4 Responses to “The iPhone Developer’s Cookbook: Building Applications with the iPhone 3.0 SDK”

1. Richard Smiley says:

   February 2, 2010 at 10:04 am

   [Note: This is a preliminary review, based on my early experience with this book. "Better early than never."]

   This second edition of The iPhone Developer’s Cookbook: Building Applications with the iPhone SDK is a major rewrite of the first edition. It is more than twice the size of the first edition, and even the original material has been extensively revised.

   It may well be a better introduction to the subject than the first edition was. But it is intended mostly as a reference book. While many of the other available books may be useful as references, they are intended mainly as tutorials. My brief experience with this book indicates it is a better reference than they are.

   I will give one example: In preparation for the rumored Apple tablet / iSlate, or whatever, I would like to know about how to determine the size of the screen on the device the application is running on. I looked up “screen” in this and six other books (Beginning iPhone 3 Development: Exploring the iPhone SDK, More iPhone 3 Development: Tackling iPhone SDK 3 (Beginning), iPhone SDK Development (The Pragmatic Programmers), iPhone Application Development For Dummies (For Dummies (Computer/Tech)), iPhone SDK 3 Programming: Advanced Mobile Development for Apple iPhone and iPod touch (Wiley), and Head First iPhone Development: A Learner’s Guide to Creating Objective-C Applications for the iPhone), using each book’s index.

   While most of the other books mentioned that the screen was 320×480 pixels, and some of the others discussed implications of designing an application for a device with a small screen (albeit larger than most cell phones), *none* of the others gave any help toward finding out the screen size of the current device. Sadun’s book (second edition) explicitly mentions that upcoming hardware may have differently-sized screens, and the index points to a section which gives highlights of the UIScreen class – including a paragraph on how to find out the screen size.

   The other obvious place to get detailed information like this is Apple’s documentation. A search for “screen size” at Apple’s iPhone developer web site returns many results, but unfortunately, the first page or two of results are not helpful.

   Happily, a search in Xcode’s documentation window *is* helpful. I searched for “screen size”, and the third hit was the class reference for UIScreen, which gave essentially the same information as Sadun’s book. But I like the way it’s presented in the book.

   Note: The book was apparently finished before the September 2009 introduction of new iPod touches and iPhone OS 3.1. But from the programmer’s standpoint, the newer OS introduced mainly some relatively minor changes in audio and 3D graphics, and the new iPod touches introduced nothing new (except a larger maximum memory size).

   (Sadun has apparently addressed some or all of the criticisms of the first edition. However, I have not yet examined the book thoroughly enough to determine whether she has completely banished the use of methods (etc.) which Apple would not approve of, and I am not experienced enough to judge the quality of her code. My rating of the book might therefore go up or down one star (probably not more than that) when I am more familiar with it.)
   Rating: 4 / 5

   [Reply]
2. David Ambrosius says:

   February 2, 2010 at 12:28 pm

   I purchased an iPhone when they first came out. I have loved it so much I have yet to upgrade to a newer version, especially in Scottsdale, where connectivity is plentiful. I have wanted to develop an application for myself to manage my various web tools and this book has helped launch a new product line within our company. While this book is pure gold for seasoned developers, it is also easy to read for those of us who may not have written a line of code since the mid 80’s. And pairing this book up with a Apple Mac mini MC238LL/A Desktop has me thinking Apple’s iSlate will likely be my next portable computer.
   Rating: 5 / 5

   [Reply]
3. CodeFree says:

   February 2, 2010 at 1:55 pm

   I first LOVED the first edition of this book. I like how she dealt with all sorts of interesting and off the road stuff. At first I was disappointed with this book because it did not have the hackery of the first edition but when I finished it , the book was so well written and had such interesting topics that it is my favorite iPhone book. I have read and re-read it several times. Also , Erica is the rare bird that actually checks and rechecks her work. The examples and writing should be the gold standard all computer books should be written too.
   Rating: 5 / 5

   [Reply]
4. Jeffery Jones says:

   February 2, 2010 at 4:44 pm

   Being a new iPhone developer, I had begun my study of the craft with the help of a couple Objective-C books and the experience of developing and publishing a small and simple app. I was ready to take on some bigger ideas and needed some help with discovering the best practices for the common things app developers seek to do. I made the mistake of trying to find a couple good beginner books to get a leg up. What I found was that there are dozens of somewhat remedial iPhone development resources that all offer good information that only take you just beyond “Hello World”. I really wanted something meatier that was still accessible to a newer developer. I found that in this book.

   Though I’ve only had for a couple days, I’m already thrilled with how chock full of practical and usable recipes are here. I love the author’s tendency towards programmatic solutions as opposed to using IB and templates. I’m looking forward to dog-earing pages and using the heck out of this. I wish I had an electronic copy as well.
   Rating: 5 / 5

   [Reply]

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