Which is easier to learn? iPhone development or mac desktop development?

Question

I'd like to start creating a few apps for the mac and iPhone for personal interest, but I'm not sure which is the better place to start. Both seem to have a fair bit in common: objective-c, cocoa, xcode, etc. so I would assume that there are a lot of transferable skills.

My question is: which is the easier starting point? Creating a small iPhone app, or a desktop app?

Ultimately I would like to try out both platforms, I would just like a few opinions on the best place to start learning the general skills.

I have experience in .Net development with C#, and web development. But, this is my first foray into the mac dev community.

Answer 1

Essentially, I would tell you to do both. Follow along a couple small tutorials for each, then progress further with one or the other whichever way your interests point you.

Answer 2

You are right: there are a lot of things in common, hence transferable skills.

I would start by creating a small iPhoneApp. There is no garbage collection in iPhone SDK, and there is garbage collection on newer versions of Cocoa in Mac OS. I think it's important to learn memory management issues. It will be easier to go to a managed environment later.

Answer 3

I started with a bit of Mac OS X programming before I began hardcore iPhone coding. Now, the two are almost the same, save a few things here and there.

In the long-run, when you get past the primitive garbage collection, iPhone Development is a bit easier.

Answer 4

I've found the best way to learn a language is by scratching your own itch. I'd start with whichever app is most appealing to you. The differences between developing for the two platforms are pretty small, though it's worth noting that desktop development doesn't require dealing with the phone or a simulator.

Answer 5

Lets make it this way.

iPhone Foundation Classes are mostly the same in Mac or iPhone.

UI Classes are different between platforms.

But most importantly is this:

With the iPhone you can monetize your learning experience if good enough... :D