e-Book iPhone and iPad in Action

eBook Details:
    Paperback: 600 pages
    Publisher: Manning Publications; 1st Edition (August 13, 2010)
    Language: English
    ISBN-10: 1935182587
    ISBN-13: 978-1935182580

eBook Description:
iPhone and iPad in Action: Introduction to SDK Development by Manning Publications

This hands-on tutorial will help you master iPhone/iPad development using the native iPhone SDK. It guides you from setting up dev tools like Xcode
and Interface Builder, through coding your first app, all the way to selling in the App Store.

Using many examples, the book covers core features like accelerometers, GPS, the Address Book, and much more. Along the way, you’ll learn to leverage your iPhone skills to build attractive iPad apps. This is a revised and expanded edition of the original iPhone in Action.

iPhone and iPad in Action is an introductory book, intended to teach the basics of iPhone SDK programming in a tutorial form. It’s an updated revision of iPhone in Action, which first appeared in 2008. We encourage you to read it straight through, from chapter 1 to 19. This will introduce the platform, how to program for the iPhone and iPad, and step you through the entire process in turn.

iPhone and iPad In Action, compiled by mobile software developer and blogger Brandon Trebitowski, simplifies existing iPhone topics while also updating them to account for the 3.4 SDK framework including iPad coverage. Beyond covering the basics of iPhone development, this edition also explores exciting topics such as the accelerometer, peer-to-peer gaming, mapkit, push notifications, and in-app purchasing. The reader is provided with step-by-step instructions on how to integrate the APIs into new or existing applications.

After completing this book, the reader will have all of the knowledge necessary to create fully functional iPhone applications ready for the App Store. There are many sample applications to work from including a chat client, video game, interactive map, and many others.

We’ve done our best to make this book accessible to everyone who is interested in writing native programs for the iPhone and iPad. We think it will be especially useful to people who are looking to dive into the iPhone/iPad arena, because it will allow you to create native applications for all of Apple’s iDevices.

If you want to learn about iPhone SDK programming, you should have some experience with programming in general. It’d be best if you’ve worked with C before, but that’s not a necessity; if you haven’t, you can read our introduction to Objective-C in chapter 2nd, and you should probably expect to do some research on your own to clarify things. There’s no need to be familiar with Objective-C, Cocoa, or Apple programming in general. We’ll give you everything you need to become familiar with Apple’s unique programming style. You’ll probably have a leg up if you understand object-oriented concepts; but it’s not necessary (and again, you’ll find an introduction in chapter 2nd).

Inside, you’ll find

    Full coverage of the iPhone SDK
    In-app purchasing with Store Kit
    Audio and recording
    Core Data, Core Location, Game Kit, Map Kit
    And much more!

No previous iPhone or iPad know-how needed. Familiarity with C, Cocoa, or Objective-C helps but is not required.

Code conventions and downloads

Code examples appear throughout this book. Longer listings appear under clear listing headings, and shorter listings appear between lines of text. All code is set in a special font like this to differentiate it from the regular font. Class names have also been set in code font; if you want to type it into your computer, you’ll be able to clearly make it out.

With the exception of a few cases of abstract code examples, all code snippets began life as working programs. You can find the complete set of programs at http://www.manning.com/iPhoneandiPadinAction. You’ll find two ZIP files there, one each for the SDK programs. We encourage you to try the programs as you read; they often include additional code that doesn’t appear in the book and provides more context. In addition, we feel that seeing a program working can greatly elucidate the code required to create it.

The code snippets in this book all include extensive explanations. We often include short annotations beside the code; and sometimes numbered cueballs beside lines of code link the subsequent discussion to the code lines.

About the Authors

Brandon Trebitowski is a professional mobile developer with ELC Technologies and founder of iCodeBlog.com. Brandon Trebitowski is a software developer and author. In August of 2008, he started iCodeBlog.com to teach aspiring developers how to write software for the iPhone. After the blog was acquired by RightSprite in December of 2008, he began working full time for them developing mobile software.

Christopher Allen is the host of iphonewebdev.com and an organizer of iPhoneDevCamp. Christopher Allen hosts iphonewebdev.com, the largest iPhone web dev community, and is a founder and organizer of the iPhoneDevCamp conference. A longtime technologist, Chris was one of the authors of TLS, the next-generation SSL protocol.

Shannon Appelcline is a writer, technologist, and game developer. Christopher and Shannon wrote iPhone in Action. Shannon Appelcline is a widely published writer and technologist, who has written everything from game programming articles to comic books.

Author Online

This book is intended to be an introduction to iPhone programming. Although it covers an extensive amount of information about the iPhone and iPad, there’s a lot that couldn’t be covered in a single book. Feel free to come chat with the authors online about additional topics.

The purchase of iPhone and iPad in Action includes free access to a private web forum run by Manning Publications, where you can post comments about the book, ask technical questions, and receive help from the authors and from other users. To access the forum and subscribe to it, point your web browser to http://www.manning.com/iPhoneandiPadinAction. The Author Online forum and the archives of previous discussions will be accessible from the publisher’s website for as long as the book is in print.

Brandon frequently posts tutorials and code snippets on his iPhone development blog at http://icodeblog.com . He is also very active on Twitter and available to answer most of your iPhone and iPad development questions. Find him on Twitter at http://twitter.com/brandontreb.

Christopher and Shannon’s main hangout is http://iphoneinaction.manning.com. This blog contains the newest noteworthy links they have found, discussions about “missing classes” that we didn’t cover in this book, and occasional articles of more weight.

And we continue to host Christopher’s original iPhone forum on web development, which you can find at http://www.iphonewebdev.com.