How to begin programming for the iPhone OS
The following is a work in progress. If there is anything that is unclear, or that I am missing; or if there is anything that I am just plain wrong about, please let me know in the comments. Thanks!
Programming for the iPhone or the iPod touch. It’s one of those topics that interest many of you out there. But for many, the topic is just too shrouded in mystery. There just isn’t a whole lot of documentation on what you will need to get started. I’m going to attempt to fill in some gaps and try to help you all understand.
What you’ll need:
- First of all, you’ll need a computer*. An Intel Macintosh computer running OS X (>10.5) is highly recommended. Using any other platform will require more work on your end.
- An iPhone OS compiler.
- For most people, this will be the actual iPhone SDK, which can be downloaded directly from Apple’s iPhone developer site.Note however, that this SDK can only be used on Intel based Macintosh computers running OS X (>10.5).
- If you are running a Linux system, you will need to build the toolchain yourself. The toolchain is a collection of tools, compilers, and linkers that will build and link iPhone applications. Jay Freeman (saurik) has written up a guide for building the toolchain for the iPhone OS 2.x environment.
- If you are on a Windows machine, you will need to first obtain and install Cygwin, which can be downloaded here: www.cygwin.com. Instructions for setting up Cygwin and a list of required binaries can found at modmyi.com/wiki
- If you are using your phone as a build platform, then you can follow WiFone’s instructions over at pimpmiphone.info
Once you have the above two set up and ready to go, you will be all set to get up and program.
Some resources you may wish to obtain:
- If you have no knowledge of Objective-C (the primary coding language for the iPhone OS), you may wish to head down to your local Barnes & Nobles to pick up a copy of any Objective-C book. Possibly Objective-C For Dummies. I have no experience with that book, so I don’t actually know how good it is.
- If you already know at least the basics of Objective-C, or just want to dive right into coding for the iPhone OS, then check out the following books.
- iPhone SDK Application Development: Building Applications for the AppStoreby Jonathan Zdziarski
- iPhone Open Application Development: Write Native Applications Using the Open Source Tool Chainby Jonathan Zdziarski
- The iPhone Developer’s Cookbook: Building Applications with the iPhone 3.0 SDKby Erica Sadun
Full disclosure, I am friends with both of the above authors.
And finally, here are some links to a simple project designed to get you familiar with working with Xcode and Interface Builder (only for the Macintosh):
Getting to Know Xcode/Interface Builder Parts I and II, part III
Comments
One Comment on How to begin programming for the iPhone OS
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James on
Mon, 10th Aug 2009 2:27 am
Thanks for this, ill have look at the resources you included and try out the projects 
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