Getting Started - Setting Up the Development Environment

I decided to take a class on iPhone Application Programming at the local community college, Santa Barbara City College (SBCC). I figured that taking a class would motivate me to put in time and effort on a continuous basis so that I would not lose track of my ultimate goal: to develop and publish an iPhone App. As more motivation, my company said that they would pay for the class as long as I received a B or better. This is just what I needed to keep me focused.

At the first class meeting I spoke with the professor about setting up a development environment. He said that although there are ways to develop on a PC, most of them were hacks or unreliable alternatives. After a little research on the internet, I decided to follow his advice and get a Mac. I unfortunately didn't have a grand laying around in my bank account, so I did what any entrepreneur would do - ask friends and family. My dad came through and let me borrow a 3 year old mac laptop he had laying around.

Now that I got the mac, time to download Xcode. Xcode is the Integrated Development Environment (IDE) for creating iPhone apps and Mac software. For those of you who are not programmers, let me translate: Imagine writing a 10 page essay using Notepad. This is kind of what it is like to write computer code without an IDE. An IDE like Xcode, Visual Studio, NetBeans, etc. is like using Microsoft Word to write the essay as opposed to Notepad. It has tools that show you where errors are, similar to spell check. An IDE helps with proper indentation and makes code look clean and legible, just like a word processor does with an essay.

Enough about IDEs, on to my first gripe about Apple. When I tried to download Xcode I was unable to because I have an older version of the Mac OS X. Big surprise there! I have 10.5.8 which I thought was the latest OS. Apparently this is the latest for "Leopard." After a little research it seems I need to install "Snow Leopard." I'm pretty new to the Apple world so these animal names to describe their Operating Systems (OS) are a little strange and confusing. It took me a while to translate 10.5.8 to Leopard and 10.6 to Snow Leopard.

This upgrading process reminds me of upgrading my iPhone 3G to the new iOS 4. I was excited for this new OS, hoping it would be faster and better. Unfortunately, my friends with the 3GS are the only ones that benefited from this upgrade. My 3G phone now runs so slow it is hardly usable. I don't get to run multiple apps at a time or get to customize my background photo. I understand not being able to run multiple apps because of the slower processor, but really what benefit does this new OS have for 3G iPhones? None. I have a feeling this is Apple's way of making me buy a new iPhone. There was nothing wrong with my phone before this "upgrade" but now I feel like I need to buy the new iPhone 4G.

I'll stop griping about Apple, for now. After work today I'll head to the Apple store with my laptop in hand and hope they can help me upgrade the OS. On the internet you can order an upgrade cd for $29, which actually isn't too bad. I'd rather not wait for the disc to come in the mail and see if the Apple store will live up to its reputation as extremely helpful to customers. I'm really hoping they aren't going to tell me that my laptop is too old...

First Post

I recently made the decision to learn how to program an iPhone Application. I decided that I would document my experience in a blog to help others interested in creating an application. I also created this blog because I have never created a blog before and wanted to give it a shot. Here we go...