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Starting Out.

M

Manic Nimrod

Haxin'
So what i want to do(in the long run)is start to develop apps/games for the iPod/iPhone, I dont currently own a Mac, so im unable to mess with the SDK.

Does anyone have any decent sites, or recommend any books on starting to learn C/C+ or C++

;)
 
ilyace

ilyace

Member
Basically you want to start learning some basic C (I would use a book for this), and then move on the Objective-C (objective c is extremely easy to learn, no books necessary just look up some tutorials online). After you've learned the languages, you need to learn the APIs - Cocoa for Mac OS X and Cocoa Touch for iPhone/iPod Touch. There were a few books released i think in December on iPhone sdk devving, but I haven't checked those out. One book I recommend however: http://www.amazon.com/Cocoa-Programming-Mac-OS-3rd/dp/0321503619 . The book teaches Cocoa (for Mac OS X programming) but Cocoa Touch is derived from Cocoa, so it's better to learn the fundamentals imo, but not absolutely necessary.

If you don't want to use a book for learning Cocoa Touch, Apple's documentation that comes with the SDk along with some online tutorials will be sufficient. Good luck!

BTW C++ is not a necessary if you want to dev for the iPhone/iPod Touch...The only thing I found useful was what I learned about object oriented programming, since Cocoa/Cocoa Touch and Objective-C are heavily, heavily objecti oriented.
 
Y

yaustar

New Member
Dege said:
How to Think Like a Computer Scientist

I love the "How to Think Like a Computer Scientist" series of books (I'm using the phyton version) because after you read one of them you can program a lot of programming languages easily.
Click to expand...

The only problem I have with the C++ version is that it still uses the old STL headers such as <iostream.h> instead of <iostream>.
 
Hardrive

Hardrive

Contributor
I'll have to check out those Think Like a Computer Scientist books this summer.

I assume the headers issue isn't that big of a problem, because that only affects a few lines of code?
 
Y

yaustar

New Member
Hardrive said:
I'll have to check out those Think Like a Computer Scientist books this summer.

I assume the headers issue isn't that big of a problem, because that only affects a few lines of code?
Click to expand...
The iostream.h and similar files pre-date the C++ standard which is why I don't recommend it to beginners. It also uses:
Code: 
void main()
Rather then
Code: 
int main()
Which is what the Standard dictates. Ref: http://users.aber.ac.uk/auj/voidmain.shtml

If you already know how to program a little C or C++, then Thinking in C++ is REALLY good else C++ A Dialog is decent as well. Both are freely available as eBooks.
 
Hardrive

Hardrive

Contributor
I know a limited amount. I don't know if you remember, but you critiqued my Pong game for the PSP about a year ago.

I think these books are the logical next step for me.
 
T

Tsunaii

eMummeh
im considering learning this stuff. might give me something to do. is it hard to learn?
 
N

Nimsical

Hi, I'm Nima
Tsunaii said:
im considering learning this stuff. might give me something to do. is it hard to learn?
Click to expand...
That's a little off topic, but since his question has been answered several times:
All you need is a little effort. As long as you don't get frustrated and keep learning, it's pretty easy.
It's like learning how to play an instrument, it's frustrating at the start but you get used to it after a while :)
 
Y

yaustar

New Member
Hardrive said:
I know a limited amount. I don't know if you remember, but you critiqued my Pong game for the PSP about a year ago.

I think these books are the logical next step for me.
Click to expand...
Really? That seems so long ago...

In that case, Thinking in C++ is probably the best one to read for you.

There is a whole bunch of Internet resources on my own forums to read which will be useful as well: Useful Internet References and Articles (with descriptions)
 
Hardrive

Hardrive

Contributor
yaustar said:
Really? That seems so long ago...

In that case, Thinking in C++ is probably the best one to read for you.

There is a whole bunch of Internet resources on my own forums to read which will be useful as well: Useful Internet References and Articles (with descriptions)
Click to expand...

Yup, it was only a year ago. I just checked, the date I put in the readme is April 11, 2008.

Thanks for the links. I glanced through the descriptions, and a lot of them seem applicable to me. I'll be sure to check them out when I have a chance.
 
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