In the beginning...

Well, here I go attempting to do two things simultaneously; maintain a blog and build my first iPhone application in the process.

It seemed that simply embracing the idea of building an application was an epiphany. Having never studied C++ or Objective C or any other software code and never having designed a video game or application, it was a rather large leap in my mind to think "I want to build an application for the iPhone."

Mind you, at the time of this posting there are thousands of applications for iPhone and iTouch users. This idea isn't novel, but it is new for me. I'm uncertain how many people with my lack of experience embark on the process and I'm hoping my process will be of interest to others like me.

After embracing the ideas of building an application and blogging about my experience, it was time to do some serious, extensive research.

Apple provides open source software for iPhone developers. Their software development kit (SDK) provides developers with all types of documents, tutorials, and developer testimonials at their web site. http://developer.apple.com/iphone/

Initially, I found an excellent article "How to become an iPhone developer in eight easy steps" at http://www.guardian.co.uk/technology/gamesblog/2009/feb/10/gameculture-apple this gave me the leads to begin the process.

Once I was at Apple's SDK site, I quickly learned that one of the best articles to read BEFORE developing anything was the "iPhone Human Interface Guidelines".

Furthermore, I researched some of the best books on beginning the development process and I found "iPhone Application Development for Dummies" book received very high and favorable reviews. I've ordered the book and I am awaiting its arrival.

In the meantime, I am reading the copious materials on the Apple site, and searching video tutorials on the Web. One site offers a good tutorial at www.pragmaticstudio.com I will continue to search for more tutorials and update this blog with all the reference materials as I come across them.

The other research I have done is to begin to look through ALL the iPhone applications being offered in the Apple App Store in the genre relating to my application, which might fall under entertainment, lifestyle, health or education. Looking through these many apps helps me to understand what is currently out there and what apps may be similar to the one I'm creating. This research is daunting! There are thousands of applications, but knowledge is power and it's best to know what niche you are filling and what the competition is.