Programming newbies make apps for iPhone

http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?file=/c/a/2009/04/20/MN2O173593.DTL

by gibsonf1 • 17 years ago

37 28 17 years ago

k0n2ad3• 17 years ago

On one hand I'm happy that people are more enthusiastic about programming. On the other, I'm angry that I never jumped on this bandwagon - what a great way to make some income. Then again, I would probably have to own an iPhone first :)

mshafrir• 17 years ago

or an iPod touch...

r7000• 17 years ago

Don't worry. There will be another bandwagon along soon enough.

k0n2ad3• 17 years ago

True, but how do you find out about it in time to take advantage of the opportunity before it becomes too popular?

wmeredith• 17 years ago

I'm willing to wager there's a few pulling out right now...

CodeMage• 17 years ago

Deja vu. It reminds me of Visual Basic and Access, but with a bigger market. Back then, there was this same idea that "anyone can be a programmer", but the pool of interested amateurs was smaller and it was a bit harder to reach the market.

Nevertheless, I think it's essentially the same phenomenon all over again. Sooner or later, people will run out of fresh, attractive ideas that can be done easily, without becoming a decent programmer.

On the whole, I think we'll see some good stuff and lots of mediocre stuff; we might see more people becoming interested in programming. But ultimately, I believe we're looking at something ephemeral.

jimbokun• 17 years ago

"Sooner or later, people will run out of fresh, attractive ideas that can be done easily, without becoming a decent programmer."

And some people, who never would have considered programming had it not been for iPhone, will turn out to be damn good programmers that continue learning and making good, useful software long after the iPhone glow has faded.

neilo• 17 years ago

Great comment; your positive spin made me smile :)

gcheong2• 17 years ago

"But ultimately, I believe we're looking at something ephemeral."

Or maybe the iphone becomes the PC of the mobile market.

ericb• 17 years ago

Or maybe it just becomes the PC.

briansmith• 17 years ago

It is harder to be a programmer now than in the old days because now you have to be an artist. 20 years ago every app looks horrible and so your horrible-looking app blended right in. Today, the designer that can barely code has a serious advantage over the programmer that can't design. It's a lot easier to learn how to program than it is to learn how to design beautiful things. With open source we can all copy each other's code but everybody will hate you if you copy another person's design.

Nowhere is this more evident than Android vs the iPhone. Android's design philosophy is all about utilitarianism. Accordingly, the G1 and most Android apps are incredibly ugly. If you install an ugly app on your G1 then nothing really changes. The iPhone is about design first, utility second. If you install an ugly app on your iPhone you've made it worse than it was without the app. Now, look at who is making money: iPhone developers creating eye candy, not Android developers building unique useful apps.

TJensen• 17 years ago

I disagree that the iPhone is about design first, utility second. I think it is more the case that the iPhone has been well designed for utility. I think part of its success is that its design is amazingly utilitarian. You can really use it.

I agree that, right now, silly eye-candy is winning in the app store. I think that is a function of the immaturity of the entire market. However, one thing that will come as a result when it finally changes, is that the useful apps will, much like the iPhone itself, have useful design that enhances the utility.

scott_s2• 17 years ago

Your argument only holds if you equate "programmer" with "single developer who wants to ship an entire application."

elai• 17 years ago

Apple has made it signficantly easy for a programmer to throw together something nice w/ the default GUI widget set. It might limit him from the game segment, but there is still lots to do.

DLWormwood• 17 years ago

It kind of reminds me of how HyperCard was first touted with the Mac. If only that system was network aware, things may have turned out different for the platform...

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/HyperCard http://www.wired.com/gadgets/mac/commentary/cultofmac/2002/0...

marcusbooster• 17 years ago

Don't worry, programming is still hard. And once these "idea people" take a look at Objective-C you can probably up your rate on everything.

m104• 17 years ago

Can't wait to tell my grandkids (in 40 years) about the iPhone app gold rush "back in aught nine."

snowbird122• 17 years ago

iPhone programming may or may not be a fad, but mobile programming is here to stay. Apple has proven that there is a market.

peregrine• 17 years ago

Whoever said there wasn't? And if they did say that should you take them seriously?

scott_s2• 17 years ago

There's a difference between saying "There is no market", "There's an untapped market" and "There's a market and we have numbers to prove it."

jacoblyles• 17 years ago

This isn't exactly the best place to ask this question, but I got frustrated trying to google for the answer: do you need a mac to program for the iPhone? Apple.com only offers the SDK in a .dmg file.

braindead_in2• 17 years ago

As far as I know, yes. Few reasons, XCode is not available for any other platform other than Mac. You'll still be able to write code without XCode but wont be able to test it in a real environment.

Programming newbies make apps for iPhone

Related Stories