Building an iOS app may sound like a daunting task even for a more seasoned developer, but Apple wants to help.
Promising a “fun and rewarding” experience, Apple has created a series of tutorials designed to step you through the entire development process beginning with setup, continuing through the fundamentals and ending with development and next steps. You starts by installing the tools you will need, and touching on the language, basic tasks, frameworks, design patterns, human interface design, app design and then the app store so you can publish your creation.
Designed with the elegance that only Apple can deliver, the tutorials are gorgeous and easy to follow. One nice touch is that they are available to the general public –not requiring a developer account or subscription in order to gain access.
Each section is laid out as a brief overview with links to additional articles and resources designed to give you more information. It isn’t realistic to expect that these tutorials will take somebody completely unfamiliar with development and turn them into a seasoned coder, but they should serve to lessen the learning curve and keep would-be programmers from feeling overwhelmed and intimidated by the process.
Apple doesn’t pull any punches either. As the tutorials begin one of their first statements indicates that, “After you finish the road map, you will be prepared to delve deeper into any individual topic.” Part brochure, part educational tool, Apple is doing their part to engage developers and make sure that they have a place to start –something that shows support for the development community and a commitment to the creation of quality apps for their devices.
The most valuable section in my view (as a developer) is “Where To Go From Here”, giving a list of the resources and reference documents that will help you dive as deep as you want to go.