new to objective c

carrighead

hi,

i am a complete and utter novice at computer programming, but i have 2 ideas for apps that i would really like to make. i have started to learn obj c over the last 2 weeks or so and i'm really enjoying it so far.

my questions,

i have been working on chapter 3 of Programming in Objective C by Stephen G Kochan, which is an introduction to classes and methods. tbh im finding it very hard, did anybody else find this area hard and how long did it take to get used to the @interface, @implementation sections. i'm worried that if i can't grasp this that the rest will be pointless as this seems to be the crux of obj c. i can understand the concept of methods and classes but finding it hard to translate that understanding into the actual coding (if that makes sense?)

would anybody be able to point me in the direction of some online resources that will help me along my way.

also, if i knuckle down and get past chapter 3 could i have an app completed by this time next year or is that a pipe dream??

thanks

Torakx

carrighead wrote: »

hi,

i am a complete and utter novice at computer programming, but i have 2 ideas for apps that i would really like to make. i have started to learn obj c over the last 2 weeks or so and i'm really enjoying it so far.

my questions,

i have been working on chapter 3 of Programming in Objective C by Stephen G Kochan, which is an introduction to classes and methods. tbh im finding it very hard, did anybody else find this area hard and how long did it take to get used to the @interface, @implementation sections. i'm worried that if i can't grasp this that the rest will be pointless as this seems to be the crux of obj c. i can understand the concept of methods and classes but finding it hard to translate that understanding into the actual coding (if that makes sense?)

would anybody be able to point me in the direction of some online resources that will help me along my way.

also, if i knuckle down and get past chapter 3 could i have an app completed by this time next year or is that a pipe dream??

thanks

I'm fairly new to programming myself.
I'm using C# in the Unity3d engine.
Is it just C your doing?

I found making games was a natural way for me to keep motivated while coding and there I learned as I went how to use different methods.
If you were doing C# i could probably link you to a couple of resources, but any other form of C I am not sure.
Microsoft virtual academy have some really great tutorials on lots of languages though, so well worth a look.
Everything is explained in a really basic and easy to understand way with good examples.

Mr. CooL ICE

^^ It's Objective-C, which is a different language C. Needed for OSX/iOS dev. C was from before OOP became the norm. Objective-C is basically a superset of C with OOP and less crap in it's libraries.

Regarding the OP's question; The point of classes and objects is that instead of writing one big block of code, you are writing smaller blocks of code (classes) that each do their own little thing and send messages to each other. As you are young as a programmer, that might not sound important right now. But when you have a massive library of code, having these smaller blocks of code is vital. Somebody else can probably explain that better than me.

I started with C (which doesn't have classes) in college and did one module of C++ (our introduction to object-oriented programming) with a terrible lecturer. I came away from that semester not having a clue what classes were supposed to be either, as C++ at it's core didn't really enforce proper OOP design principles. I ended up writing procedural C programs using C++ syntax and was marked down for it.

I learned Java by myself which does enforce OOP design principles. It wasn't until I was forced to adhere to proper class design that I finally 'got' it. No textbook definitions or real-world examples made sense in my head until I wrote my own code, basing it on open source code examples I found online.

I'm actually learning Objective-C at the moment and sometimes I find myself falling into the same mindset I had when I started C++. Considering you don't understand it's usefulness, that's a good thing in a way as it means you aren't taking it for granted. Sorry I can't be much help.

carrighead

thanks a million to both of you, it's slowly going into my head really surprised how much i'm liking it! never thought i would be interested in anything like this.