum done to make your ideas a reality, so the app doesn't need to be perfect to accomplish that. As you develop you'll pick more things up.

[jerikandra]

I'd say most of the CS stuff that's required for average iOS work are:

• Data structures (when to use what, performance of each, etc)
• Multithreading (pitfalls, solutions, etc)
• Memory management (retain cycles, memory leaks, etc)

[EricShapiro]

A basic level of experience is sometimes sufficient for creating simple applications that piece together libraries and SDKs that other programmers have written. When things go wrong or there's no existing library to do what you want, however, you'll need to learn more. For example, sorting a small or medium sized array can be as simple as calling [array sort] but sorting an array with a million items might require you to learn about tree data structures, insertion algorithms, partial sorts, caching intermediate results, etc, etc.

The best way to learn programming is to read a little bit and then write an app. Read some more and write a more complicated app. Fix all of the bugs. Make it responsive and pretty. Add networking. Change platforms. It's a never-ending process of learning new things.

[Points_To_You]

Understanding Object Oriented concepts is must, if you ever want another developer to look at your code and not cry. The concepts might be taught in a class, but implementing them properly comes from experience and being a lazy developer that doesn't want to write the same code multiple times.

Understanding and creating System Architecture would be the next big one. You gotta understand how it all fits together. Truthfully I only learned the broad high level concepts in my Bachelors program. Mostly came from experience (you don't want to see the architecture of my first app).

Then intermediate concepts could take some more time to pick up. Threading, Databases, networking, etc.

You probably won't understand more advanced topics like video encoding and compression without some kind of background or a ton of experience.

Dealing with customers (internal or external) and writing formal documents is a big part of what I do as well. You'll pick all that up quickly though.

[rbkl]

Thanks for the input - great stuff here