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iPhone Open Application Development: Write Native Objective-C Applications for the iPhonex$35.99
  (13 reviews)
Best Price: $39.99 $35.99
Certain technologies bring out everyone's hidden geek, and iPhone did the moment it was released. Even though Apple created iPhone as a closed device, tens of thousands of developers bought them with the express purpose of designing and running third-party software. In this clear and concise book, veteran hacker Jonathan Zdziarski -- one of the original hackers of the iPhone -- explains the iPhone's native environment and how you can build software for this device using its Objective-C, C, and C++ development frameworks. iPhone Open Application Development walks you through the iPhone's native development environment, offers an overview of the Objective-C language you'll use with it, and supplies background for the iPhone operating system. You also get detailed recipes and working examples for everyone's favorite iPhone features -- graphics and audio programming, interfaces for adding multitouch functionality to games, the use of hardware sensors, and the device's vast user interface kit. This book explains: How to access the iPhone's underlying operating system The makeup of an iPhone application How to get the open source tool chain running on your desktop The iPhone's core user interface framework, which is heavily tied to major application-level functions Using the many touted iPhone features such as multitouch, hardware sensors, and gestures Intercepting and handling event notifications for many iPhone-related events Raw video surfaces and 3D transformations that take you deeper into advanced graphics on the iPhone How to record and play simple sounds and intercept sound events Advanced digital audio output using Apple's new Audio Toolbox framework Advanced user interfacecomponents such as section lists, keyboards, and image manipulation The Appendix includes a compendium of miscellaneous code examples for cool application features, such as using the camera and creating a CoverFlow(R)-like album browser. This book is a true hacker's book, designed for the millions of users who have run third party applications on their iPhone, but its concepts and code examples have shown to be remarkably similar to Apple's official SDK, making this book a valuable resource for both camps. Any programmer can use this book to write applications with the same spectacular effects that made the device an immediate hit, and impress users just as much as the official iPhone software does. That programmer can easily be you.
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Customer Reviews
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Make sure you're the right audience for this book...
By A3R19YKNL641X3 on 2008-03-12
I'll be interested to see how this book plays out... iPhone Open Application Development: Write Native Objective-C Applications for the iPhone by Jonathan Zdziarski. Don't be misled thinking this covers the official SDK that Apple created. This is for those of you who don't want to be penned in by someone telling you what you can and can't do on their device. Truly targeted at the inner hacker...
Contents:
Breaking into and Setting Up the iPhone; Getting Started with Applications; Introduction to UIKit; Event Handling and Graphics Services; Advanced Graphics Programming with Core Surface and Layer Kit; Making Some Noise; Advanced UIKit Design; Miscellaneous Hacks and Recipes
Your satisfaction with this book will rely heavily on making sure you know what you're getting into. If you think this is the official approved method for writing applications for the iPhone, think again. Zdziarski goes the hacker route and shows how to program the iPhone using the Objective C language as well as a number of open source tools best known and understood by those in the Unix/Linux world. Considering the first step is to jailbreak your iPhone, you should know you're getting into stuff that could "brick" your cool toy if you're not careful. But since that doesn't stop the true hacker anyway, then you should have no problem continuing on. The book isn't a tutorial on the C language, so you really do need to know and understand that before you'll be able to follow along and venture outside the lines that Zdziarski lays down for you. But he does go into the UIKit in good detail, so you can start to grasp what graphical and audio capabilities you can control and use in your application(s).
I see this book being a great tool for the person who wants to write their own personal applications for the iPhone, and who doesn't want to live with the restrictions that Apple is placing on the use and distribution of "official" applications. If you're writing for someone other than yourself, your audience probably won't stray far from the hacker group who also was comfortable with jailbreaking their iPhone. If you're considering developing mainstream applications for the iPhone, this isn't the way you want to go. You'll want to stick with the SDK so that you are assured of a consistent and reliable release and distribution mechanism. Even so, spending time here before moving to the SDK will give you a much greater understanding of the iPhone operating system and hardware interface, which will likely come in handy when you go the SDK route.
Get Apple's free iPhone programming PDF instead...this is outdated material
By A17IW1FNE5CPC0 on 2008-03-26
The biggest problem with this book is that it addresses programming for the 1.1.4 iPhone firmware and was written prior to the official iPhone SDK being released. As a result it is already outdated with respect to many of the frameworks and APIs that aren't available in the official 1.2/2.0 firmware release and will most likely also be outdated in terms of the open toolchain, which is already changing to adapt to the SDK. So while the book has been helpful for me in getting up to speed with iPhone development pre-SDK (I have a draft PDF from O'Reilly), it is of little to no use now given the resources Apple has already made available for free at the iPhone Dev Center.
Not as Far from the SDK as People Think
By AGBT8HT6Y777U on 2008-03-14
For those people who have dabbled in both the open toolchain (open iPhone development) and will be using the official SDK, I would highly recommend this book.
The book doesn't differ as greatly from the SDK as people are reporting. I won't bore with details, but an example of what I mean: I personally ported an open sourced 'Toolchain' application over to the official iPhone Development Environment inside Xcode. Once there, it took approximately 4 hours and the changing of MAYBE 20-30 method and class names to get the app up and running inside the Aspen simulator.
With this in mind, and with the very miniscule chance that the iPhone Open Development Community is going anywhere, I would say that this book holds more relevance to the current SDK than most people believe. This book is essential for a TRUE understanding of coding on the iPhone platform, and the readers can decide for themselves whether to code using the open toolchain or the official SDK.
You need to read the forums
By A1NSJHH59U8EKD on 2008-05-08
If you are confused by the reviews here, you really need to go read the forum posts ( look for the "Customer Discussions" links below these reviews).
Personally, I wouldn't do this - too geekish for me, and if I were going to get into it, I'd go the "official route". The author made a very good point about this in the forum:
quote
It clears up a lot of confusion if you look at the Apple SDK as the "AppStore SDK", rather than a form of official SDK. The "AppStore SDK" as it is today summarizes what Apple will probably allow you to do in official AppStore applications. What you can technically do hasn't changed - it's just what Apple will "allow" you to do if you want to get on AppStore.
endquote
So if your interest is developing your own apps that you either aren't selling or at least won't be selling through the official store, this is fine. I thought it was well written, and although I can't follow it fully , it seems to lead you into the subject well.
I do harbor other feelings about this. While I think Apple is very smart in how they've opened this up while keeping it firmly under their control, I still think that Apple and the world would be better off it it were really open. In that respect, I applaud the author and hope that thousands of developers embrace this and force Apple to relinquish control.
Not what you might think it is
By A30DWCUVN9GSFV on 2008-04-12
I returned this book, since I bought it after Apple's iPhone SDK was released, I assumed that would be the topic of the book. This book is for the development of Jailbroken iPhones. I'm sure I would have learned quite a bit from reading this book, but I'm just more interested in using Apple's official SDK, since my iPhone is no longer Jailbroken and I don't plan on Jailbreaking again.
- Well-written and informative... for its time
By A2RVAEIL13G0ZE on 2008-08-04
While this book was well written and informative, it is well past its prime now. Apple's Official SDK is no longer beta, and thrid-party apps are flowing on the AppStore. While there may still be a reason to jailbreak and write completely open and un-restricted apps, this book is still stuck way in the past. The v2.0 firmware has changed so radically that the examples and teaching in this book will only hurt the would-be developer.
Wait for the new batch of books about the offical SDK coming out this fall, and in the mean-time check out a book on plain-old Objective-C instead.
- very concise and to the point!!! a must read!!!
By A1A745KEIU850N on 2008-04-23
iPhone Open Application Development is meant for hard core developers.
The writing style is very concise and to the point, not much BS. If you don't understand certain parts of the book, you can always Google.
I'm from Java background, but picking up Objective-C and trying out some samples in the book do not seem to be super difficult for me. I also got the toolchain built successfully by following the steps in the book, although there was one error in the LLVMOBJDIR setting but can you find the solution in iphone dev google group.
You don't need to wait for Apple's official SDK 2.0 release in order to build iphone applications. And the most important thing is: you can run your application on your iphone w/o bricking it (as comparing to what Apple's beta SDK will do to you). And it's totally FREE!
Highly recommend this book to any serious iPhone/iPod touch developers.
The samples in the book along can last for quite a long time.
- Unlocked iPhone Applications Only
By A1W4JL23AUF6U9 on 2008-06-06
Be warned this book is for unlocked iPhone application development only; not the official Apple iPhone SDK. If you are interested in hacking iPhones, this may be for you. But for most iPhone application developers, the material here will be of little use.
- This book is a lifesaver and a great resource
By A43WXM31BDHWL on 2008-03-30
As a programmer who creates interactive demos for visions of the future, it is very important for me to be on the bleeding edge of mobile and multimedia technologies. Such technologies include the release of Flash player 9.0.115.0 (with HD support), Flash Lite 3.0, Flash Media Server 3 (ActionScript has been key for me in its portability), and lately the iPhone open toolchain (due to the coolness factor of the iPhone).
When it comes to the Mac platform, I've only just begun getting my hands dirty. I got my first Mac a year ago and was surprised with the ease in which I was able to get started with the toolchain from the instructions in this book. The setup was extremely easy, but the most benefit of this book comes from chapter 3, which describes UIKit, the framework which handles most of the UI elements on the iPhone. This chapter was incredibly descriptive and helped me to better visualize how my app is put together.
For a programmer who needs to be able to get things done yesterday, this book really helped me earn a lot of brownie points at work. Coupled with the helpful nature of the author (who is available via IRC), I find this book an excellent resource.
- Great book, just know what you are looking for
By A2H8DJWVJSCVBL on 2008-08-05
As the other reviewers mentioned this book doesn't specifically talk about the Apple Official SDK, but ALOT of the information is the same. In fact there is no other source that you can find with such clean and simple instructions. Also, if you are planning on NOT using IB to make your UI this book is gold since that info is hard if not impossible to find.
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