How do I develop mobile apps using Objective C

[tech291083]

Dear Friends,

I have taught myself some basic programming (C, C++) as a hobby. But I often hear these days that people (professionals and hobbyists) develop mobile applications, games etc. for iPhone and other popular hand-held devices on their own. I am also interested in developing a small app or two for own mobile. I need to know the following, please guide me.

1. Am I right in selecting Objective C as my way of developing games and apps for my own mobile? Is Objective C the best choice?

2. Which are the best books for learning Objective C language?

3. Are there any good sites that offer Objective C tutorials?

4. Is there a free IDE/development tool for developing apps for my mobile in Objective C? I will be using my Linux machine only with either Ubuntu or Fedora, no Windows, so the IDE has to be Linux compatible.

5. Once I have develop something using an IDE on my Linux (Ubuntu/Fedora) pc, how do I transfer the same to my mobile or other hand-held device?

6. What is the best way to start? Send me your suggestions.

Thanks.

[mevun]

Objective C is the best choice for writing "native" iOS apps, which are apps for the iPhone or iPad devices.

The best development IDE tool for iOS come from Apple and run on Macintosh computers. It is called XCode and it does NOT work on linux.

If you want to develop non-native apps (i.e. not compiled), then you may develop Javascript/HTML5 apps. You can use a tool like Phonegap which will produce mobile app that can work with iOS or Android and maybe a few other mobile operating systems.

Of course, if you choose to develop for Android mobile, then you can use Eclipse as your IDE and run it on linux.

[tech291083]

The best development IDE tool for iOS come from Apple and run on Macintosh computers. It is called XCode and it does NOT work on linux.

You can use a tool like Phonegap which will produce mobile app that can work with iOS or Android and maybe a few other mobile operating systems.


Thanks a lot for the reply. I am a bit disappointed to know that XCode does not work with Linux. I have read a bit about it on the net.

But then you have suggested PhoneGap, which looks interesting as I just saw a couple of PhoneGap tutorials on YouTube.

I have heard of another tool called GnuStep, which is free and open source. But I am not sure if it can be used to develop Objective C apps.

Thanks.

[schauerlich]

Thanks a lot for the reply. I am a bit disappointed to know that XCode does not work with Linux. I have read a bit about it on the net.

But then you have suggested PhoneGap, which looks interesting as I just saw a couple of PhoneGap tutorials on YouTube.

I have heard of another tool called GnuStep, which is free and open source. But I am not sure if it can be used to develop Objective C apps.

Thanks.

GNUStep can't even run OS X apps properly. I don't imagine an iOS port (if it exists) is anywhere near usable.

The simple fact is, if you want to develop for OS X or iOS, you need to own a Mac. It's just not practical to do otherwise. And, besides, do you really want your users to use something that you have never even tested on the target platform?

If you want to develop mobile apps on Linux, then you should do Android. The Android SDK is free and available for Linux, and you have a large market to target with it.

[tech291083]

Hi,
Please suggest me an IDE that meets the following criteria.
1. As far as I understand Xcode IDE is specifically for the OS used by specific Apple devices namely iOS, Mac OS and it is not free. I do not own any of the Apple devices now (iPhone, iPad, iPod) as of now so I am not looking at developing an app that is to be used purely with an Apple device. Right now I want to write apps that can work on mobile phones that use any of the following OS.

Android
Bada
BlackBerry OS
Symbian
webOs
Windows Phone
Tizen

2. I assume that most of the famous mobile/smartphone brands now use the Android OS to an extent apart from their own mobile OS namely Bada/Samsung, Symbian/Nokia . Am I correct here? so if I develop an app using an IDE, which is free and opensource will I be able to use it on most of the brands that use the Android OS?

3. I want to use an IDE, which is free, open-source and works on Fedora 16 and Ubuntu 12.04 without any problems. I often dual boot with Fedora and Ubuntu so I am only interested in using an IDE that works on both Fedora and Ubuntu. I am not worried about Windows here.

4. I have done some search on the net and come across two full-fledged IDEs namely PhoneGap and GnuStep, but I am still not sure as to which one I should use that strictly meets the above 3 criteria.

Thanks.

[tech291083]

The simple fact is, if you want to develop for OS X or iOS, you need to own a Mac. It's just not practical to do otherwise.


Ok, I got it.



If you want to develop mobile apps on Linux, then you should do Android. The Android SDK is free and available for Linux, and you have a large market to target with it.

How do I download and install the Android SDK on both of my Linux machines, one using Fedora and other using Ubuntu?

Thanks.

[PaulM1985]

How do I download and install the Android SDK on both of my Linux machines, one using Fedora and other using Ubuntu?

Go to this link and follow the instructions.

http://developer.android.com/sdk/index.html

Paul

[nikonian]

1/ Buy a Mac

2/ Sign up to ADC

3/ Download & install Xcode

4/ Begin!

:)