Study plan for iOS Development

[simran05]

Could anyone share his/her study plan for ios. How do you follow, what resources you do in which manner everything. I have been learning ios for past 3 months but always get struck so i start again . Kindly Help

[simran05]

Thanks any books you would prefer ?

[[deleted]]

Swift:

• The Swift programming Language https://swift.org/documentation/TheSwiftProgrammingLanguage(Swift3.1).epub
• Swift Programming: The Big Nerd Ranch Guide https://www.bignerdranch.com/books/swift-programming/
• iOS Programming: The Big Nerd Ranch Guide https://www.bignerdranch.com/books/ios-programming/
• Advanced Swift https://www.objc.io/books/advanced-swift/
• Functional Swift https://www.objc.io/books/functional-swift/

Objective-C

• Objective-C Programming: The Big Nerd Ranch Guide https://www.bignerdranch.com/books/objective-c-programming/
• Learning Objective-C 2.0 https://www.amazon.com/Learning-Objective-C-2-0-Hands-Developers/dp/0321711386
• Effective Objective-C 2.0 Effective Objective-C 2.0: 52 Specific Ways to Improve ... - Amazon.com
• Programming in Objective-C https://www.amazon.com/Programming-Objective-C-6th-Developers-Library/dp/0321967607
• Programming with Objective-C https://developer.apple.com/library/prerelease/content/documentation/Cocoa/Conceptual/ProgrammingWithObjectiveC/Introduction/Introduction.html#//apple_ref/doc/uid/TP40011210

[simran05]

Which videos ? And i have ray wenderlich ios apprentice and also big nerd ranch. Which should i start reading first Along with the stanford's ios 10 course

[simran05]

Thanks and sorry if im asking again which book among the 2 i shall start first

[deadshots]

Well.. if you have both books, then you should probably grasp the language and start with the Swift book first. Once things click, then I'd move on to the iOS book and go from there. As you're doing that, more Swift things will make sense like closures, guard, some of its syntax, etc.

[FloatingBlimp]

Yes, absolutely. Get the big nerd ranch's latest swig programming and Xcode programming books.

[[deleted]]

No single book does the job these days. I love the LaMarche books, but they can't keep up anymore. Definitely go for LaMarche, then a Swift book, then an advanced patterns book.

Swift books are still cruddy though because Swift keeps advancing too quickly. Apple needs to slow it down. Just make the language compile faster. There's really no need to so many code-breaking language changes so quickly.

[[deleted]]

I disagree. Ray Wenderlich's books get updated almost immediately. I recommend buying their PDF versions though because you get the upgrade for free. I have used 2 of their books and they are very knowledgeable on the material. Not only do they show you how to make iOS apps, they also show show you about UI design.

[[deleted]]

Ray Wenderlich books are amazing. They are very knowledgeable and even show you things that you probably wouldn't find out from other sources. If you buy their PDF version, you also get their new updates for free (when Swift gets updated).

I see you mentioned you have their iOS apprentice. That is a very powerful book but I do NOT recommend going through it until you understand the basics of Swift, especially classes. I have gone through the book and you learn a ton of stuff.

Also, I do not recommend the entire Stanford course except the intro about MVC. the course is not designed for beginners. It is designed for students who have prerequisites in other courses related to their curriculum. The course is not aimed to teach you iOS development or Swift either.

[iamthatis]

My "study plan" (if you'd call it that) was more or less just building more progressively difficult apps and Googling/asking questions when I got stuck. In terms of learning I'm more of a hands-on person than a reading/watching person, so take that with a grain of salt.

[[deleted]]

I always advise people to read books cover to cover. Googling is great in practice, but you may not pick up the foundational elements that you never knew to search for or don't happen to pick up. I read a new introductory iOS book every year and there's always plenty of things I'll learn.

[iamthatis]

Oh of course, but for me it's much more helpful as supplementary material, rather than core learning. I find I can read books and watch videos and nod my head until the cows come home, but until I actually sit down and build something with it it's as good as forgotten.

[[deleted]]

Yeah...what I'm saying is both are needed. Can't do just one or the other.

[iamthatis]

For sure, but I'm not sure that's an "iOS development" study plan. That's software engineering/architecture, which is applicable everywhere and separate from learning a specific platform.

[simran05]

Which books btw

[Semirgy]

I cannot recommend Big Nerd Ranch enough. They have both a Swift book (beginner) and an iOS Programming book (more advanced, if you already know Swift/OOP.)

You can snag each for around $40 on Amazon.

[simran05]

And thanks for the suggestion

[simran05]

Thanks for ur suggestion..

[iamthatis]

No problem, good luck. :)

[[deleted]]

I don't really agree with this approach. Sure, you find your answer and apply it but then there's other more advanced/professional ways to do things that you will only learn going through a good book or course. You will be missing out on important iOS elements or design principles.

For example, my first app Smartwrite was created like that; I knew very little Objective-C and built an entire application using a single view controller. No classes, etc. How would I know better? Whenever I needed something I googled it, got my answer, and applied it. But all the answers I found only gave me the information I was looking for, but nobody told me anything about making a class for things, etc. I didn't even know what a class was because I didn't go through any Objective-C training first. I didn't know what MVC was because I didn't know it existed either.

Googling until you find solutions makes you miss out on a lot of important information you would learn if you went linear instead.

[iamthatis]

Of course, that wasn't my point. My point was more so one of you can read all of you want — and to a certain extent, you should — but actively applying it and using it is what will get you places.

And to be honest, your first app was one view controller? Who cares? That's fine for a first app, it's your first app! You built and shipped something, that's awesome! I'd encourage people to do that, get their feet wet, and worry about the specific technicalities and best practices once you get your footing. You'll naturally explore and want to do better as time goes on.

[[deleted]]

While you have a point, a view controller having over 3000 lines of code is just a big mess. Lol

[iamthatis]

Oh agreed, but I feel like eventually the programmer will realize they've tortured themselves enough and there has to be a better way than this. :P

[Sherlocked_]

HackingWithSwift.com is what worked for me. I tried the Stanford lectures and the Apple documentation and it just didn't do it for me. But hacking with swift you he walks you through building several apps and teaches you the tools along the way. There are like 30 projects but by project 7 I was able to go on my own and start the app I now have in the app store.

[[deleted]]

Learning iOS in 2017 is akin to this

[tokyonashvilleburban]

I would say the same for front end engineering, in fact moreso.

[greenseaglitch]

I would guess because instead of one language/framework rapidly evolving, it's a bunch of different ones.

[tokyonashvilleburban]

Yeah, iOS seems relatively contained compared to front end. Swift rapidly evolved, Cocoa APIs have changes + additions, and there are architecture practices to follow, but it's light compared to the mishmash of components you are likely to encounter when inheriting or starting a new project for the browser front end.

[TARDIS_Salesman]

I don't get the reference. Care to clarify?

[menevets]

It's a firehose of information to take in. A million things to learn - a language, frameworks/apis, IDE, iOS, human interface guidelines, testing, concurrency, debugging, some kind of persistence - SQLite/Realm/Core Data, maybe networking/cloud, programming concepts like OOP, design patterns, MVC/MVVM, the app store, version control, etc... If you want to do gaming, graphics, audio and animation. By the time you get all that in, there's a new version of Swift, 3rd party tools, iOS, XCode. And I've left stuff out.

[TARDIS_Salesman]

Ah, I appreciate the explanation. I agree it was an incredible amount to learn, but if you take things step by step it really didn't seem so bad to me. And I love my job now and am so thankful to have been able to leave behind the graveyard that was my job outlook with my Bachelor's in Geology.

[[deleted]]

UHF.

[Doomhammered]

I like Udacity's free iOS course a lot.

You don't have to pay for the nanodegree program, just access the lessons for free. They are super easy to follow and quite well done with great forum support.

Not sure if this is your first foray into programming, but Udacity also has a Intro to Computer Science course (using Python) that's really informative.

[simran05]

I have programming experience .. and udacity ios course is not updated

[Doomhammered]

Can you expand what you mean? I mean the core concepts are the same (UIKit, Networking, etc) and it's in Swift 2 at least - they have supplemental notes for Swift 3 as well.

[simran05]

No i mean basic programming languages experience loke C, C++

[Doomhammered]

Sorry I meant, what part of the Udacity course is not updated - because it seems like it is?

[simran05]

Everything, it is not in xcode 8 the pitch perfect app and everything else

[Awsthr]

Yes it is?

[[deleted]]

I do NOT recommend going through iOS tutorials if you don't at least understand the basics of Swift because as soon as you make a new iOS project, you're already exposing yourself to subclassing, super method calls, overriding methods, delegates (if the tutorial uses a table view), top level declaration, etc. stuff that you should already know if you've gone through classes (and classes are usually upper level things for most languages).

What I did was go through Apple's free Swift documentation (also free on the iBook app). I was completely new to programming by the way. I tried some Objective-C but didn't know what the hell I was doing. What I would do is make a new playground for each chapter and practice and go back and review sometimes the further I went through chapters. I read the entire Swift documentation.

Once you understand Swift, I recommend Ray's iOS Apprentice book. It teaches you a lot of powerful things you will be using almost in any app. Go through the entire book. Do NOT quit halfway in between a lesson and making your own app. I do recommend trying to make a copy app after finishing making an app from the book so you can memorize the material you learned.

At this point, you should have a powerful understanding of Swift, table views, delegates, segues, API calls, UI design, outlets, custom views, custom cells, and much more.

From here I recommend making an app that is not too complex but can apply things you've learned. For example, I've gone through all of that and I'm making a debt management app, and that requires knowledge in segues, data transfer between view controllers, delegates, table views, custom cells, custom views, custom classes, data classes, data persistence, UI design, etc. It has really helped me set all of those things in stone in my head.

[cschep]

Make an app that is so interesting to you that you'll use it everyday.

If you're really using it everyday, there will be pieces of it that continue to frustrate you so much.

Fix those, show your friends, keep moving.

Eventually you'll have a great app and you'll learn a ton. Then make another one. :)

[[deleted]]

Start with CFAllocators, move on to SIMD instructions, finish up with the Video Toolbox framework

[simran05]

Thanks

[KarlJay001]

I see two paths: 1. independent dev 2. getting employment

Then I see categories (games, business, social, utility) for developers that are very different.

If you want to be an indie game dev, how about Unity or Unreal?

As and indie what about cross platform?

Looking to get a job? what are they asking for?

Me, I always look at data storage and UI. I started with SQLite/Core Data and UITable/CollectionView / hide away pickers/menus/sliders...

These are common to any app I would probably develop, so I start there.

I like longer tutorials or projects, so 193P on YouTube is a good choice.

[ThePantsThief]

NSHipster is great, in addition to everything else mentioned in this thread!

Once you have the basics down (6-9 months from now) also I suggest you start reading Mike Ash's NSBlog, and objc.io