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Please note that there is now an iPhone 3 edition of this title available!

Are you a programmer looking for a new challenge? Does the thought of building your very own iPhone app make your heart race and your pulse quicken? If so, then Beginning iPhone Development is just the book for you.

Assuming only a minimal working knowledge of Objective-C, and written in a friendly, easy-to-follow style, Beginning iPhone Development offers a complete soup-to-nuts course in iPhone and iPod Touch programming.

The book starts with the basics, walking you through the process of downloading and installing Apple's free iPhone SDK, then stepping you though the creation of your first simple iPhone application. You'll move on from there, mastering all the iPhone interface elements that you've come to know and love, such as buttons, switches, pickers, toolbars, sliders, etc.

You'll master a variety of design patterns, from the simplest single view to complex hierarchical drill-downs. You'll master the art of table-building and learn how to save your data using the iPhone file system. You'll also learn how to save and retrieve your data using SQLite, iPhone's built-in database management system.

You'll learn how to draw using Quartz 2D and OpenGL ES. You'll add MultiTouch Gestural Support (pinches and swipes) to your applications, and work with the Camera, Photo Library, and Accelerometer. You'll master application preferences, learn how to localize your apps into other languages, and so much more.

Apple's iPhone SDK, this book, and your imagination are all you'll need to start building your very own best-selling iPhone applications.

You can discover more about this book, download source code, and find support forums at the book's companion site: www.iphonedevbook.com

Reviews

"People ask me again and again about how to get started in iPhone development, but I never had a very good answer for them until now. Dave and Jeff's book starts at the beginning in clear English, making sure you understand the fundamentals with many large illustrations. From there, they progress into key concepts such as the MVC pattern and ImageBuilder fundamentals. Additionally, I find myself flipping back to it as a reference guide—the plethora of code samples make it a must-have."

—Steve Demeter, Creator of "Trism" and owner of Demiforce LLC

"Beginning iPhone Development delivers a clear picture of the entire development process from registering as an iPhone developer through creation of complete applications. There is a wealth of examples illustrating each feature of the iPhone. The authors did an excellent job of demonstrating "best practice" coding methodology throughout the book. You would be hard pressed to find a better guide to creating software for the iPhone."

—Aaron Basil, iDev2.com

"Dave Mark has always been the king of Mac programming authors, and now he's proven to be the reigning king for books on iPhone development!

"Beginning iPhone Development is the definitive guide for iPhone development, and anyone aspiring to develop for the iPhone should get this invaluable reference."

—Brian Greenstone, President & CEO, Pangea Software, Inc.

"Jeff and Dave have done an exceptional job exploring the iPhone SDK. This book is far and away the single best resource for iPhone SDK development. Developers will latch on to this book and find it useful as they create the next great iPhone application. If you're a developer with an interest in this amazing new platform, this is a must buy."

—Chris Stewart, Founder, iPhoneDevSDK.com

"If you're planning on coding for the iPhone, start here. Dave and Jeff know their stuff and also know how to explain it. I was amazed how much stuff they cover, from Hello World through analyzing user gestures. Not only do they cover the fun stuff like playing with the camera, they cover real-world development issues like localization. I learned a huge amount from them"

—Mark Dalrymple, Co-founder, CocoaHeads, and Principal Author, Advanced Mac OS X Programming

"Starting with an overview of the technology, how to approach the device, the authors lead us straight into the heart of iPhone development. As you progress, you'll learn more about various layout engines and view managers, as well as the more meaty topics like accelerometer and GPS APIs. This book is a must-have for anyone interested in getting started quickly and efficiently with iPhone development!"

—Chris Pelsor, Manager, Tarantell:Hybrid

"All in all I was very surprised and pleased with the book. I've had the fortune of reading many technical books, and few do a great job of walking someone through the basics without making them feel like a dolt. It felt like every time I was stuck or unsure there was a tip, hint or paragraph which explained what was going on."

—Cory Foy, at Slashdot.org

Summary of Contents

1. Welcome to the Jungle
2. Appeasing the Tiki Gods
3. Handling Basic Interaction
4. More User Interface Fun
5. Autorotation and Autosizing
6. Multiview Applications
7. Tab Bars and Pickers
8. Introduction to Table Views
9. Navigation Controllers and Table Views
10. Application Settings and User Defaults
11. Basic Data Persistence
12. Drawing with Quartz and OpenGL
13. Taps, Touches, and Gestures
14. Where Am I? Finding Your Way with Core Location
15. Whee!
16. iPhone Camera and Photo Library
17. Application Localization
18. Where to Next?

About the Apress Beginning Series

The Beginning series from Apress is the right choice to get the information you need to land that crucial entry–level job. These books will teach you a standard and important technology from the ground up because they are explicitly designed to take you from “novice to professional.” You’ll start your journey by seeing what you need to know—but without needless theory and filler. You’ll build your skill set by learning how to put together real–world projects step by step. So whether your goal is your next career challenge or a new learning opportunity, the Beginning series from Apress will take you there—it is your trusted guide through unfamiliar territory!

User Reviews about Beginning iPhone Development: Exploring the iPhone SDK

This book is a great tool for someone starting out with iPhone programming. I've found it to be very helpful but it doesn't have everything I'd like to know in it. It's pretty easy to follow along with the example applications. -- Great way to start iPhone programming!

This book has wonderful example code, that is fairly simple to type in. The language is easy to read
and things build from simple to more complex. It is not a book about Objective-C however. Another
book must be purchased for that. By the end of this book, though, every reader should have a very
good knowledge of the iPhone SDK and how to exploit it to create your own programs.

Code in the book works great, no issues of code not making sense. There have been a few changes
to the Xcode interface that are different from the book, but that should be expected.

All-in-all this is a great book for starters. I am looking forward to reading the second book in the
series about iPhone programming.

-- Excellent source for starting iPhone programming!

I've looked through many beginning iPhone development books and I can say this is the best one out there. I would prefer a big, thick, Deitel-style textbook though. I don't think there's anything like that out there for iPhone development. You should know some basic programming in C, C++, Java, or Objective-C(preferred), before you tackle this book. Otherwise, you will likely be confused. I recommend you learn the basics of Objective-C first too, though people with C, C++, Java experience may be able to understand the code. Apress has a decent book on Objective-C.

This book covers every topic you need to learn to start developing iPhone applications and explains the basics of Xcode and the iPhone SDK. It's a by example type book. You learn by writing actual applications. There are plenty of screenshots that help you stay on the same page.

Now, the bad things about this book. First, there is a quite a lot of errata. This isn't uncommon in programming books, but this book has more errata than usual. I think they cut corners putting out a new edition and forgot to update some of the code and check for other errors. Again, this is typical of programming books. They really should have had a programmer actually go through the book and type in the code, etc. before sending this off to print. I guess they couldn't afford the time and money to do this? Fortunately, there is an online forum with other readers of this book posting corrections. Secondly, the explanation of concepts and code is somewhat brief. Sometimes, you just have to look at the code and try to figure out what it does or just accept that it works.

In conclusion, this book is easy to read, well organized and will teach you how to get started developing iPhone applications by example. The typeface and design is easy on the eyes. You will likely have to look back at the code of the programs in this book when you start writing your own programs. You should read some other iPhone development resources also to supplement your knowledge, because the explanation of concepts and code is brief at times. The errata is somewhat annoying, but there's a companion forum with corrections. I don't know of a better iPhone development book out there, which means that there is no "excellent" iPhone dev book, yet.

Start with this book as a primer, then try writing some programs that you would like to make. Look back at the programs you wrote while going through this book, unless you have a photographic memory. Check out other resources too and ask questions in online forums when you run into problems. I have found that the best way to learn a programming language/SDK/etc. is to write programs you really want to write. You will have extra motivation to find the answers to get your program completed and learn the language at the same time.

After going through this book, check out The iPhone Developer's Cookbook: Building Applications with the iPhone 3.0 SDK (2nd Edition) for more, in depth coverage of development for the iPhone. It's more of a reference book than a how to book.

-- Best Intro iPhone Development Book. A Lot of Errata Though.

I've 30+ years of software design/development experience. I read at least 10-12 technical books a year. In those that deal directly with software development I've nearly always found errors within the examples. With that said, I have been amazed at the accuracy within this book. Hats off to the authors for a job well-done! Now, I will admit that some of the screen shots in the book are a bit different than what I see in my Xcode environment. I keep my Mac development environments up to date so I expected to encounter some differences but thus far none have been difficult to overcome.

With respect to some of the other reviewer's comments regarding this not being a "beginners" book... I have prior experience (5 years assembly language and 15 years C/C++) with languages that are close to the Objective-C syntax. (The last 10 years have been all Java and quite frankly I have enjoyed the return to a language that allows pointer manipulation.) But, I did read/study Stephen Kochan's book "Programming in Objective-C 2.0". It provides a solid foundation in the syntax and memory management and should prepare you for the iPhone development presented in this book. Working through the examples in Kochan's book reawakened the "old" C skill's quicker than I thought possible and has made the iPhone development easier to comprehend. It's been "fun" to step out of the Java world for a new adventure.

If you don't have the C language back ground then I would suggest getting Kochan's book. It's a great introduction and coupled with the information/resources available on Apple's web-site you should soon feel comfortable with the language and the examples/problems presented in "Beginning iPhone 3 Development" should start to "click". -- A Good Introduction