Mobile application development courses

Ader1

I'm interested in following some kind of course to learn Mobile application development skills. I don't have a back-ground in computing. In fact, by back-ground is in the arts. Are there any courses out there which people on here have followed and which would teach one about this area of IT development? Or, maybe it's not advisable for somebody like me who doesn't have an IT/Maths/Scientific background? All opinions welcomed and I look forward to your replies.

Cycrow

what is it you actually want to do ?
generally for mobile apps development, you will need to learn how to do programming.

without any development experience it'll be difficult to jump straight into it.

Have you thought about doing it at home and learning by yourself ?
at least to get a idea if its something you will actually want to do.

do you have a platform in mind that you want to develop on ?

DKLS

Before you spend any money, I would highly recommend taking the tablet and smartphone development courses from Stanford University Courses on iTunes U which are free.

The world of learning has opened up in the past few years and its never been easier to find free and paid for learning content online.

I recently learnt how to use Sony Vegas Video editing software from a 14yr old kid who has a load of tutorial videos on youtube.

Edit: Your artistic background may be useful as the last time I had an app built, the coder was great at the coding but atrocious at the UX and the design.

andrewjf

Ader1 wrote: »

I'm interested in following some kind of course to learn Mobile application development skills. I don't have a back-ground in computing. In fact, by back-ground is in the arts. Are there any courses out there which people on here have followed and which would teach one about this area of IT development? Or, maybe it's not advisable for somebody like me who doesn't have an IT/Maths/Scientific background? All opinions welcomed and I look forward to your replies.

What platform are you wanting to develop for? There's a wealth of information available to educate yourself, both for IOS and Android. This includes books and online resources.

If you don't have a programming background, then it isn't something you can just start doing. There's an immense amount of knowledge you will have to build up before you can be productive.

If you want to put any apps in the App Store, you must become a registered developer with Apple. This costs money, however the development tools (XCode etc) are free, and they are excellent.

andrewjf

DKLS wrote: »

Edit: Your artistic background may be useful as the last time I had an app built, the coder was great at the coding but atrocious at the UX and the design.

That's what held me back. Absolutely no artistic talent. Plus coming up with an idea for a killer app in the first place

Cycrow

andrewjf wrote: »

That's what held me back. Absolutely no artistic talent. Plus coming up with an idea for a killer app in the first place

thats my problem too.
i can code pretty much anything, but i suck at art :P

luckily i do app development for a company and have someone else to do the art work thats needed

Ader1

Thank you all for your helpful replies.

Cycrow wrote: »

what is it you actually want to do ?
generally for mobile apps development, you will need to learn how to do programming.

without any development experience it'll be difficult to jump straight into it.

Have you thought about doing it at home and learning by yourself ?
at least to get a idea if its something you will actually want to do.

do you have a platform in mind that you want to develop on ?

Which programming language would you advise me to start off on? I was thinking of a course because in that way you are forced to discipline yourself to keep up with the tasks being given. Any advice on some good books for somebody learning almost from scratch? I thought of doing one of those MSc Conversion to Computing courses in the past but I didn't which is a shame. I wouldn't be able to spend that much time at Uni again I don't think.

andrewjf

Ader1 wrote: »

Which programming language would you advise me to start off on?

Java and/or Objective C. Here's your starter for 10 -

http://mobile.tutsplus.com/tutorials/android/java-tutorial/.

Savvy_Sue

You might also want to hook into the independent game developer scene: I know it's not the same thing, but the geeky ones with no artistic skills are often keen to collaborate, and vice versa. According to DS1, anyone can write a game, and you get better by writing more games. I haven't taken him up on this challenge!

Cycrow

Ader1 wrote: »

Thank you all for your helpful replies.



Which programming language would you advise me to start off on? I was thinking of a course because in that way you are forced to discipline yourself to keep up with the tasks being given. Any advice on some good books for somebody learning almost from scratch? I thought of doing one of those MSc Conversion to Computing courses in the past but I didn't which is a shame. I wouldn't be able to spend that much time at Uni again I don't think.

It depends what platform you want to develop for as the language uses is different for each one.

for iOS/Apple, you want to learn Objective-C
for andoird, you want to learn Java

I dont generally use books and just teach myself, but for iOS, i have used a pretty good book before, called Programming Objective-C by Stephen G Kochan, make sure is the latest edition so it'll include iOS 5/6

Also, if you plan to go down the apple route, then u'll need to at least have a Mac as u'll need to use Xcode.
for android, any pc will do, also having an android device to test the app on will be useful, as the emulator is terrible.
The iOS emulator is pretty good thou, so you can use that instead of needing an iPhone

Cycrow

Savvy_Sue wrote: »

You might also want to hook into the independent game developer scene: I know it's not the same thing, but the geeky ones with no artistic skills are often keen to collaborate, and vice versa. According to DS1, anyone can write a game, and you get better by writing more games. I haven't taken him up on this challenge!

i wouldn't say that is true.
Creating games is alot more complex and difficult than creating basic apps