Developing your first app isn’t as difficult as you may think. If you want to start learning the fundamentals of iOS development, there are many online resources available authored by some of the best in the business. Check out the following list of the best iOS development resources that can help you become an app coding genius.
1. Start Developing iOS Apps Today
Digital Resource offered by Apple
If you have no coding experience, one of the best places to start is this gentle introductory guide from Apple. This guide walks you through four short modules to help you create your first iOS app that runs on iPad, iPhone, and iPod touch. Includes the major concepts and best practices you need to know to ease your way into iOS development.
2. iOS Dev Center
Digital Resource offered by Apple
Everything you could possibly want to know about iOS development and more. From tutorials, sample codes, reference guides, audio and video, the Apple iOS Dev Center has it all. Note: It can be overwhelming to fresh beginners, however we still recommend bookmarking this one for reference as you begin your journey creating your first app.
3. Developing iOS 7 Apps for iPhone and iPad
iTunes U course offered by Stanford University
This complete course on how to build apps using the iPhone Software Development Kit (SDK) is available for free online by Stanford University on iTunes U. The course covers a wide range of topics, including user interface designs, Objective-C programming language, and designing for maximum performance. Stanford recommends the following prerequisite courses: Programming Methodology and Programming Abstractions, also available on iTunes U.
4. Building Mobile Applications
Podcast offered by Harvard University
One of the best introductory courses to building mobile applications. This course offered by Harvard University on iTunes takes you through twelve lectures including topics such as iOS development across multiple devices and how to deploy your apps in the App Store. If you’re ready to take the next step, this course also goes over how to write apps for Android.
5. Stack Overflow
Question & Answer / Forum
Not necessarily a tutorial site, but one of the best resources available to find answers to iOS development problems straight from other developers. As you begin learning iOS development, keep Stack Overflow in mind when you need to solve issues you can’t figure out on your own.
6. Pttrns
Design Library
This curated library of iPhone and iPad user interface patterns is an excellent place to find inspiration for your first app. Browse over 3,000 of the best designed apps for the iPhone and discover just how important design and usability for your app.
7. Ray Wenderlich
Tutorials and Online Community
Keep up to date on all the latest aspects of iOS development with these tutorials written by various developers coming from a wide range of backgrounds. This blog and community focuses on taking challenging topics and making them easy for everyone to learn – so you can make amazing apps.
8. WWDC 2014 Presentations
Videos offered by Apple
WWDC presentations are one of the best ways to get an insider’s look at the newest features of Apple operating systems. With over 80 video sessions available, these videos introduce all of the new iOS 8 frameworks, such as HealthKit, HomeKit and more. If you’d rather read the presentations, asciiwwdc provides transcripts of all the WWDC sessions to complement the PDFs hosted on the Apple site.
9. Design Mobile Apps
eBook
What better way to learn how to create beautifully-designed apps than with a beautifully-designed book? If you’re looking for a crash course on all things app design, this is your answer. Learn about the design process from conceptualizing your idea to releasing it in the stores and how to design useful, appealing apps for your users.
10. iOS Programming: The Big Nerd Ranch Guide
Book
The latest edition of the best-selling iOS programming book by Big Nerd Ranch Guides has been updated to cover the latest in iOS 7 and Xcode 5, leading you through the essential concepts, tool and techniques for developing iOS applications. This book offers a real understanding of how iOS development works, keeping the instruction relevant and useful.
After you’ve covered the basics, stay on top of the latest iOS news and developments with the following resources:
11. objc.io
Virtual Magazine
A periodical about best practices and advanced techniques for iOS and OS X development. Each issue of objc.io has a focus on one particular subject, going in-depth on technical topics relevant to all iOS and OS X developers.
12. NSHipster
Blog
NSHipster is a weekly journal of the overlooked bits in Objective-C, Swift, and Cocoa. Matt Thompson is the author of AFNetworking, a hugely popular networking library for iOS. It’s all Objective-C, but Matt’s blog is very enlightening and he has continued writing about “obscure topics in objective-c”, even after the objective-c part became Swift.
13. CocoaPods
Dependency Manager
CocoaPods is the dependency manager for Objective-C projects. It has thousands of libraries and can help you scale your projects elegantly.
14. GitHub
Collaboration Tool
GitHub is the best place to share code with friends, co-workers, classmates, and complete strangers. Over seven million people use GitHub to build amazing things together. With collaborative features, your team can write better code, faster.
15. Developer
Digital Resource offered by Apple
Developer is a compilation of iOS development and Swift related presentations, videos, sample codes, programming guides and more. Developers can easily click through links and find resources quickly with the straightforward platform categorization.
16. iOS Dev Weekly
Email Newsletter
Sign-up and receive weekly emails with the most timely curated iOS development articles. iOS Dev Weekly provides useful programming information, videos, case studies and more for followers to stayed tuned with the latest industry news.
If you’re ready to take your skills to the next level, check out one of Ironhack’s intensive iOS development bootcamps. We’ll set you up with the right teachers and group of peers who will help keep you motivated to reach your goals. Check the dates for our upcoming iOS development courses and start transforming your app ideas into a reality.