[drum]

Started with Stanford classes - did the first/ second lecture probably 10 times. Then went to the Big Nerd Ranch iOS programming book. Built a few throwaway apps based off code from both. The pinnacle was building an app far betond my skill level with a senior programmer. If you can find a mentor who's willing to code with you, ask them to build something. You'll learn much faster.

[infogaufire]

Awesome. Just to make this more useful for me & other readers who have been doing web developing with php/python/ruby etc, what will be your advice regarding how to get started with iOS development to build our first working app?

[drum]

Big Nerd Ranch Guide: iOS Programming -- This book was well worth the investment. Go through the chapters and do the exercises. After you start to feel somewhat comfortable, try testing your creativity by taking some of the code you've written and making something unique.

Example: The book teaches you how to make a quiz app where you store questions and answers in two arrays and use two buttons to display each.

My variation on this was an app that helped me measure how much water I was drinking each day. I had an increment and a decrement button. The goal was to get to 8 glasses. Each time I got closer to the goal a motivational message popped up.

This enabled me to use some of the code I was familiar with, but also change it slightly enough to where I could venture into new territory. -- To me this is the best way to get your first apps going.

[infogaufire]

Great. Thanks alot, this is very useful.