Switching from scripting languages to Objective C and iPhone: useful libraries. For the last few months I’ve been spending much of my spare hacking time learning to code iPhone applications.
I’ve found Objective C to be a surprisingly pleasant language, and Cocoa is one of the best frameworks I’ve ever worked with. I’ve reached a point where I feel I can go fairly quickly from simple app ideas to sketching in real code. I’m a web developer at heart, and a scripting language user by preference. Coding for the iPhone doesn’t feel as fluid in text handling or HTTP access as the environments I’m used to. Fortunately I’ve been able to find some fantastic open-source libraries and wrappers that make up the difference. GTMHTTPFetcher from Google Toolbox for Mac The iPhone’s native HTTP handling is capable, but low-level and verbose. JSON framework Having got some data over HTTP from a web API, chances are that it’s available in JSON format.
Libxml2 wrappers for XPath over XML and HTML RegexKitLite for regular expressions Where would scripting be without regular expressions? There’s No App for That « Riverturn Blog and Talk Back. As has been widely reported at this point , we are very sorry to announce that Apple removed our VoiceCentral app from the App Store.
This happened suddenly, swiftly and with virtually no advance notice from Apple. Repeated emails yesterday to Apple have still been ignored at this point. We did receive a voicemail at our main office from the same Richard who called our competitor. Unfortunately it wasn’t until today that we were able to connect for our “conversation”. The word conversation really doesn’t cover it because what transpired was not informative by design and felt like theater of the absurd.
Richard: “I’m calling to let you know that VoiceCentral has been removed from the App Store because it duplicates features of the iPhone.” Now please understand some things lost in the writing of the above dialogue: First and foremost, the above is quoted just for grammatical presentation and none of it should be considered actual quotations. Where do we go from here? What can you do? PastryKit: digging into an Apple Pie. Yesterday John Gruber wrote about Apple’s PastryKit, iPhone’s JavaScript framework that’s been discovered “in the wild” on the iPhone user guide at There’s a few ways to access the page: with an actual iPhone or iTouch by browsing with an iPhone/iTouch user agent.
If you’re using Safari, enable the Developer menu in Safari>Preferences>Advanced and switching user agents by clicking on Develope>User Agent What’s all the big fuss? John was particularly interested in the responsiveness and native-like interaction of flinging through long lists, the fact the address bar is completely hidden, and the possibility of having a toolbar fixed to the top of the page. PastryKit makes all of these things possible and implements them better than anything else.
The Complete iPhone Development Toolbox. Nobody could argue that the iPhone has been a revolutionary product in the cell phone industry.
A fantastic SDK and third-party application support has enabled programmers to release thousands of apps to millions of people around the world. There are some fantastic apps available and many people are making a living from developing for the iPhone. In this “ultimate toolkit”, we’re showing you everything you need to get started; books, tutorials, software resources, screencasts, podcasts, blogs, forums, conferences, software libraries, design kits, icons, and even where to hire a developer if you decide not to go it alone!
I hope you enjoy the roundup, and feel well equipped to embark on iPhone development will a full set of resources at your disposal. Getting Started To start developing for the iPhone you will need a Mac running OSX and to register on the iPhone Developer Program with Apple. Registration is free for those just wanting to experiment with development. Apple’s Best Bits Books. jQTouch — jQuery plugin for mobile web development. Experiences Of A Newbie iPhone Developer. Noel Hartshorn (left in the picture) is a 37 year old Wales (UK) based iPhone developer, working in partnership with illustrator Dennis Harrison (on the right).
Formerly a contract technical writer, Noel became one of the many casualties of the global economic crisis. With the IT contract market in decline, and with a lot more time on his hands than anticipated, Noel decided to take the plunge into iPhone development. This is his story. (Editor’s note: the app they developed is called i-Doodz. Noel decided not to include the name of, nor the link to the app in this piece, but we add it because it deserves some credit at least) It is now 4 months and 24 days since my contract as a Senior Technical Writer with a large PC manufacturer was terminated; a result of “streamlining”, “resource rationalization” or whatever the currently favored term for “axe wielding” is.
At this point we had read a few App Store Cinderella stories, and decided to file them under “unachievable”. Updates.