Chapter 22
Where to Next?
Well, wow! You’re still with us, huh? Great! It sure has been a long journey since that very first iOS application we built together. You’ve certainly come a long way. We would love to tell you that you now know it all. But when it comes to technology, and especially when it comes to programming, you never know it all.
At its core, programming is about problem solving and figuring things out. It’s fun, and it’s rewarding. But, at times, you will run up against a puzzle that just seems insurmountable—a problem that appears to have no solution. Sometimes, the answer will come to you if you just take a bit of time away from the problem. A good night’s sleep or a few hours of doing something different can often be all that is needed to get you through it. Believe us—you can stare at the same problem for hours, overanalyzing and getting yourself so worked up that you miss an obvious solution. But sometimes, even a change of scenery doesn’t help. In those situations, it’s good to have friends in high places. This chapter outlines some resources you can turn to when you’re in a bind.
Apple’s Documentation
Become one with Xcode’s documentation browser, grasshopper. The documentation browser is a front end to a wealth of incredibly valuable sample source code, concept guides, API references, video tutorials, and a whole lot more.
There are few areas of iOS that you won’t be able to learn more about by making your way through Apple’s documentation. And if you get comfortable with Apple’s documentation, navigating through uncharted territories and new technologies as Apple rolls them out will be easier.
NOTE: Xcode’s documentation browser takes you to the same information you can get to by going to Apple’s Developer web site at http://developer.apple.com.
Mailing Lists
You might want to sign up for these handy mailing lists:
Cocoa-dev: This moderately high-volume list, run by Apple, is primarily about Cocoa for Mac OS X. Because of the common heritage shared by Cocoa and Cocoa Touch, however, many of the people on this list may be able to help you. (Do make sure to search the list archives before asking your question.)
http://lists.apple.com/mailman/listinfo/cocoa-devXcode-users: Another list maintained by Apple, this one is specific to questions and problems related to Xcode.
http://lists.apple.com/mailman/listinfo/xcode-usersQuartz-dev: This is an Apple-maintained mailing list for discussion of the Quartz 2D and Core Graphics technologies.
http://lists.apple.com/mailman/listinfo/quartz-devCocoa-unbound: This list, intended for discussion of both Mac and iOS development, appeared in 2010 in response to the sometimes heavy-handed moderation of some of the Apple-run lists, particularly Cocoa-dev. The posting volume is lower here, and topics can run a bit further afield.
http://groups.google.com/group/cocoa-unboundIPhone SDK Development: Another third-party list, this one is focused entirely on iOS development. You’ll find a medium-sized community here, with a nice cast of regulars.
Discussion Forums
These discussion forums allow you to post your questions to a wide range of forum readers:
iphonedevbook.com: As the official forum for this book, this features an active, vibrant community, full of people with the wisdom and sensibility to buy our book, such as yourself.
Apple Developer Forums: This is a web forum set up by Apple specifically for discussing iOS and Mac software development. Many iOS programmers, both new and experienced (including Apple engineers and evangelists), contribute to these forums. It’s also the only place you can legally discuss issues with prerelease versions of the SDK that are under nondisclosure agreements. You’ll need to sign in with your Apple ID to access this forum.
Apple Discussions, Developer Forums: This link connects you to Apple’s community forums for Mac and iOS software developers:
http://discussions.apple.com/category.jspa?categoryID=164Apple Discussions, iPhone: This link connects to Apple’s community forums for discussing the iPhone:
Web Sites
Visit these web sites for helpful coding advice:
CocoaHeads: This is the site of a group dedicated to peer support and promotion of Cocoa. It focuses on local groups with regular meetings where Cocoa developers can get together, help each other out, and even socialize a bit. There’s nothing better than knowing a real person who can assist you, so if there’s a CocoaHeads group in your area, check it out. If there’s not, why not start one?
NSCoder Night: NSCoder Nightsare weekly, organized meetings where Cocoa programmers get together to code and socialize. Like CocoaHeads meetings, NSCoder Nights are independently organized local events.
Stack Overflow: This is a community Q&A site targeted at programmers. Many experienced iOS programmers hang out here and answer questions.
iDeveloper TV: This is a great resource for in-depth video training in iOS and Mac development, for a price. It also contains some nice, free video content, mostly from NSConference (listed in the “Conferences” section of this chapter), which is run by the same people behind iDeveloper TV.
Cocoa Controls: Here, you’ll find a huge range of GUI components for both iOS and Mac OS X. Most of them are free and open source. These controls can be useful as is or as examples for further learning.
Blogs
If you still haven’t found a solution to your coding dilemma, you might want to read these blogs:
Wil Shipley’s blog: Wil is one of the most experienced Objective-C programmers on the planet. His Pimp My Code series of blog postings should be required reading for any Objective-C programmer.
http://www.wilshipley.com/blogWolf Rentzsch’s blog: Wolf is an experienced, independent Cocoa programmer and the founder of the (now defunct) C4 independent developers’ conference.
iDevBlogADay: This is a multiauthor blog, whose authorship rotates daily among several indie developers of iOS and Mac software. Follow this blog, and you’ll be exposed to new insights from different developers every day.
CocoaCast: This has a blog and podcast about various Cocoa programming topics, available in both English and French.
@ObjectiveC on Twitter: The
@objectivecTwitter user posts about new Cocoa-related blog posts. It’s worth a follow.
http://mobile.twitter.com/objectivecMike Ash’s blog: Mike is “just this guy, you know?” This RSS feed presents Mike’s collection of his ongoing iOS Friday Q&A.
Conferences
Sometimes, books and web sites aren’t enough. Attending an iOS-focused conference can be a great way to get new insights and meet other developers. Fortunately, this is an area that has really boomed over the past few years, and iOS developers have no shortage of interesting conferences to attend. Here are a few:
WWDC: Apple’s World Wide Developer Conference is the annual event where Apple typically unleashes the next great new things for its developer community.
http://developer.apple.com/wwdcMacTech: This is a conference for Mac and iOS programmers and IT professionals. It’s hosted by the same people who publish MacTech Magazine.
http://www.mactech.com/conferenceNSConference: This multiple-continent event has been held in both the United Kingdom and United States, so far. It’s run and promoted by Steve “Scotty” Scott, perhaps the hardest working man in the Mac/iOS conference scene.
360 iDev: This approximately once-a-year conference, which is hosted in either San Jose or Denver (flipping between the two year after year), began in 2009.
iPhone/iPad DevCon: This one is a newcomer. At the time of this writing, it has been held only a couple of times, but it’s one to keep an eye on.
Çingleton: So far, there has been just a single instance of the Çingleton Symposium, in October 2011, but plans are in the works for more. Çingleton won’t be a singleton.
Voices That Matter: This series includes conferences on more than just iOS. Some of the conferences have been focused on other mobile platforms and web development. The iOS and iPhone events have been ongoing since 2009.
http://www.voicesthatmatter.comCocoaConf: The second installment of CocoaConf is just weeks away at the time of this writing, so it will have already happened by the time you read this. But don’t worry, there’s surely more to come.
Follow the Authors
Dave, Jack, and Jeff are all active Twitter users. You can follow them via @davemark, @jacknutting, and @jeff_lamarche, respectively. They have blogs, too:
- Jeff’s iOS development blog contains a lot of great technical material. Be sure to check out the comprehensive series on OpenGL ES.
- Jack uses his blog, nuthole.com, to talk about what’s going on in his career and his life (technically and otherwise). It’s a blog like many others, but this one is Jack’s.
TIP: Are you serious about diving more deeply into the iOS SDK, and especially interested in all the great new functionality introduced with the iOS 5 SDK (of which we only scratched the surface in this book)? If so, you should check out More iOS 5 Development: Further Explorations of the iOS SDK by Dave Mark, Alex Horovitz, Kevin Kim, and Jeff LaMarche (Apress, 2012).
And if all else fails, drop us an e-mail at [email protected]. This is the perfect place to send messages about typos in the book or bugs in our code. We can’t promise to respond to every e-mail message, but we will read all of them. Be sure to read the errata on the Apress site and the forums on http://iphonedevbook.com/forum before clicking Send. And please do write and tell us about the cool applications you develop.
Farewell
The programming language and frameworks we’ve worked with in this book are the end result of more than 20 years of evolution. And Apple engineers are feverishly working round the clock, thinking of that next cool new thing. The iOS platform has just begun to blossom. There is so much more to come.
By making it through this book, you’ve built yourself a sturdy foundation. You have a solid knowledge of Objective-C, Cocoa Touch, and the tools that bring these technologies together to create incredible new iPhone, iPod touch, and iPad applications. You understand the iOS software architecture—the design patterns that make Cocoa Touch sing. In short, you’re ready to chart your own course. We are so proud!
We sure are glad you came along on this journey with us. We wish you the best of luck and hope that you enjoy programming iOS as much as we do.