Course Textbooks and Recommended Readings
EDUC 439/639: iPad App Design & Development
All of the learning resources in this course are available online. Most of them are free but some require that you register as an Apple Developer in order to access them.
iOS Technology Overview
Once you are logged on to the iOS Development Center, you can follow this link to the iOS Technology Overview. It provides a high-level overview of the iOS Software Development Kit (SDK), the layers it comprises, and the tools you use to create apps.
iOS Human Interface Guidelines
The iPad has a beautifully constructed user interface. To use it effectively, however, you need to understand the iOS Human Interface Guidelines. Along the way, studying these guidelines will teach you a lot about user interface design.
Developing for the App Store
Follow this link to Developing for the App Store to learn process of developing apps, provisioning devices for testing, and submitting apps to the App Store. Until you provision your iPad, you cannot use it for testing your apps. You can, however, test your apps using the iPad Simulator, which is part of Xcode.
The Objective-C Programming Language
The programming language in which you develop apps is called Objective-C. This is where you see the true genius of Steve Jobs, who took the object-oriented Smalltalk language and developed into Objective-C. To learn about object-oriented programming, follow this link to The Objective-C Programming Language.
Concepts in Objective-C Programming
Objective-C is an elegant object-oriented environment upon which the Cocoa Touch frameworks are constructed. Understanding the concepts of classes, delegates, data sources, and view controllers provides insight into the core designs of these frameworks. Follow this link to study these Concepts in Objective-C programming.
iOS App Programming Guide
The starting point for creating iOS apps is the iOS App Programming Guide. It covers app design basics, core app objects, iCloud storage, and advanced app tricks.
App Store Review Guidelines
If you plan to publish your app in Apple's app store, know that it must adhere to these App Store Review Guidelines. If your app violates these guidelines, Apple will reject your app.
Safari Books Online
You can get a free 30-day trial subscription to Safari Books Online, which contains more than 5,000 books in O'Reilly's technical library. There are several books dealing with iPad and iOS development. When you read these books online, they are full-text searchable, and you can copy-and-paste code samples for use in your apps. Useful titles include:
- Lee, Wei-Meng. 2012. Beginning iOS 5 Application Development. Wrox.
- Ray, John. 2011. Sams Teach Yourself iOS 5 Application Development in 24 Hours. 3rd Edition. Sams.
- Brannan, James and Ward, Blake. 2011. iOS SDK Programming: A Beginner's Guide. New York: McGraw-Hill.
- Sadun, Erica. 2011. The iOS 5 Developer's Cookbook: Core Concepts and Essential Recipes for iOS Developers. 3rd Edition. New York: Addison-Wesley Professional.
- Newberg, Matt. 2012. Programming iOS 5, Second Edition. O'Reilly Media, Inc.
- Alessi, Patrick. 2011. Beginning iOS Game Development. Wrox.
- Hillegass, Aaron. 2011. Objective-C Programming: The Big Nerd Ranch Guide. New York: Addison-Wesley Professional.
- Conway, Joe and Hillegass, Aaron. 2011. iOS Programming: The Big Nerd Ranch Guide. 3rd Edition. Indianapolis: Big Nerd Ranch Guides.
Computer Accounts
Every University of Delaware student automatically receives an e-mail account. You should visit www.udel.edu/network to manage your password, username, and quotas. Especially if you do not read your udel.edu e-mail regularly, be sure to visit www.udel.edu/network and follow the link to forward your udel.edu mail to the e-mail address you read every day. Note: The learning management system used in this course requires that you log on with your udel.edu email address as your login name.
Computer Sites
All students registered in this class have the option of using the multimedia PCs and Macs in the campus computing sites. Use www.it.udel.edu/computingsites to link to the general access site schedule. Please note that the use of the campus computing sites is totally optional in this course. If you have your own computer and Internet connection, you may never need to use the campus computing sites.
E-mail Addresses
Every student in this class must have an e-mail address on the Internet and read e-mail regularly. If you're enrolled in a University of Delaware course, and you do not have an e-mail account yet, go to the help center and follow the e-mail link for detailed instructions on how to activate your e-mail account. If you do not read your UD mail regularly, you should go to www.udel.edu/network and follow the instructions to forward your e-mail to your preferred e-mail address.
