design over matter

Overall, I found the conference "just right". As a web developer with zero Mac/iPhone/Cocoa experience, it can be intimidating attending conferences with seasoned programmers talking way over your head and sessions geared exclusively to advanced topics. 360 iDev had a good mix of intermediate and beginner sessions. Most interesting were the cross-over sessions. IPhone development for Flash developers put objective C in terms a web developer could better grasp.

Pre-conference Workshop

Two sessions where offered on Sunday as a primer on iPhone development. PhoneGap training focused on using the PhoneGap framework to build applications using web technologies. I did not attend this session, but it sounds like an interesting technology.. The other session focused on the iPhone SDK and Apple developer tools. The first three hours covered iPhone SDK basics including how you submit to the App Store. Most surprising was all the ways you can trip up during the build and submission process. For example, you iPhone application can be rejected because your icon isn't the correct size or format. Joe Pezzillo did 3 Hello Worlds in the second half of the day. In Joe's session we got our hands dirty using XCode and Interface Builder to create Hello World Apps using the UIView, UINavigation and UIWebView. Perfect for us newbies.

Some sessions I attended.

iPhone vs Android
Julio Barros lead an interesting discussion and drew upon the audience for opinions on how Android fits into the smart phone landscape. Julio pointed out Android's strengths (Open Source, no app approval process, ability of apps to run in the background) and some weaknesses (potential lack of focus, complaints about the android app store and google's long term commmitment to Android). He summed up his views on Android's future as the OS for a Kindle / Tablet type device or vertical market devices that demand an open OS that developers can control.

From Flash to iPhone
Emanuele Cipolloni presented on how a flash developer would move into the objective C world. His examples were very simple yet powerful. How to draw a rectangle in Actionscript and add it to the stage, make it draggable, etc. Each example was compared with how you would code it in XCode. Emanuele then transitioned to a tool his company Barefoot software has developed. It translates Actionscript code into C code. Unfortunately, the software is not available. The audience was a bit disappointed and left unsure why Emanuele showed off a tool that we can't aquire.

Prototyping in Fireworks
This might seem like a strange session for an iPhone developer conference and the low turn out would say attendees weren't interested. As a web developer prototyping is extremly important prior to coding, so the topic made a lot of sense for iPhone development. Alan Musselman blew my mind. Every 3 minutes I was say to myself "I didn't know Fireworks could do that". Walked away with a link to http://blog.metaspark.com/ who posted a .png file with all the common iPhone UI components for rapid prototyping in Fireworks. Whoo Hoo! If you find any presentations on prototyping with Fireworks, check them out.

This is a real question for web developers interested in iPhone development. Do I have to learn objective C? Are web apps not "real" apps. Chris Allen led the discussion comparing web and sdk (native application) development. A few advantages to SDK development is access to the camera, GPS and other apps on the phone. What I found interesting was the inclusion of iPhone Touch methods in javascript that are available via Safari. Also, using Dash Code you can create a small iPhone App that launches Safari and loads your web site which could be skinned for the iPhone, or any other phone device.

Learning the iPhone SDK from the Flash Developer's Perspective
This three hour Handons workshop was lead by James Eberardt. He did a very good job do a line by line comparison between Actionscript 3 and Objective C. Starting with simple if-else, loop and function calls he gradually reviewed more complex tasks like drawing objects in Objective C. James also shared dozens of examples in Objective C. Worthwhile for any flash/flex developer interested learning Objective C. I would recomment. If you are interested in a two day workshop James will be in Los Angeles- April 4 & 5 http://www.richmediainstitute.com

Conclusion
If you are not already part of the Mac Developer community and want to find out what iPhone development is all about, 360 iDEV is a great way to get introduced to the world of iPhone development.