Preface

I’m incredibly excited to have finally completed this book. I want to see more people learning to program, but some are intimidated by the enormous world of programming and have trouble finding a good place to start. I hope this book will help.

I didn’t major in Computer Science in college, so I probably started my computer career somewhere close to where you are now. I got my first iPhone when they came out in 2007, and I was enamored. I wanted to create my own apps, so I found a local class that taught iOS programming, and away I went. I’ve been programming on the iPhone in some fashion ever since.

One of the things you’ll notice after you begin programming is that your friends will frequently mention that they have a great idea for an app. Then they’ll ask if you can create it for them, and they’ll promise you a share of what they’re sure will be huge profits. I’ve received so many of these requests that my general response includes telling people they should learn to create the app themselves. They usually follow up with a comment or two about not knowing where to start, not being smart enough, their brain not working like that, or programming being too hard. I constantly deny these things—writing an app isn’t rocket science, and I think everyone can do it, given the time and the tools.