OpenGL Workshop

Okay, listen up. Anyone who's planning on attending 360|iDev and who is also interested in learning OpenGL from a really, really great teacher, I've got some important news for you.

And no, the great teacher is not me.

But it is somebody I go to when I'm confused about OpenGL. It's a person who knows as much about computer graphics and game development as anyone I've ever met. The teacher is Noel Llopis, developer of (among other things) Flower Garden for the iPhone. Noel is an author, speaker, and game developer who is very active in the game industry, and he's teaching a threetwo day OpenGL ES class immediately before 360|iDev at the same venue. Hotel rooms at the conference price are available for the workshop, as well.

If you're interested in going, there's only one more day on the early bird rate, so you probably want to register ASAP.

This is the best resource currently available for learning OpenGL ES for the iPhone and spaces are limited.

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A Camel Case Category

I recently needed to convert a Core Data attribute name, which uses camel case, so they could be displayed as capitalized words for use in a label. This would give me the ability to label rows in a Core Data backed detail editing view without having to manually specify the labels.

I decided not to use this option because I would have lost the ability to localize my application since my attribute names are always and only in English. But, I thought I'd throw this category up for anyone who might need it. This functionality could come in useful, for example, when building a Core Data developer utility.

NSString-CamelCase.h

#import <Foundation/Foundation.h>


@interface NSString(CamelCase)
-(NSString *)stringByConvertingCamelCaseToCapitalizedWords;
@end

NSString-CamelCase.h

#import "NSString-CamelCase.h"

@implementation NSString(CamelCase)
-(NSString *)stringByConvertingCamelCaseToCapitalizedWords {
    
    NSMutableString *ret = [NSMutableString string];
    
    for (NSUInteger i = 0; i < [self length]; i++) {
        unichar oneChar = [self characterAtIndex:i];
        if ([[NSCharacterSet uppercaseLetterCharacterSet] characterIsMember:oneChar])
            [ret appendFormat:@" %C", oneChar];
        else 
            [ret appendFormat:@"%C", oneChar];
    }
    return [[ret capitalizedString] stringByTrimmingCharactersInSet:[NSCharacterSet whitespaceCharacterSet]];
}
@end

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360|iDev Denver

Unfortunately, I'm not planning on attending any more conferences this year. I really need to buckle down and get More iPhone Development done, and then I need to turn my attention to making money. As a result, I've turned down inquiries from both the 360 iDev and the Voices that Matter conferences this fall.

I'm really regretting the fact that I won't be able to attend the 360 iDev Denver conference, however. The inaugural conference in San Jose back in March was a great little conference. The upcoming one at the end of this month in Denver looks like it's going to be much bigger and at least as good.

In addition to speaking at the last 360|iDev conference, I had a secondary, kinda secret duty, which was to find potential iPhone authors for Apress so they could expand their catalog of iPhone offerings. Boy, was my trip successful in that regard. I handed off a list of names to Apress, and nearly every single one of them has contributed to an Apress title, writing either a chapter, or an entire book.

The caliber of people who attend 360 iDev is top-notch, both in terms of technical skill and just in terms of being nice, fun people. John and Tom, the organizers are great guys who work really hard to make the conference both valuable and fun. If I didn't have this book hanging over my head, I would certainly be going.

If you haven't signed up yet, you really should consider it. It's quite reasonably priced as far as conferences go, and you will meet a lot of people who for doing great things on our platform. You'll also learn a lot. It's a great place to make friends, find help, and just have a great time.

360|iDev Denver runs September 27 through September 30, 2009

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iPhone Consumer Health Apps: Good Morning America

My goal was to assemble 5 affordable apps for the iPhone and iPod Touch
Total purchase price was under $10.

Here they are in alphabetical order:

ePocrates (free)
Health Cloud (free)
iFitness ($1.99)
Pocket First Aid and CPR ($3.99)
Restaurant Nutrition (free)


This is the link to the Good Morning America interview showing them in operation.


ePocrates
Medication descriptions, side effects, drug-drug interactions, pill identifier

Health Cloud
Native iPhone client for Google Health PHR
Creates a Continuity of Care Record that follows the guidelines of the
American Academy of Family Physicians
Retrieve medical history, surgical history, medication lists, allergies,
lab results

iFitness
Over 230 exercises illustrated and described
Stretches for individual body parts
12 exercise routines
Ability to track progress

Pocket First Aid and CPR
Topics include CPR, choking, bites, bruises, burns, seizures
Includes instructional videos

Restaurant Nutrition
Nutritional information from Restaurant Chains
Ability to track what is eaten per individual profile
Ability to locate restaurants via Google Maps
Ability to locate restaurants by calorie, fat, carbohydrates

iTunes Store

Related article: Best new software for your smartphone/PDA

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Apple is Looking for a new Frameworks Evangelist

Apple is currently looking for a new Frameworks Evanglist. Honestly, this looks like the best job in the world, even if Matt Drance is going to be a really tough act to follow.

via Michael Jurewitz

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Double the Fun - iPhone SDK Workshops in NYC and Boston

I had so much fun at the last workshop, I've agreed to do two more workshops. I'll be teaching another three-day workshop in New York City from October 2 to October 4 and in Boston from October 6 to October 8. As before, Steve Kochan will be teaching his excellent Objective-C workshop immediately prior to mine, and you can take either class or both as suits your current level of experience.

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Me Blathering

Jonathan Sarno, who runs the iPhone Boot Camp Workshops took video during the Meetup I attended in NYC. We discussed a range of topics, including where things were headed with the iPhone, and how to monetize your games. I was expected to look like an expert, but I'm actually not an expert on either topic, but it was fun engaging in conjecture. Steve Kochan was also on the panel as well, but he's not shown in these two clips.

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