The Angry Nerd: Part 1 – iPhone Application Development Quickstart

At Thoughtcorp, consultants sometimes wear different hats—typically based on our experience on different projects. If you’ve been following our corporate blog, you may remember that my last blog was related to Business Intelligence. I thought it appropriate at the time given Thoughtcorp’s roots in the BI Space, and also given my knowledge and experience on that topic.

But now its time to don another hat: iPhone Application Development.

So here we go, I’ll give you my take on writing your first iPhone application.  This first part will show you how to get started in the most basic way. We’ll create a project that will be used in subsequent blogs where we will add additional functionality and features. I call this “The Angry Nerd”. You’ll find out why later on.

So, lets just get right into it.

1.     You need a Mac.

Unless you’ve had success with the OSX86 Project on an Intel-based PC, your best bet is to get a Mac. If you have a Mac, you’re off to a good start. However if you don’t currently have a Mac or don’t have access to one, I recommend a Macbook if you don’t want to spend too much—Apple products are typically more expensive than PC’s but they’re worth it. You can get one here:

http://www.apple.com/macbook/

2.     You need XCode.

Ensure that you have XCode installed. It is bundled with your OS X DVD’s. Just launch the install from the DVD and install the latest iOS SDK. Also make sure to get the latest software updates for it.

3.     Launch XCode.

If you have the XCode icon docked on your Mac Desktop like I do, just click it to launch it. If its not on your dock, use the Mac’s Spotlight search function on the top right of the OS Menu bar and search for it. Then click it to launch it.

 

 

If it’s your first time running XCode, you will see the welcome screen. We’ll ignore it.

 

Click the File menu, then New, then New Project.

Notice that View-based Application is currently selected. We’ll just use that one to get started.

Click Next.

 

 

4.     Create the Project.

Type a Product Name (in this case AngryNerd) and Company Identifier (Thoughtcorp). Ensure that Device Family is set to iPhone.

Click Next.

 

  

5.     Save your project.

Select a folder somewhere on your Mac. Notice that I’ve created a folder “BlogProjects”.

Click Create.

 

 

6.     Project Overview and Orientation.

Next you will see your main project window.

On the left are your project files. If you look closely on the left side you’ll see a row of black-stylized icons. Those are different ways to view your project, or views. The first of these views is a black folder. The black folder shows your project viewed as files and folders. Currently the Project File is selected. The right side shows more detail about the project file.

Click on AngryNerdAppDelegate.h.

You should see something similar to the following:

This is the header file for the Application Delegate. In the world of Mac and iOS development, header files contain declarations for your classes and functions.

Click on AngryNerdAppDelegate.m

You should see something similar to the following:

This is your implementation file. It contains definitions of your classes and functions, i.e. code that dictates what the file actually does.

7.     Launch the project in the simulator

On the Project Main Window, you’ll see a “Play” button (Round button with a triangle pointing to the right).

Click Play.

The project compiles and builds the product and then it is launched in the iPhone Simulator. Its pretty boring right? In Part 2 we’ll discuss doing something fun with this project.