rapid application development tool for iPhone?

steinbej

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Apr 13, 2009
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Hi folks,

I am a longtime Palm OS user. I even dabbled in making my own Palm OS apps but only because there were software construction kits to do the work for me. (I used PDA Toolbox, to be specific.) I don't know how to write modern code. I have the iPhone SDK, I've looked through the tutorials from Apple, I know a bit of C, but even Apple iPhone programmer's tutorial "Hello World" app is extremely code intensive from my novice point of view.

So the obvious question I have regards whether any rapid application development tools have been developed for iPhone?

I guess very skilled programmers think the iPhone SDK itself is a rapid app dev tool, but I'm afraid I don't know enough to use it.

Any suggestions for basically a non-programmer to build simple apps for iPhone? I'm a physician, and all I want to do is custom build simple info-presenting apps for small specific information needs just like I had on Palm.

Thanks!
-- Josh
 

keveridge

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I'd recommend two books if you already have some C knowledge.

First, Learn Objective-C on a Mac, followed by Beginning iPhone Development (Mark Dalrymple and Scott Knaster)

They're great books and one follows the other.

I'd post links to Amazon but apparently I have too few posts to do so :(
 

M_of_IMAK

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If you don't already have some C knowledge, I would recommend finding a local iPhone developer who can tutor you through the initial setup. I showed my brother (with no C experience) how to create a simple app in an hour. I did the same with my teenage son who developed an app for the app store. Don't despair - just dig in and look through Apple's sample apps and start from there.
 

calzone

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There is something called phonegab (phonegab .com) But they seem to have issues wirh OS 3.0, so lately lots of apps got rejected built with it.
 

steinbej

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still no progress

I've followed this thread and pursued the comments and products mentioned. None get me any closer to developing simple text-and-button oriented apps for iPhone like I built for Palm OS. I don't know anyone who programs for iPhone, either. I'm a physician, surrounded by other physicians and nurses and secretaries, all of whose expertise lies in medical care, not in programming.

Any new developments in iPhone rapid app development tools since I last posted?
-- Josh

PS No knowledge of C, my last programming was Borland Turbo Pascal in 1986 which predates graphical user interfaces and object oriented programming altogether, I'm afraid.
 
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GATTACA68

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Nov 27, 2009
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PDA Toolbox for iPhone

Hi folks,

I am a longtime Palm OS user. I even dabbled in making my own Palm OS apps but only because there were software construction kits to do the work for me. (I used PDA Toolbox, to be specific.) I don't know how to write modern code. I have the iPhone SDK, I've looked through the tutorials from Apple, I know a bit of C, but even Apple iPhone programmer's tutorial "Hello World" app is extremely code intensive from my novice point of view.

So the obvious question I have regards whether any rapid application development tools have been developed for iPhone?


-- Josh

Hi,
I also used PDA Toolbox... and I search for something like that for iPhone. :confused:The phonegap cross platform tool is cool. But javascript isn't very rapid to learn.... ;)
 

Uproarmedia

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According to Adobe, Flash CS5 will be able to create native iPhone apps. However you will need knowledge of ActionScript, but if you already have experience there, this may be an option.
 

CCJ

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three come to mind...

In addition to the exciting Flash CS5 iphone packaging utility [not exactly RAD, but Flash certainly helps with graphics and UI handling], three options come to mind:

GLBasic- A great Basic dialect that can deploy applications to many platforms including the iphone. It has GUI creation support, but unfortunately it is not (as far as I can see) a visual designer like interface builder. Given that iphone apps are so UI-dependent this is a bit of an inconvenience, but that's where the inconvenience stops. An easy yet feature-laden Basic dialect that can deploy to multiple platforms is pure gold.

Gamesalad- obviously geared towards game creation, but it is versatile enough that you could easily create a range of apps with it. This is as easy as it gets since there is absolutely no syntax to learn; code is written using drag n' drop behavior icons. It is really quite powerful, and is growing more so every day.

RevMobile- This is the only 'true' RAD utility I've found for the iphone. It is in pre-alpha at the moment with an estimated release date of November 2010. However, you can pre-order it and get access to each new pre-release version as it comes out. From what I can see it already has plenty of functionality. Unfortunately it is quite expensive...

If you are really interested in iphone app development though I would recommend looking into objective-c. Thanks to Apple's great Xcode IDE and Interface Builder utility you don't need to master the language to create good apps. In this mindset I bought two books that have proved quite useful: "iPhone for Programmers an app-driven approach" from the acclaimed Deitel series, and "Programming in Objective-C 2.0" by Stephen Kochan. The first title walks you through creating iphone apps by teaching a good bit of everything (objective-c, working in Xcode, using Interface Builder, the Cocoa framework...) and the second I use as a reference for when I need more detailed coverage of objective-c.

Hope this helped
 

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