Skip to Content
Learning iPhone Programming
book

Learning iPhone Programming

by Alasdair Allan
March 2010
Beginner
374 pages
10h 57m
English
O'Reilly Media, Inc.
Content preview from Learning iPhone Programming

Chapter 1. Why Go Native?

When the iPhone was introduced, there was no native SDK. Apple claimed that one wasn’t needed and that applications for the device should be built as web applications using JavaScript, CSS, and HTML. This didn’t go down well with the developer community; they wanted direct access to the hardware and integration with Apple’s own applications.

Only a few months after the iPhone’s release, the open source community had accomplished something that many thought impossible. Despite Apple locking the device down, developers had gained access, reverse-engineered the SDK, and gone on to build a free open source tool chain that allowed them to build native applications for the device. At one point, it was estimated that more than one-third of the iPhones on the market had been “jail broken” by their users, allowing them to run these unsanctioned third-party applications.

This open source development effort is ongoing today, and if you want to know more, I recommend iPhone Open Application Development, Second Edition by Jonathan Zdziarski (O’Reilly). However, the book you hold in your hands isn’t about the open source “hacker” SDK, because in March 2008 Apple publicly changed its mind and released the first version of the native SDK to a waiting developer community. Whether this release was in response to this effort, or perhaps because it was (the notoriously secretive) Apple’s plan all along, we’ll probably never know.

The Pros and Cons

When the native SDK was introduced, ...

Become an O’Reilly member and get unlimited access to this title plus top books and audiobooks from O’Reilly and nearly 200 top publishers, thousands of courses curated by job role, 150+ live events each month,
and much more.

Read now

Unlock full access

More than 5,000 organizations count on O’Reilly

AirBnbBlueOriginElectronic ArtsHomeDepotNasdaqRakutenTata Consultancy Services

QuotationMarkO’Reilly covers everything we've got, with content to help us build a world-class technology community, upgrade the capabilities and competencies of our teams, and improve overall team performance as well as their engagement.
Julian F.
Head of Cybersecurity
QuotationMarkI wanted to learn C and C++, but it didn't click for me until I picked up an O'Reilly book. When I went on the O’Reilly platform, I was astonished to find all the books there, plus live events and sandboxes so you could play around with the technology.
Addison B.
Field Engineer
QuotationMarkI’ve been on the O’Reilly platform for more than eight years. I use a couple of learning platforms, but I'm on O'Reilly more than anybody else. When you're there, you start learning. I'm never disappointed.
Amir M.
Data Platform Tech Lead
QuotationMarkI'm always learning. So when I got on to O'Reilly, I was like a kid in a candy store. There are playlists. There are answers. There's on-demand training. It's worth its weight in gold, in terms of what it allows me to do.
Mark W.
Embedded Software Engineer

You might also like

iPhone Open Application Development, 2nd Edition

iPhone Open Application Development, 2nd Edition

Jonathan Zdziarski

Publisher Resources

ISBN: 9781449380052Errata Page