I wasn’t really surprised by the popularity of my post Apple Publishes Six Free Electronic Books for Developers since I’ve been telling everyone that developer topics would be popular and you delivered. That post was re-tweeted 253 times and shared on Facebook 92 times which isn’t to shabby for a short news blurb about books for iOS developers. So, the good news out of all this is that I’ll be covering more developer related topics on Cult of Mac in the future. Especially due to all the nice comments on the above post.
Therefore let’s get started by taking the six free books and adding some good books that are worth purchasing to your reading list. If you are interested in iOS development then you should not overlook these books from The Pragmatic Bookshelf.
I was immediately captivated by these books, which are offered in electronic format as well as traditional paper format. The eBook is reasonably priced and they are offered without DRM and in three formats: ePub, PDF, and Mobi. The ePub format works just great in iBooks on my iPad so I went with that although I was able to download their books in all three formats. Why is that important?
I could read these books on any iDevice, Kindle, Mac, etc. I wasn’t tied to one platform and Pragmatic is the only publisher I’ve seen so far that offers these options directly and I could download one, two, or all three of these formats if I chose to do so.
The electronic format also meant that I could re-download updated revised copies of my eBooks when they became available. Once an update is available I was sent an e-mail alerting me to its availability. I logged into my Pragmatic account, requested an updated copy of an eBook and the publishers “rodent” workers went to work crafting me a new copy for my electronic bookshelf associated with my account. Once it was finished all I had to do was download the new copy.
I’ve purchased the following titles (below) and I’ve been quite pleased with the books, their content, and the updates I received to the eBooks. I’m still getting used to reading on the iPad and all I’ll say about that is that I don’t miss the weight of all my reference books. The iPad is considerably lighter.
iPhone SDK Development
This book is available in traditional paper format for $38.95, as an eBook for $24.00, or together for $48.95 — the latter is quite a deal, but honestly who needs paper when you can have any of these books loaded onto your iPad?
Here’s what the publisher had to say about it:
Jump into application development for today’s most remarkable mobile communications platform, the Pragmatic way, with iPhoneSDK Development. This Pragmatic guide takes you through the tools and APIs, the same ones Apple uses for its applications, that you can use to create your own software for the iPhone and iPod touch. Packed with useful examples, this book will give you both the big-picture concepts and the everyday “gotcha” details that developers need to make the most of the beauty and power of the iPhone OS platform.
A full table of contents for this book is available online and worth a look.
iPad Programming
This book is available in traditional paper format for $34.95, as an eBook for $22.00, or together for $43.75.
Here’s what the publisher had to say about it:
It’s not an iPhone and it’s not a laptop: the iPad is a groundbreaking new device. You need to create true iPad apps to take advantage of all that is possible with the iPad. If you’re an experienced iPhone developer, iPad Programming will show you how to write these outstanding new apps while completely fitting your users’ expectation for this device.
A full table of contents for this book is available online and worth a look.
Core Animation for Mac OS X and the iPhone
This book is available in traditional paper format for $34.95, as an eBook for $22.00, or together for $43.75.
Here’s what the publisher had to say about it:
Have you seen Apple’s Front Row application and Cover Flow effects? Then you’ve seen Core Animation at work. It’s about making applications that give strong visual feedback through movement and morphing, rather than repainting panels. This comprehensive guide will get you up to speed quickly and take you into the depths of this new technology.
A full table of contents for this book is available online and worth a look.
Conclusion
This is a good start for building your own iOS development book library. The books coupled with the downloadable source code accompanying each book will get you well on your way to learning iOS development for the iPhone, iPod touch, and iPad.
