Ask HN: Best book to get into iOS and Mac programming?

Re:Ask HN: Best book to get into iOS and Mac programming? by kls on Saturday December 31, 2011 @12:07PM (#3411259)

The head first book is good, but the people that I have taught with it, that have had development backgrounds tended to outgrow it's linear approach before they got to the end of the book. That can either be looked at as good or bad, it definitely get's you up and running quick, but it is a poor substitute for a book that can be used as a reference after you learn the platform. I remember reading that one of the books was updated for the new IOS and xCode, which is important because a lot of stuff changed. You can get lost in a tutorial due to the fact that so much has changed. Make sure you either use the old xCode or get a book that covers the new xCode.

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Re:Ask HN: Best book to get into iOS and Mac programming? by AdnanChowdhury on Saturday December 31, 2011 @12:45PM (#3411364)

Thanks for your response.

I do have some programming knowledge, but I would not want to learn from a book of reference. I would prefer to have a book that explains the programming concepts well and teaches you on how to write good code.

I have looked over several other books but like you said its easy to get lost in tutorials, because of the new Xcode 4.2 and its new features (like ARC).

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Re:Ask HN: Best book to get into iOS and Mac programming? by kls on Saturday December 31, 2011 @12:55PM (#3411396)

I can't recommend it because I have not used or even looked at it but the Sam's book is updated for xCode 4.2 http://www.amazon.com/Teach-Yourself-Application-Development... . A lot of times the Sam's books are good for people like you and I that have development experience, they a fast moving, but they give you the basic's to get you going. I have used other ones to teach with before, but I can't give you a recommendation on this particular one. The user reviews on the second edition are 4 stars on Amazon, so it does have pretty good ratings, I would assume the 3rd edition is just update for the changes to xCode and maybe some tutorials added for the new features in IOS 5.

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Re:Ask HN: Best book to get into iOS and Mac programming? by AdnanChowdhury on Saturday December 31, 2011 @01:31PM (#3411462)

Thanks. I'll have a look into this book.

Also, the 2 books that I mentioned are updated for Xcode 4.2 and iOS5.

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Re:Ask HN: Best book to get into iOS and Mac programming? by rob41 on Saturday December 31, 2011 @12:31PM (#3411330)

Xcode really has changed in just the last year. So many tutorials can be hard to follow because of the changes.

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