The 21st century is the first time in history that you’ve been able to go to college without actually enrolling. Stanford is offering its popular iOS app development course for free in iTunes U.
The most up to date version of the course on developing for iOS 5 is available, and any iTunes customer can download class lectures and presentation slides.
From the Stanford University website:
Online learners hear the same lectures as classroom students, but do not get Stanford credit or access to instructors.
Instructor Paul Hegarty attributes the course popularity to the appeal of Apple products and the instant gratification of creating apps for mobile devices. “There’s something about developing for the iOS platform that’s really exciting and fun because it runs on devices that everybody has in their purses or pockets, ” he said.
“There aren’t a lot of courses you can take that when you get to the end, to your final project, you can take it out of your pocket and show your friends.”
The course from Stanford focuses on topics like “iCloud, streamlined notifications and wireless syncing” in its latest incarnation. The basics of iOS app development are not covered in the course, so you have to already know Objective-C if you hope to learn anything.
Stanford students that take the course have already been through a year of computer science classes and object-oriented programming. You can take Stanford’s two prerequisite courses on iTunes U as well: Programming Methodology and Programming Abstractions.
Courses are available in both HD and SD video.
These development courses from Stanford have already been viewed over 10 million times.
