Credit for Photo: David Hilowitz Creative Commons
We are addicted.
According to the Journal of Behavioral Addiction college students spend "8 to 10 hours on their phones daily." (1)
Since 63% of college students access the Internet through their cell phones (2) and two-thirds of them access the Internet through an iPhone, (3) learning how to develop iOS applications is an important skill.
After 100+ hours of scouring the Internet for iOS development resources here are the best resources I've found and the resources I've found to be a waste of time.
Starting with what was a waste of time because knowing what to avoid is as important as knowing what to consume.
This is a list that I wish someone had given me when I first started.
Waste of Time
(Defined: Based on accomplishing the goal of taking your idea and turning it into a prototype quickly)
Harvard's CS104 course online:
Incredibly enthusiastic professor, great theory, but when it came to actual coding not the place. Useful if you want to learn computer science theory.
(Note: His descriptions of array's is en pointe)
Stanford's Swift Development Course:
This isn't just for the sake of ruffling feathers! This course provides a poor feedback loop and you fail to get the mental model of the coding an application.
MY Top 3 Recommendations
1. The only book I recommend you pick up is:
IOS 9 Application Development in 24 Hours - John Ray
I was angry at myself for not finding this book sooner, because this would have saved me those moments where I wanted to chuck my Macbook like a frisbee.
He really built the book with the reader in mind. There are certain sections of the book that moves at a slow pace or it would be easier to watch a video on the section.
2. The one website that I suggest you check out is:
Raywenderlich.com
I know professional IOS developers that use his websites' tutorials to learn new skills on the fly.
3. The one skill I Recommend you learn:
How to draw out storyboards.
Basically, drawing on the screens that you want for your application on a piece of paper. This drastically accelerated my ability to learn IOS application development. I'll do a later post on how I was able to teach someone how to build an app within an hour using the principles I've learned.
Results
This entire process has been fairly wild! As a result of what I've learned people have reached out to me and asked me to storyboard applications for them.
As well as since the IOS Development has been sharpening my visual thinking abilities, I've been getting calls from people asking to start drawing out their business plans and create small applications for them to prototype ideas they've had.
As a result I've started a company out of this. Overall, this quest into IOS development has already paid dividends and its been a lot of fun an interesting experiment in learning.
UPDATE:
Looking for UI inspiration: Check out Pintrest
Citations
(1) http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4291831/
(2) http://www.pewinternet.org/2011/07/19/college-students-and-technology/
(3)http://er.educause.edu/articles/2015/6/students-mobile-learning-practices-in-higher-education-a-multiyear-study
According to the Journal of Behavioral Addiction college students spend "8 to 10 hours on their phones daily." (1)
Since 63% of college students access the Internet through their cell phones (2) and two-thirds of them access the Internet through an iPhone, (3) learning how to develop iOS applications is an important skill.
After 100+ hours of scouring the Internet for iOS development resources here are the best resources I've found and the resources I've found to be a waste of time.
Starting with what was a waste of time because knowing what to avoid is as important as knowing what to consume.
This is a list that I wish someone had given me when I first started.
Waste of Time
(Defined: Based on accomplishing the goal of taking your idea and turning it into a prototype quickly)
Harvard's CS104 course online:
Incredibly enthusiastic professor, great theory, but when it came to actual coding not the place. Useful if you want to learn computer science theory.
(Note: His descriptions of array's is en pointe)
Stanford's Swift Development Course:
This isn't just for the sake of ruffling feathers! This course provides a poor feedback loop and you fail to get the mental model of the coding an application.
MY Top 3 Recommendations
1. The only book I recommend you pick up is:
IOS 9 Application Development in 24 Hours - John Ray
I was angry at myself for not finding this book sooner, because this would have saved me those moments where I wanted to chuck my Macbook like a frisbee.
He really built the book with the reader in mind. There are certain sections of the book that moves at a slow pace or it would be easier to watch a video on the section.
2. The one website that I suggest you check out is:
Raywenderlich.com
I know professional IOS developers that use his websites' tutorials to learn new skills on the fly.
3. The one skill I Recommend you learn:
How to draw out storyboards.
Basically, drawing on the screens that you want for your application on a piece of paper. This drastically accelerated my ability to learn IOS application development. I'll do a later post on how I was able to teach someone how to build an app within an hour using the principles I've learned.
Results
This entire process has been fairly wild! As a result of what I've learned people have reached out to me and asked me to storyboard applications for them.
As well as since the IOS Development has been sharpening my visual thinking abilities, I've been getting calls from people asking to start drawing out their business plans and create small applications for them to prototype ideas they've had.
As a result I've started a company out of this. Overall, this quest into IOS development has already paid dividends and its been a lot of fun an interesting experiment in learning.
UPDATE:
Looking for UI inspiration: Check out Pintrest
Citations
(1) http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4291831/
(2) http://www.pewinternet.org/2011/07/19/college-students-and-technology/
(3)http://er.educause.edu/articles/2015/6/students-mobile-learning-practices-in-higher-education-a-multiyear-study