how do i even start?!?

Dans564 · 10-03-2010, 12:13 PM

ok, so my dad just bought an ipad for work. He owns a construction company. He wants me to make him an app that he can use to write up quotes while with a client. Here is my idea;

when app opens a blank table will open with a "Item" column, a "Price per unit" column, and a "Quantity" column. The bottom of the screen will have a toolbar with an; "Add Item" button, and an "Email final" button. When "Add item" is pressed a predefined list of items will open in a new window (and possibly a search function in a title bar to find items quickly). He clicks on an item and a dialogue will pop up asking the "Quantity" needed, he type in "150" for example, then that item will be added to the table (Its name, it price per unit, and quantity, added into the table.) When all the items needed are added to the table, he then clicks "Email Final". this will format the table into a text document and email it to a predefined email address, so that he can get to the quote on his computer.

Is this gonna be easy enough to do by myself

i have never coded before but am very gooood with computer. Any advise??

MirrorMartin · 10-20-2010, 10:36 AM

What your asking is no small question. And no, it's not going to be easy. For a iPhone programmer with experience, what you describe is really easy. For you with no experience, it won't be. Being good with computers is a start, but it's a long way from there to learning how to program iPhones/iPads.

When I started, I had done some Visual Basic for Applications programming, done some SQL and SAS programming and that was about it.

I started by getting what I still consider the best iPhone programming books, "Beginning iPhone 3 Development". I tried reading it and didn't understand half of it.

APRESS.COM : Beginning iPhone 3 Development: Exploring the iPhone SDK : 9781430224594

So I took a step back and bought a book on Objective-C programming: "Learn Objective-C on the Mac" (the object oriented language used by the iPhone). I still didn't understand it.

APRESS.COM : Learn Objective–C on the Mac : 9781430218159

So I took another step back and bought a book on C programming, the great "Learn C on the Mac".

APRESS.COM : Learn C on the Mac : 9781430218098

The C book was foundational enough that I could (basically) understand it. So I worked through "Learn C...". Then I went back through "Learn Objective-C...". And finally I went through "Beginning iPhone 3...". At that point I felt like I was to the point where I could make a decent app. I made a little test memory program for my kids and went from there. From first book to first app took about a year (but I've got a full time job and two young kids). And now I'm thinking about quiting my job and concentrating on iPhone develoment full-time, so it can be done. But it takes some dedication.

Good Luck,
MirrorMartin

P.S.
You may also want to check out Objective-C for Absolute Beginners. I haven't read this myself but as you can tell from the above, I have had a really positive experience with Apress books:

APRESS.COM : Objective-C for Absolute Beginners: iPhone and Mac Programming Made Easy : 9781430228325

god0fgod · 10-20-2010, 10:44 AM

Yes, going from no programming experience at all will be very hard. The hardest part is getting to grips with the basic programming concepts found in most languages.

Objective-C is like an extension to C so starting with C is a good idea. Before that you may even want to look at Python to have something easy to use which will build the skills which eventually become natural to programmers. Python wont teach you many concepts in C however.

I think going from no knowledge straight to C may take longer because it's a massive jump all at once.