What's the best thing one can do in these topsy turvy times of iPhone firmware 2.0 and Official SDK? Build yourself an open source tool chain to go along with your Offical Apple SDK!
The best directions for building the open source toolchain on Leopard can be found on the iphone-dev site. It can be built, and it is a load of addictive fun when you get your first app built and installed on your phone.
I also have to give two big thumbs up to Jonathan Zdziarski's book, iPhone Open Application Development. Jonathan will have your open source toolchain up and running in no time. The toolchain instructions in Jon's book are identical to the link i've provided, but his book can be amazingly helpful in clearing up many iPhone dev questions and curiosities. It contains a progressive wealth of coded examples that you can build, compile and test on your phone. A great way to get into some Objective-C coding and get a look at the iPhone lower API's in action.
There are a lot of choices out there today for accessing your iPhones potential. More and more will soon come. iPhone OS 2.0 and Pwnage Tool will likely be at the center of this controversy. I highly recommend taking a look at one of Jonathan Zdziarski's most recent essays...A little food for thought going forward?
Monday, March 31, 2008
iPhone OS 2.0 & Open Source Development
Sunday, March 9, 2008
1.1.4 Jailbreak and iPhone Development
Are you ready to develop some cool iPhone applications? Not sure? How about Two open source development books, an Offical Apple SDK and a couple of very simple jailbreaks for the 1.1.4 firmware to sweeten the offer... C'mon, there is no better time than the present.
Check out Johnathan Zdziarski's Domain for the release of his book iPhone Open Application Development and discussion of his work on the iphone open source tool chain.
iPhone superstar Erica Sadun is hard at work on her own book for iPhone development. (Her books much anticipated release date is pending at the moment.)
However, Erica is currently heading up a collective of iPhone SDK developers. The group is comprised of some of the most active minds in iPhone third party development. Thankfully, they are fighting the good fight of comparing and contrasting the open source tool chain and past application building practices against the Official Apple SDK.
Which brings me to my third suggestion, The Official Apple SDK.
The SDK was released this past Thursday and It's free to developers.
You can sign up here and grab a free copy of the iPhone Xcode tools and your all set to design and build. (Accompanying sample code, documentation and demo applications are available to help get you started on the Apple Developer website.)
Lastly, The Apple Official SDK is not likely to distribute Apps via iTunes until June or July, and the iPhone open source tool chain (Unofficial Third Party Applications) is more than likely to live on for quite some time. That being said, ZiPhone for Mac or PC and iNdependence are two great tools to serve all your 1.1.4 firmware needs.
Can you feel the power? That shiny little chrome bit bucket has spurred a revolution, not only in the way we communicate and interact with the world, but also in the way we choose to design and develop for that communication and interaction. Suh-weet!
