I want to write software for the iPod/iPad. I find Objective-C difficult to learn. Between Ruby and Python, which one is best suited for writing software for iPod/iPad? Please advise which tutorial book for the best one?
+3
A:
Neither. You have to use Objective C, because that's the only language that is supported. Furthermore, you can only develop on a Mac.
UPDATE
It appears I was off-base. Take a look at this. It's a framework called Rhodes.
Vivin Paliath
2010-02-06 18:15:17
I expect he means writing web apps that look a lot like iPhone apps: http://www.ibm.com/developerworks/xml/library/x-iphonexmlphp/index.html
T.J. Crowder
2010-02-06 18:17:27
Neither of those is true: you can develop iPhone software in *at least* Ruby and .NET in addition to Objective-C *and* there are several development environments for Windows.
Jörg W Mittag
2010-02-06 21:41:34
Really? That's news to me. Citation needed :) But in all seriousness, can you point me to some documentation? I thought you could only write iPhone software in Objective-C and only on the Mac.
Vivin Paliath
2010-02-07 02:29:40
Jorg, can you point me to some documentation. This sounds great to me. T
Charles
2010-02-07 02:40:13
Wow, I too would like some documentation. If I knew I could develop iPhone apps in languages other than Objective-C I would have don't it ages ago in Java.Would be happy to know that it's possible.
Helen Neely
2010-02-07 02:45:22
http://PhoneGap.Com/ lets you write iPhone apps in JavaScript, http://RhoMobile.Com/products/rhodes lets you write them in Ruby and http://MonoTouch.Net/ lets you write them in any CLI-compliant language (e.g. C#).
Jörg W Mittag
2010-02-07 15:02:00
A:
You can write web based iPhone/Pod apps using rails. they will not go through the app store obviously. Use iui, or iWebkit or JQTouch for all the look and feel.
PurplePilot
2010-02-06 18:17:21
+1
A:
Sorry: for now, neither of those are choices if you want to be in the App Store. In the iPhone OS, there is a guard function mprotect() which will blow up if you try to mark writable memory sections as executable. This is, in part, how RubyCocoa works -- libffi is used to generate the relevant Objective C headers at runtime. Because of mprotect()'s meddling, someone would have to devise a variant (or update the existing) RubyCocoa which can generate these stubs without having to worry about mprotect choking on the memory switcheroo.
That said, maybe you'd find C# a workable alternative language to Ruby or Python. Have you checked out MonoTouch from Novell? It's viable for development.
John Feminella
2010-02-06 18:19:17
+1
A:
I don't think there is much difference between Ruby and Python as a language for iPhone/iPad/iPod touch development.
However, there is one practical difference: I know for a fact that Ruby runs on the iPhone, but I don't know about Python. That might be because Python doesn't run on the iPhone, or it might be because I'm wired into the Ruby community but not the Python community and I simply haven't heard about it.
Jörg W Mittag
2010-02-06 21:39:53
A:
I want to write software for the iPod/iPad. I find Objective-C difficult to learn.
There are the already mentioned alternatives.
However, I strongly recommend learning Objective-C if your goal is to write software for the iPhone, iPod touch, or iPad.
For a good book on Objective-C and CocoaTouch, I recommend:
Beginning iPhone 3 Development: Exploring the iPhone SDK
by Dave Mark and Jeff LaMarche (from Apress publisher)
Between Ruby and Python, which one is best suited for writing software for iPod/iPad?
As already mentioned by others, Ruby (via Rhodes Rhomobile).
Myself, I'm a Python fan. So I get to pout in the corner.
Please advise which tutorial book for the best one?
The Rhomobile site has online documentation.
Eljay
2010-08-17 14:17:06