I’m interested in learning Objective C for iPhone development. This is a topic which I realize has been covered to death. The qualifying difference is: I’d like to start learning beginning with the latest version (the most recent iPhone OS as of May, 2010 is ver. 3.2 and 4 beta is also out). I’d like to not have to wade through or unlearn legacy information.
Using the links I’ve found throughout related topics on Stack Overflow, I’ll read a blog post or tutorial which will say one thing, but then the comments will say, “this is different now in version xyz.” For example, I’ve found this a few times regarding memory management/garbage collection. (Edit: Johannes Rudolph corrected me below on this. It changed in Objective-C 2.0 — not in anything iPhone specific. I must have been reading info on Objective C at the time.)
I assume that Apple’s “getting started” doc.s will have the most recent info but many SO posts have said that those are not the most clear.
The Stanford iPhone course looks great, but how do I know if it still applies to the most recent versions?
Where should one start learning Objective C for iPhone development starting with version 3.2 or later without having as much exposure to legacy information?
Memory management has not changed in iPhone. There is still no garbage collection in 3.2. That’s a Mac development issue when moving from 10.4 to 10.5. I’d still recommend the Stanford course. Nothing has dramatically changed from 3.0 until 3.2 that would impact a new learner that I can think of. There were major changes from 2.0 to 3.0 in
UITableViewthat would impact a new learner, but most tutorials are post-3.0. Stanford’s definitely is. I don’t see anything in there that is going to cause you trouble learning 3.2. Stanford’s course I think is still the best resource.I also have posted the syllabus I use when teaching Mac and iPhone.