Learning objective C(iPhone developlment)

frezzabelle

Hi not sure I'm in the right place. Is there any way to learn objective C without having a mac? Some form of c compiler? There may be an opportunity for me to work on iPhone apps in work but I'd want to have a good grounding first, at the moment I'm working with Java. I'm saving to buy a mac book pro but just need a way to get started first. Can anyone recommend mbp or would a mac book suffice for iOS development? I could prob stretch to a refurb next week or would I be better waiting and get a new one?
Cheers.

Atomic Pineapple

In the same position myself except I've had to actually learn objective-c in work as I haven't had the cash to buy a mac. You can use a soft box like virtual box to simulate a Mac running snow leopard and learn that way.

frezzabelle

Yeah I've been doing some looking around and the "hackintosh" solution seems to be one of the only solutions. I'm prob gonna get a c compiler from somewhere and get a basis from the language then in work I can play around with the SDK. The lock in/expense is quite annoying!

Atomic Pineapple

Its typical Apple unfortunately

Cool Mo D

You can of course learn objective-C without a mac: try GNUstep for an open source version, with an SDK based on the same foundation as OS X.

It's hardly a shock that you need a Mac to write Mac programmes (which iPhone apps basically are).

frezzabelle

Cheers I'll go for that. There a few vids on youtube about downloading a cracked version of snow leopard and installing it on a partition, sounds like a recipe for disaster TBH. Maybe I'll hit the credit union next week :-> As a matter of interest how long did it take for you to pick up x code and objective c?

Atomic Pineapple

frezzabelle wrote: »

Cheers I'll go for that. There a few vids on youtube about downloading a cracked version of snow leopard and installing it on a partition, sounds like a recipe for disaster TBH. Maybe I'll hit the credit union next week :-> As a matter of interest how long did it take for you to pick up x code and objective c?

Been at it about 3 weeks myself and have quite a significant app built so far, coming from Java one of the main things to grasp is the memory management and syntax differences. If you've had C/C++ experience I'd imagine it would be easier, I haven't.

I see a 13" Mac Book Pro is €889 on the refurb store which I guess isn't bad?

frezzabelle

I'd be coming from Java so thats good to know. I'll hold out till I see what the situation is in work before I buy one. Gonna do a few examples with the gnu sdk. A 13 inch screen would be handy for transport then plug it into a monitor at home :->

selfdiy

In my experience coming from a java background too. There is nearly as much effort in learning the IDE (xcode & interface builder) as there is to learning the objective-c language.

Your better off to have a well specced mac running snow leopard as things have to be just right if you want to be able to code sign and submit to the app store.

I've found the language itself to be fair enough, harder to understand then java but once used to it, it gets easier.

Atomic Pineapple

selfdiy wrote: »

In my experience coming from a java background too. There is nearly as much effort in learning the IDE (xcode & interface builder) as there is to learning the objective-c language.

Your better off to have a well specced mac running snow leopard as things have to be just right if you want to be able to code sign and submit to the app store.

I've found the language itself to be fair enough, harder to understand then java but once used to it, it gets easier.

I agree with this, Xcode and IB were a pain to get used to, also I started using Xcode 4 which has changed everything around from 3 so when following a tutorial I constantly find myself googling "how to do x in Xcode 4" as they are all in Xcode 3.

frezzabelle

Ok sounds good, should be able to get a bit of that experience through work. I'm using gnustep just to get used to objective c syntax etc. Gonna save for the MacBook pro(can wait to get it). Is it stupid to think of a refurb or used one(or is that a personal choice)? Or should that topic be moved to another thread?

TheReverend

You could run OSX in virtualbox

srsly78

Dev tools run like **** in virtual machine. Get a second hard disk (second partition is no good) and install macos on your pc. Alternatively, just develop for android and save yourself a lot of hassle.