The iPhone Book How to Do the Most Important Useful and Fun Stuff with Your iPhone 2nd Edition

The iPhone Book How to Do the Most Important Useful and Fun Stuff with Your iPhone 2nd Edition

The first edition of “The iPhone Book” was chosen by Amazon’s editors as their Computer/Technology Book of the Year. This new version of the book, totally updated and expanded for the 3G iPhone, was chosen by Amazon as one of their “Top 10 Must-Have Books” in their annual list of the most “gift-worthy” books of the holiday season.

Here’s why this book has become such a hit with iPhone users around the world: it’s not a “Tell-me-all-about-it” book, which has in-depth discussions on every

iPhone SDK Application Development Building Applications for the AppStore

iPhone SDK Application Development Building Applications for the AppStore

This practical book offers the knowledge and code you need to create cutting-edge mobile applications and games for the iPhone and iPod Touch, using Apple’s iPhone SDK. iPhone SDK Application Development introduces you to this development paradigm and the Objective-C language it uses with numerous examples, and also walks you through the many SDK frameworks necessary for designing full-featured applications.

This book will help you:

• Design user interface elements with Interface Builder and the UI Kit framework
• Create application controls, such as windows and navigation bars
• Build and manage layers and transformations using Core Graphics and Quartz Core
• Mix and play sound files using AVFoundation, and record and play back digital sound streams using Audio Toolbox
• Handle network programming with the CFNetwork framework
• Use the Core Location framework to interact with the iPhone’s GPS
• Add movie players to your application

iPhone SDK Application Development will benefit experienced developers and those just starting out on the iPhone. Important development concepts are explained thoroughly, and enough advanced examples are provided to make this book a great reference once you become an expert.

User Ratings and Reviews

2 Stars Good reference but lacked a lot of usage examples
I am new to Mac/iphone development and this book didn’t cover a lot of basics. I used a few other books for basics on Objective-C/Coca programming. I tried to read the book by implementing examples but some of the examples didn’t work. I contacted the author but didn’t get any reply. Overall, I liked first six chapters and they had good examples but last six chapters were just list of APIs and their explanation. Apple has very good reference on iphone development but I was looking for a way to build complete applications using different APIs and in that regard the book failed. Finally, this book completely ignores Interface Builder that is key part of Mac development.

4 Stars iPhone SDK a must-have
This book is an essential item in the library of anyone doing iPhone development. It is quite comprehensive, including, for example, a very detailed description of how Audio Queues work. It’s emphasis on coding from scratch instead of using Interface Builder may be very instructive about the coding, but it is a little unrealistic since most applications do use Interface Builder. For that reason I recommend that you also get “Beginning iPhone Development” (Apress) which goes overboard in the opposite direction and spends lots of time with Interface Builder and has lots of examples. These two books together with the documentation that comes with the iPhone development software is all you need.

3 Stars A good, albeit spotty, introduction to the iPhone SDK
This is the first iPhone SDK book that I have actually finished so it gets stars for that. It does a decent job of showing the ‘hard way’ to create and place UI elements. You should always learn the hard way first, but it would have been useful to cover Interface Builder in a bit more depth.

Many of the chapters follow the pattern of introducing a subject, covering its methods and then providing a complete program showing how to apply the material in the chapter. Other chapters completely fail to do this, one example is the networking chapter. It skims over the subject and then gives an incomplete OSX command line example!

Overall the book is worth the time and money, but it could use some improvement.

1 Star Lots of info, but some problems with the examples
This book covers a lot of content in a small amount of pages. I’d prefer something more in depth, that also includes examples with Interface Builder.

Additionally, some of the examples have bugs where they don’t work correctly in the emulator. There are better iPhone books out there, if you’re only buying one I’d go with those.

1 Star horrible
Horrible horrible book. Rushes through the basics in a very confusing way. He uses words instead of pictures or screenshots to try to convey what you should be seeing on your screen, or looking for. XCode can get very cluttered very easily so pictures would be much more descriptive than words (a picture is worth 1000 words to be exact!). There are many typos and errors. There aren’t many iPhone books out currently, and this is near the bottom of the bunch. I own them all. This book is more like one of O’Reilly’s “Nutshell” books, maybe useful to a certain few people but not terribly comprehensive. I feel like O’Reilly just wanted to get an iPhone book out ASAP, without really focussing on usefulness or ease of reading, and not proofreading very carefully.

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iPhone in Action Introduction to Web and SDK Development

iPhone in Action Introduction to Web and SDK Development

“The entry to the world of iPhone.”

-Aiden Montgomery, Wile Ltd.

“If you’re new to iPhone development, this is your book!”

-Larry C. Whipple, Mobile Productivity, Inc.

“Get this book. It’s pure gold.”

-Martijn Dashorst, Author of Wicket in Action

“The quick & easy guide.”

-Premkumar Rajendran, HCL Technologies

“The only book on iPhone development I will ever need.”

-Rama Krishna Vavilala, Author of ASP.NET AJAX in Action

The iPhone explodes old ideas of a cell phone. Its native SDK offers a remarkable range of features including easy-to-build graphical objects, a unique navigation system, and a built-in database, all on a location-knowledgeable device. Websites and web apps can now behave like native iPhone apps, with great network integration.

iPhone in Action is an in-depth introduction to both native and web programming for the iPhone. You’ll learn how to turn your web pages into compelling iPhone web apps using WebKit, iUI, and Canvas. The authors also take you step by step into more complex Objective-C programming. They help you master the iPhone SDK including its UI and features like accelerometers, GPS, the Address Book, SQLite, and many more. Using Apple’s standard tools like Dashcode, Xcode, and Interface Builder, you’ll learn how to best use both approaches: iPhone web and SDK programming. This book is intended as an introduction to its topics. Proficiency with C, Cocoa, or Objective-C is helpful but not required.

What’s Inside

• A comprehensive tutorial for iPhone programming
• Web development, the SDK, and hybrid coding
• Over 60 web, Dashcode, and SDK examples

User Ratings and Reviews

2 Stars All about HTML Programming

Be aware that this book is strongly focused towards iPhone Web applications development. Sadly, your Web based iPhone app is not what consumers want - they want an SDK application, and those are the applications that you’ll get paid for. Note how few - if any - of the iPhone applications selling on the app store are Web based.

With over half this book an introduction to HTML, JavaScript, and AJAX, you’ll find that the section on Objective-C development is given short shrift.

This is the first “In Action” book that I would not recommend to a serious developer. This is a survey book on iPhone development, barely superior to the tutorials available online.

1 Star Be Forewarned!
If you are interested in native SDK apps for the iPhone be warned that full source code for exercises are not included in the book nor for download elsewhere.

The section 13.3 on table view controllers is incomprehensible in particular the steps outlined in Table 13.6. Having the example code would allow you to fill in the gaps but the authors choose to attempt to describe things in the text instead.

The same could be said for section 14.6.3 although there are no steps at all. It just says “as usual” you do this in Interface Builder. In a book that’s a tutorial laying out the steps in detail would be helpful.

I read the Dave Mark book “Beginning iPhone Development” and it was much better. I’m glad I read it first otherwise I probably couldn’t get anywhere with the inAction book.

Given the superficial coverage this book might be well served in conjunction with a class of some sort. The instructor could then fill in the gaps and details with slides or handouts.

4 Stars The best resource for WebKit development
I bought this book because I wanted a good discussion of both SDK and web development for the iPhone and this was the only book that gave any serious talk about web development. Although SDK development is definitely hotter right now, Web development continues to make more sense in a lot of situations, and will become even more compelling as time goes on and technology gets better. This book is a great resource because of that. A very good book to have.

5 Stars Excellent introduction!
If you have a desire to create an application for the iPhone or iPod Touch, this book is a great starting point. It covers development of both web-based applications and those built using the iPhone Software Development Kit (SDK). Very importantly, it also gives you the information you need to decide between which way you want to develop your application. Need access to dynamic data? You might be better off with a web app. Need to use the iPhone’s accelerometer or GPS? You’ll need to build your app using the SDK.

Once you have decided how you want to go, the authors provide good tutorials for getting into either method of development. I have done more web development than programming so the web portions of the book were kind of a breeze for me. Once I got into the SDK portions, I slowed down and took more time on the tutorials. With the help of this book I have got myself to the point where I understand the basics of object-oriented programming, Objective-C, and how to use the SDK and Xcode to build simple applications. I’m ready to build my own apps and explore more of what I can do.

5 Stars Fantastic broad coverage of all iPhone development topics SDK and web
iPhone in Action has very broad coverage of developing for the iPhone including native apps, web apps, and native apps that use web technologies. It introduces everything you need to know with good tutorials and examples for the most critical topics. The first third of the book covers web stuff - both how to revamp your existing website so it works great on both the desktop and iPhone, and also how to create iPhone specific web apps. Topics include design, CSS, iUI (the awesome library to make native looking web apps), graphics with webkit canvas, Dashcode, and debugging tips. The middle third of the book gets you started with native SDK development, starting with an overview of Objective-C and XCode, and then on to lots of good step by step tutorials for learning how to use Interface Builder and the different kinds of view controllers to create your GUI. The final third covers important SDK programming topics including graphics, web interaction, SQLite databases, using the address book, etc. The book is invaluable for beginners because it shows you all the possibilities of both web and SDK and it introduces all the key topics - something no other single title does (though it won’t teach you programming or much Objective-C). Experts too will want this title too for the detailed web development topics that most other iPhone dev books don’t include.

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iPhone SDK Programming Developing Mobile Applications for Apple iPhone and iPod touch

iPhone SDK Programming Developing Mobile Applications for Apple iPhone and iPod touch

With iPhone SDK Programming, developers have the expert guidance they need to begin building native applications for Apple’s new iPhone 3G as well as the iPod touch.

Professional Android Application Development Wrox Programmer to Programmer

Professional Android Application Development Wrox Programmer to Programmer

A hands-on guide to building mobile applications, Professional Android Application Development features concise and compelling examples that show you how to quickly construct real-world mobile applications for Android phones. Fully up-to-date for version 1.0 of the Android software development kit, it covers all the essential features, and explores the advanced capabilities of Android (including GPS, accelerometers, and background Services) to help you construct increasingly complex, useful, and innovative mobile applications for Android phones.

What this book includes

• An introduction to mobile development, Android, and how to get started.
• An in-depth look at Android applications and their life cycle, the application manifest, Intents, and using external resources.
• Details for creating complex and compelling user interfaces by using, extending, and creating your own layouts and Views and using Menus.
• A detailed look at data storage, retrieval, and sharing using preferences, files, databases, and Content Providers.
• Instructions for making the most of mobile portability by creating rich map-based applications as well as using location-based services and the geocoder.
• A look at the power of background Services, using threads, and a detailed look at Notifications.
• Coverage of Android’s communication abilities including SMS, the telephony APIs, network management, and a guide to using Internet resources
• Details for using Android hardware, including media recording and playback, using the camera, accelerometers, and compass sensors.
• Advanced development topics including security, IPC, advanced 2D / 3D graphics techniques, and user–hardware interaction.

Who this book is for
This book is for anyone interested in creating applications for the Android mobile phone platform. It includes information that will be valuable whether you’re an experienced mobile developer or making your first foray, via Android, into writing mobile applications. It will give the grounding and knowledge you need to write applications using the current SDK, along with the flexibility to quickly adapt to future enhancements.

User Ratings and Reviews

5 Stars Application in just 30 minutes
you heard me right, i was able to make my first app 30 minutes after i opened this book! this is not just a hello world app, its an app with some buttons and changing the text kinda thing (oh and it vibrates too!) hehe.

have fun with the book! its a good buy!

5 Stars Just to the point
It’s well written and it covers almost any aspect of Android development. A very good option for a programmer who wants to starts in modern cellular phones development. Five stars with no doubt.

4 Stars A Good Practical Introduction to Android
I found this book to be a good introduction to the Android platform for an experienced Java developer. The book does not waste any time. I dives right into coding examples that a developer can use to build some basic Android applications. I found this book to be extremely helpful to me in my understanding of how to build applications on this platform. It was a little light on theory, but given what I wanted out of this book, that was a plus for me.

My only criticism of this book would be that some of the material is not correct. The book was written while the Android SDK was in BETA, so some features covered in the book were not included in the released SDK. The book included some notes on this, but the reader should keep this in mind while reading the book.

I look forward to the next version of this book once the platform has matured a bit.

3 Stars Best android book on the market, yet
This is the best Android book on the Amazon right now. Even then, it is simply a better organized version of the SDK documentation. In fact, you learn more from reading the SDK documentation than reading this book. Most of the code are skin deep, probably an extraction from the APIDemo, with no in depth thoughts.

Would I read it? Well, if you already read the SDK doc, I didn’t feel like I learned anything. Even with such harsh judgement, this book is still better than the rest.

Someone please write a decent Android book please!!!!

3 Stars O.k., but has some gaps
It seems the book was written before the first release of Android was actually finished - it contains numerous references to nonexistent/changed Java entities (although the author does identify and point these out).

I would recommend this book for the absolute beginner, but for more experienced Java programmers you can probably get even better information freely by searching Android online forums and by also looking through Google’s Android code samples on the Android project homepage.

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