Intro to iOS Development // TECH 462

Kimball Hulbert, Lead Developer, Fueled

Every Monday and Thursday from 6:00-7:30 pm, July 11th-August 1st.  

A briskly paced course designed to teach you the essentials of programming for iOS devices, covering the tools, language and design principles you'll need to get started. You don't need to be a code guru to learn iOS, but you should have some programming experience in a C based language such as C, C++, Java, PHP, ActionScript 3, etc. Object oriented programming experience will be helpful. At every step we will you provide you with the resources you'll need to extend your learning on your own time. The pace of the course will adapt to the speed of the participants.

NOTE TO REGISTRANTS: 

In order to work on iOS you will need a free iOS Developer account and an installed copy of Xcode - Apple's iOS and OS X integrated development environment.

Go to http://developer.apple.com/programs/register/ to register.

Once registered you should be able to download Xcode 4.0.2 with the iOS 4.3 SDK here:

http://developer.apple.com/xcode/index.php

This is a 3.5 GB file so please allow plenty of time to download and install before arriving at class.

Session I (7/11): iOS Tools and App Design

You'll learn about the architecture of an iPhone app, Xcode, Interface Builder (now part of Xcode) and the simulator you'll use for testing. We all know Apple is a stickler for details - from the design of their packaging to the way you download music, and writing code for an Apple device is no exception. But if you keep an open mind the rules will actually help you get up and running faster to build your first app!

Session II (7/14): Object Oriented Programming and Objective C

Objective C is the language used to write applications for iOS. We'll dive deeper into the details of Objective C and cover the essential object oriented programming principles you'll need to write robust, beautiful code.

Session III (7/18): MVC, Cocoa Touch Conventions and the iOS SDK

iOS apps are written with a Model-View-Controller architecture and make heavy use of a few standard programming design patterns. You'll learn how to create and use these patterns while exploring the dozens of elements the iOS libraries make available to you to present information and receive input from the user.

Session IV (7/21): 1,001 Ways to Show Off

Ok, maybe not 1,001, but a lot! We'll cover the various view configurations you're used to seeing in the apps you already use - navigation views, tab views, flip views, scroll views, web views, the list goes on - how to set them up, how they work together, when to use them, and when not to use them.

Session V (7/25): Table Views and Scenic Views

Table Views deserve a little extra special attention. They are flexible, powerful, and a little more complicated than what we've seen so far. We'll also spend some time using the image picker so you can use allow users to take pictures and use images from their photo gallery.

Session VI (7/28): Location, Location, Location. Oh And Animation

You'll learn about reading motion and orientation information from the phone, detecting shake events, and using location information in concert with iOS's built-in mapping tools. And perhaps you've got some gumption and you want to add some spark to your app to make it stand out, so we'll try out some basic animation.

Session VII (8/1): Important Miscellany and Next Steps

Rounding off an application with a launch image and icon; grabbing data from the internet; saving data for later use; social integration - some small, some big. We'll cover the small ones and get you started on the big ones.

Kimball Hulbert is Lead Developer at Fueled, a New York City based mobile development, design, and strategy firm. He studied at Washington University in St. Louis and Columbia University in New York and has 8 years of experience in computer science and software development. Before joining with Rameet Chawla in 2009 to start Fueled, he worked as an independent software developer. He has since brought Fueled from tiny start-up to 30-strong mid-sized company by emphasizing agile, design-conscious, cutting-edge development, all the while developing award-winning solutions for problems as diverse as video conferencing and augmented reality.

Use the hashtag #gaiosdev to send follow-up questions and continue the conversation.

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