@import

iPhone Dev Links

Tue, 16 Feb 2010 20:47:00 -0600

A friend of mine on Twitter was asking about references for getting started in iPhone development. I realized I had a lot of references to share, but nothing well organized. This entry (which I’ll probably update as I find new things) will have a running list of things I’ve found useful when getting started into iPhone development.

Cocoa Programming for Mac OS X - iPhone development is done in Objective-C, which is the same language used when developing for the Mac. This is by far the best book to use for learning Obj-C.
Cocoa Design Patterns - Most of the common design patterns from the Gang of Four are applicable for the iPhone and Mac, but there are several others that are very popular within the Cocoa [Touch]/Obj-C sphere. Also includes Obj-C sample code for each of the patterns covered.
The iPhone Developer’s Cookbook - After picking up Obj-C from the above, I just needed some iPhone specific code examples. Erica Sadun has been hacking on the iPhone before it had an official SDK, so her cookbook has been very helpful.
Beginning iPhone 3 Development - If you need more details about the SDK, I’ve heard several people who liked this book.
iPhone App Development: The Missing Manual - This will probably be my next iPhone related book. Craig Hockenberry is the developer behind Twitterrific, Frenzic and several other apps. He’s been a very vocal leader in the development community and I have great faith, sight unseen, that his book is going to be very helpful.
furbo.org - Speaking of Craig Hockenberry, his blog is also a great resource. There’s lots of sample code and general thoughts on usability and motivation.
iPhone Dev Center - Apple has some really nice code samples and good documentation.
TouchCode - If you’re doing anything with XML, the TouchXML project is very helpful. The XML API provided on the iPhone is not very robust compared to what’s on the Mac itself. TouchXML mimics the most important features of the Mac API, making it really easy to get started using XML. TouchJSON is a similar concept, but for JSON objects.¹²
SBJSON - I haven’t used it, but SBJSON is supposed to be another very powerful, but light-weight JSON parser/generator.
iPhone developer:tips - The name’s pretty self-explanatory. There’s a lot of good tips here about various subjects.
Free Time Studios - iPhone game developer in Houston. Nathan has lots of experience using CoreAnimation and OpenGL on the iPhone. Definitely check out his i360|Dev slides and sample code as well as his FTUtils.
Core Data slides - Core Data is one of the best ways to store your application’s data on the iPhone. For those unfamiliar with Core Data, you can think of it like an ORM from other languages or ActiveRecord from Ruby, although that’s a fairly loose comparison. Darren Stokes had a really good presentation at the Houston iPhoneDevCamp and posted his slides and sample code online. I’ve been using Core Data for about a year and still learned something new from Darren.
The Three20 Project - Joe Hewitt was the developer for the official Faceboook app. He pulled out a bunch of views and concepts from the application and released it as an open-source library.
cocos2d - Very nice 2d gaming engine built on top of OpenGL. Has lots of similarities to CoreAnimation.

I’ve heard that the TouchCode libraries might not be working with the iPad SDK. I’m sure this will be fixed, but it’s something to keep in mind. ↩
TouchJSON doesn’t support the full JSON spec, SBJSON should be better. ↩

Twitter code visualization Gorgeous and mesmerizing...

Thu, 11 Feb 2010 15:50:12 -0600

Twitter code visualization

Gorgeous and mesmerizing visualization of the Twitter code base.

Meat stylus for the iPhone

Thu, 11 Feb 2010 09:29:05 -0600

Meat stylus for the iPhone:

Mmmmm sausage.

"Complexity is a symptom of confusion, not a cause"

Fri, 05 Feb 2010 09:00:07 -0600

“Complexity is a symptom of confusion, not a cause”

- Jeff Hawkins (via @regeiger)

inessential.com: Pretend you’re Apple

Thu, 28 Jan 2010 14:24:36 -0600

inessential.com: Pretend you’re Apple:

Great way to think about Apple’s current run of products.

"Apple now owns and controls their own mobile CPUs. There aren’t many companies in the world that can..."

Thu, 28 Jan 2010 08:04:13 -0600

“Apple now owns and controls their own mobile CPUs. There aren’t many companies in the world that can say that. And from what I saw today, Apple doesn’t just own and control a mobile CPU, they own and control the hands-down best mobile CPU in the world.”

- Daring Fireball: The iPad Big Picture

When I was watching the live blogs of the keynote, my first reaction to the A4 announcement is that this was the biggest thing announced yesterday. I expect by the end of the year every iPhone & iPod Apple sells will have their own silicon.

"Like the iPhone, the iPad is really a vessel, a tool, a 1.5-pound sack of potential. It may become..."

Wed, 27 Jan 2010 15:18:21 -0600

“Like the iPhone, the iPad is really a vessel, a tool, a 1.5-pound sack of potential. It may become many things. It may change an industry or two, or it may not. It may introduce a new category—something between phone and laptop—or it may not. And anyone who claims to know what will happen will wind up looking like a fool.”

- The Apple iPad: First Impressions - Pogue’s Posts Blog - NYTimes.com

This last paragraph from David Pogue’s first impressions succinctly conveys my feelings about the iPad.

Pen v keyboard v Newton v Graffiti v Treo v iPhone (Phil Gyford’s website)

Thu, 21 Jan 2010 14:37:38 -0600

Pen v keyboard v Newton v Graffiti v Treo v iPhone (Phil Gyford’s website):

Fascinating comparison of text input across various form factors and UI. (via Daring Fireball)

via @jephjacques

Tue, 19 Jan 2010 14:51:33 -0600

via @jephjacques

Warren Ellis » Thought For The Night

Thu, 14 Jan 2010 13:09:15 -0600

Warren Ellis » Thought For The Night

"Be productive, be fantastically clever when necessary, speak truth to power, hit your dates, and..."

Sun, 10 Jan 2010 16:36:29 -0600

“Be productive, be fantastically clever when necessary, speak truth to power, hit your dates, and don’t ship crap.”

- @rands

Motto for 2010

"The reason there are few attempts to blow up airplanes is not because we have successfully..."

Wed, 06 Jan 2010 09:44:17 -0600

“The reason there are few attempts to blow up airplanes is not because we have successfully restricted people from blowing up airplanes. It’s because not many people want to blow up airplanes.”

- Squashed (via marco)

"It’s simple to think about the future optimistically because the future hasn’t screwed you, yet."

Mon, 04 Jan 2010 13:17:13 -0600

“It’s simple to think about the future optimistically because the future hasn’t screwed you, yet.”

- Rands In Repose: Wanted

VOTD: Extreme Dagobah Tourist Video | /Film Dago-BAM! (Note:...

Wed, 30 Dec 2009 08:35:45 -0600

VOTD: Extreme Dagobah Tourist Video | /Film

Dago-BAM! (Note: NSFW, language)

Star Wars / A-Team opening (via kalleanka71) (via @bclevinger)

Mon, 28 Dec 2009 13:29:58 -0600

Star Wars / A-Team opening (via kalleanka71)

(via @bclevinger)

via msnbcmedia.msn.com (via @paulandstorm)

Mon, 21 Dec 2009 12:55:38 -0600

via msnbcmedia.msn.com

(via @paulandstorm)

"Love your scrollbar"

Thu, 17 Dec 2009 12:41:09 -0600

“Love your scrollbar”

- There is no page fold.

"I’ve took the classic painting The Maids of Honour (Las Meninas) and made this CSS..."

Thu, 17 Dec 2009 12:21:41 -0600

“I’ve took the classic painting The Maids of Honour (Las Meninas) and made this CSS pseudo-3D/parallax effect. It is pure CSS, so no javascript or flash involved: only CSS and HTML code.”

- Román Cortés » CSS 3D Meninas

Very cool effect. It goes without saying that you need to view this in a modern browser for it to work. IE below IE8 need not apply.

"My use case for cloud computing: my computer explodes and my first thought is, “I need another..."

Mon, 14 Dec 2009 15:44:16 -0600

“My use case for cloud computing: my computer explodes and my first thought is, “I need another computer preferably that doesn’t explode”.”

- Twitter / rands: My use case for cloud comp …

merlin: suicideblonde: killingbambi: via asset.soup.io

Wed, 09 Dec 2009 14:56:41 -0600

merlin:

suicideblonde:

killingbambi:

via asset.soup.io