Perhaps my own experience with the Objective-C programming language will sound familiar to you. I grew up in a world of dots, semicolons, and curly braces that are known around the programming world as the familiar syntax of JavaScript, Java, C#, and many other programming languages. “Objective-C can’t be that hard” I thought. And then I looked at my first Objective-C code and I thought, “What is this hot mess? WHY ARE THERE SO MANY SQUARE BRACKETS?”

Okay, let’s step back a moment. Spoiler alert: Objective-C isn’t that hard (and I’ve grown to love it). It is the main programming language used to write apps for the iPhone and iPad, and it is incredibly flexible and powerful and is actually very similar in many ways to other more popular programming languages.

Source: TIOBE Programming Community Index for
August 2013 – http://www.tiobe.com/index.php/content/paperinfo/tpci/index.html

Despite my initial fears, I read some documentation, looked at some code, tried out my own, and asked smart people silly questions. But it brought me back to an enlightened viewpoint that is sometimes easy to forget: “Language doesn’t matter.” In programming, the language we use is just the syntax, just the details about how we want to control the computer. The concepts of what we are actually doing: loops, conditionals, using variables, etc., are all the same from one language to the next. When learning a different language we just need to learn the specific words and symbols we need to use to command the machine.

All that aside, Objective-C is a great first language to learn, too. Below you will find a guide for getting started with Objective-C for iOS development which will help as a learning aid for how to program in Objective-C or as a quick reference if you already know another language.

Objective-C the Programming Language

As you might guess from its name, “Objective-C” is based on the C programming language, with lots of object-oriented features added. It was originally developed in the early 1980s but has really gained in popularity with the rise of iOS. Let’s address some common questions and fears about Objective-C.

C? C++? C#? What gives?

Objective-C isn’t the only popular language derived from C. First came C++, which was originally named “C with Classes.” The idea was to bring classes and other object-oriented features to C, and C++ became popular because of its combination of the power of C with the benefits of an object-oriented approach.

C# was created by Microsoft to take C++ even further down the object-oriented road. At first it was quite similar to the massively popular language called Java, though they have since diverged in features despite sharing a nearly identical core syntax.

The nice thing about all these languages derived from C is that a lot of the basic syntax is the same. Variables are often declared and used in the same way, and important keywords and symbols are usually repeated as well.

What’s all this “object-oriented” business about?

To borrow from my post about Java for Android:

An object-oriented language is one that is built around the concept of objects. In the physical world, take a look around the room and think of each thing as an object. For example, on my desk right now I have a mug. As an object, its name is mug and it has properties about it like its color and how much liquid it will hold. Object-oriented languages allow us to define objects like mugs and access their properties in our code. We can also send messages to objects, so for my mug I might want to know Is it empty? We can then create and manipulate all sorts of objects to do different things in our app. For example, we can use the Camera object to take a photo. The Camera object represents the physical camera on an iPhone, but in a way that we can interact with in code.

The isEmpty message for this mug object will return NO!

But what about these square brackets? This code looks like garbage.

Objective-C maintains all the same syntax and features of C. The object-oriented features that were added were done so in the model of Smalltalk, in which we send messages to objects (more on these later) in this manner:

mug makeEmpty

(The makeEmpty message is sent to the mug object.) In Objective-C we simply surround such actions with square brackets:

[mug makeEmpty]

What may seem like an arbitrary collection of brackets at first will, with time and practice, make sense as a mechanism for organizing code around these object-oriented concepts that were added as a thin layer on top of the world of C code.

C + stuff you can do with square brackets = Objective-C!

Okay, but I don’t wanna manage my memory!

You don’t have to. Sort of. In iOS 4.0, Apple introduced a concept called ARC (Automatic Reference Counting) which took much of the mundane pain of memory management away from Objective-C programming. In older iOS code you will see many retain and release messages passed to objects, but in projects that use ARC, these messages are handled automatically by the compiler. The code ends up looking a little more like code you might find in languages that manage memory automatically, like Java.

But it’s still important to understand how memory is allocated, used, and released in an iOS program if you want it to operate smoothly and efficiently and avoid app crashes. For more details about memory management in Objective-C, check out this iOS Foundations stage about ARC.

Components of the Objective-C Programming Language

Let’s talk about the code itself. At its most basic level, programming is really about working with data. There are all sorts of types of data we will need to use that range in complexity from simple things like numbers and yes/no values, up to more complex things like pictures or player information for a game.

Basic Data Types

Some of the more common data types we use in Objective-C include:

• int – An integer value, i.e. a whole number (no decimals) that includes zero and negative numbers.
• float – A floating point value that includes as many decimal places as it can hold. Because the decimal place can change, or float, its important to know that these values may technically be imprecise. When precise decimals are needed, like for currency, we should use the NSDecimalNumber data type.
• BOOL – Short for “boolean”, this is a 1-bit “true” or “false” value that can only be in one of those states. The C language (and hence, Objective-C) treat 0 as “false” and 1 as “true”. As such, the following keywords can be used to represent true/false values: YES/NO, TRUE/FALSE, true/false, 1,0.
• char – A single character, such as the letter A or the symbol “#”. Note that lowercase and uppercase characters are different, so “a” and “A” are two different characters.
• NSString – String data is a bunch of characters strung together to make text, like a banner strung up at a party.
• NSNumber – This class is a lightweight “wrapper” class that gives object-oriented features to the primitive number types mentioned above (among others).

The first four data types in the list above, int, float, BOOL, and char, are scalar (non-object) data types, which means that they are relatively simple and straightforward. The word “primitive” is also used to describe this type of data, as it is not as advanced as Object data types. Other scalar data types include short, double, and long. For more information about basic data types in Objective-C, check out Objective-C 2.0 Data Types.

NSString and NSNumber begin with capital letters because they are more complex data types. They are actually objects, and the naming convention in Objective-C is that object names should start with a capital letter. An object is different than a primitive data type because it has more complex properties and methods available to it, whereas the primitive data types are limited and straightforward. For example, we can send a message called length to an NSString object, and the NSString will tell us how many characters are in the text. The int data type does not respond to any messages like that.

You might also be wondering why NSString and NSNumber start with the letters “NS” instead of being named String and Number. Objects are defined in class files (more on classes in Part 2), and all classes that get used in Objective-C get loaded into the same place, which means that classes with the same names can cause problems. To try to avoid the same names, Objective-C adopted the convention of adding a 2 or 3 letter prefix to class names to indicate where they come from. “NS” comes from NeXT and the NeXTSTEP Computer, which was the company Steve Jobs founded after being forced out of Apple in the 80s.

Variables

In programming, a variable is basically a container used to hold data. The data itself can be anything from a simple number to the lyrics and metadata about a song. When we create a variable in Objective-C, we usually specify what kind of data it will hold. This is known as statically typing the data. Blocks of memory in the computer are allocated as the “container” to hold the data, and we store a reference to that container with a name that we provide.

“Static typing” means that the type of data each variable (or container) will hold is declared up front. So for example, if a variable is supposed to hold a number, we need to say so, and we wont be allowed to put something else like a letter in it. Variables that are statically typed will be checked before the program even runs, and well be presented with an error if we forget to declare a type of data or declare the wrong one.

Okay, let’s finally take a look at some code! Here’s an example of declaring a scalar variable and assigning some data to it: The line above is a statement that declares a variable named favoriteNumber that holds int (integer number) data. We then assign this variable the value 24. In essence, it puts the value 24 in the container named favoriteNumber. Later in code we can use the container’s name to get the data we put inside it.

1. The first word in a variable declaration is the data type, which tells us what kind of data the variable will hold.
2. The second word is the name of the variable, which can be anything you want following a few conventions. Variable names must not contain any spaces or special characters; they can only have letters, numbers, and underscores. They must not start with a number, though.
3. The equals sign (=) is an operator, meaning it performs a specific operation for us. This is the assignment operator, meaning that we use it to assign values to variables. In this example it is assigning the integer value on the right (#4) to the variable favoriteNumber on the left (#2).
4. The number in green is the int value we are working with. int numbers are positive or negative whole numbers with no decimal parts, just like this example.
5. Finally, the last character in this line is the semicolon, which is used to finish this statement. Semicolons in Objective-C are like periods in sentences: we use them to indicate when were done saying something. Every statement in Objective-C must end with a semicolon (note that a statement may be displayed on multiple lines for better readability).

Things get slightly more complicated with object variables, though: The parts of this statement numbered 1-5 are the same. The data in this case is text (which is surrounded by double quotes).

1. The asterisk (*) can be a little confusing. This is not part of the variable name. It can be placed anywhere between the data type and the variable name, so the following are all equivalent:

   NSString* title;
       NSString * title; 
       NSString *title;

   The * symbol is actually an operator that is used to de-reference a pointer. De-what a what now? Pointers are pretty much what they sound like. They “point” to a location in memory where the actual data is stored. That location in memory is the true container that holds the data.

   Pointers are a part of regular C and are used because they are more efficient. When we use pointers in our programs, we only need to store and copy a simple pointer, which is really just an address for a space in memory. It’s a relatively small piece of data. If we instead had to store and copy the data being pointed to, we might very quickly run into problems of not having enough memory.

   For example, it’s much more efficient to simply point to the location for a large video file and use that pointer multiple times in code than to actually have to use all the data of that large video file every time we access it in code.

   Okay, so back to the asterisk: what does it mean to de-reference a pointer? It simply means that we obtain the value stored in the memory where the pointer is pointing to.

2. The “at” symbol (@) plus text inside double quotes make up an “NSString literal”. As someone who used Strings in other programming languages first, this was confusing to me. The @ symbol is used in a few places in Objective-C, and basically it’s a way to signal that whatever it’s attached to is special to Objective-C and not part of regular C. This is important when the computer compiles Objective-C code. NSString objects are different than the counterparts used in C, so that’s why the @ symbol appears before the first double quote.

One Last Thing: Static vs. Dynamic Typing

Remember a moment ago when we talked about Objective-C being a statically-typed language, meaning that “the type of data each variable (or container) will hold is declared up front?” Well, that’s sort of true, but doesn’t describe the whole picture. I don’t want to overload this post with details about the language, but it’s important to mention that Objective-C is also a dynamic language, which means that some parts of our code can be extended and modified while our apps are running (i.e. after they’ve already been compiled).

One example is the use of the generic data type called id. id can be used to represent any kind of data type. It’s the most generic form of specifying data; it simply stands for an “identifier” that is used to reference data. This type of dynamic typing allows for increased flexibility in how we code certain things. In iOS, we often see id used for methods that are tied to controls on the screen, like:

- (IBAction)save:(id)sender;

This is the declaration of a method, which we’ll talk about in an upcoming post. But notice that the sender parameter is of type id. This allows some flexibility in that our app doesn’t care if the sender is a button or an image or whatever else we might want to use to trigger this action.

Stay Tuned

There is a lot to cover for even the basic syntax and concepts of Objective-C, so stay tuned for upcoming posts about things like classes, messages/methods/functions, conditionals, and loops! If you want to try some of this out yourself in the browser, check out the first stage of Build a Simple iPhone App, which includes some exciting Code Challenges to get some practice with Objective-C.

The post The Beginner’s Guide to Objective-C: Language and Variables appeared first on Treehouse Blog.

This is your life.

Do what you love and do it often.

If you don’t like something, change it.

If you don’t like your job, quit.

If you don’t have enough time, stop watching TV.

If you’re looking for the love of your life, stop; they’ll be waiting for you when you start doing things you love.

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There are three things every creative yearns to hear: “we pay the total up front,” “our staff is ready to sexually reproduce with you at your request,” and “be as creative as you want.” 

The first will never happen, the second only happened to me when I was in Sweden, and the third happens, but isn’t meant the way it sounds. The invitation for full creative control has some boundaries, and you have to know how to spot them, or you’ll just waste time, and upset the client.

Anyone who does graphic/web design work knows that clients often say one thing but mean another. It can be terms in graphic design the client uses, hoping to impress you with their design knowledge, a descriptor thrown out that doesn’t really translate properly (read this weird battle to understand the word, “sophisticated” from someone supervising a design project), or an innocent misunderstanding of the true needs of the client, and the personality of the designer.

New blood, new ideas 

While living in a far away city for a short period of time, on some family business, I received a call from a local recruiter who had suggested me for a project with a local card company that specialized in appointment cards for the health industry, specifically doctors, and dentists. The new creative director said he had heard my name, and knew of my experience with Hallmark Cards, and American Greetings. He may not have known about my experience with MAD Magazine, which always flavored certain parts of my work, and often gave the taste filters at Hallmark strokes. 

He was the new blood at an old, family-owned company, and wanted to bring the usual look of the reminder cards out of the 1960s, to create graphic works of art that people would keep, pinned to bulletin boards, and refrigerators, long after the appointments had been done, and over. “let your creativity run wild,” he said to me. 

“That’s not a problem,” I assured him. 

The usual cards you will receive from your dentist. Cute, but hardly memorable and not the “art” requested by my client.

My first meeting with the art director — a woman who had been with the company for a couple of decades — and the staff of designers — whom I was to find out were glorified production artists — was a boost to my ego. The directions these designers were showing were snippets of things they found on the internet and seemed to echo the same old designs the company had been doing for a long, long time. I went back to my temporary living quarters/studio, and began my own research, armed with their password to a stock image source. 

This project was important to me because I was stretching my creative thought. It was not just the design, but also the writing. As with other commands of, “let your creativity run wild,” I wanted to show the client something they would never see with any other designer. I did, and that was the problem. 

Whenever I am told to use my full creative thought, that’s not what clients really mean. I always warn them that I will go to the very edge and they will have to pull me back, if needed. It is always needed, not only because most people tend to be conservative when thinking of the client, with good reason, but they also aren’t used to radical ideas, even when they ask for them. The first round of card designs and copy brought some raised eyebrows, some discussion and some outright rejects. 

 I started out as weird as I could. A couple of cards were accepted for “further polishing,” It was then I realized my “creative freedom” wasn’t going to be so “free.”

Little by little, some cards caught the attention of the creative director and were even expanded into a series of cards. The Abe Lincoln card, for example, sparked the call for a series of “founding fathers cards” but the lack of photos and art of anyone aside from Washington made it impossible. The “FLOSST” card brought the call for more TV spoofs, but, in the end, none were used.

Eventually, the creative director was no longer dealing directly with me and everything went through the art director, who was definitely more conservative in her approach to happy teeth holding toothbrushes and the project was done. She assured me later that none of my cards were chosen for their catalog and I apologized for missing the mark. It wasn’t until I learned the creative director had left the firm that we met for lunch and he informed me that many of my cards were chosen for all international editions of the company catalog, especially the Japanese version, which made me very happy as the Japanese tend to appreciate creativity a bit over the edge. Still, many of my favorites were never to see the light of day.

A greeting card is hard! 

It was my second day at Hallmark Cards, fresh out of New York, looking forward to my hopefully long career with the famous company located in Kansas City, Missouri, when a departmental memo informed us we would be brainstorming and coming up with a line of adult cards using Warner Bros. Looney Tunes characters. “Push the envelope!” said the memo. 

On my fifth day with the company, still attending orientation sessions and not having sat at my desk for more than an hour each day, my fellow designers and I were led to a conference room and told to “design some cards.” 

We sat there for several hours, sketching and writing card ideas which were handed in and we were dismissed for lunch. I realized how hard it was to come up with cards, doing both the writing and design but was confident I had nailed the “adult” portion and had “pushed the envelope” as instructed. 

I didn’t know any other designers yet, being the only new hire at that time, so I went to the company cafeteria and ate alone. When I returned to the department, we were invited back into the conference room to go over the results of the morning brainstorm. 

The first card the department manager showed was a stylized image of Speedy Gonzales’ head and inside the card it said, “Que Pasa?” 

I was confused. How was THAT “adult?” The next shown was along the same lines. As a dozen more were shown and read aloud, I realized I had gone too far with my “adult” approach. 

“Now let’s look at some interesting approaches by our newest designer,” said the manager with a smile that told me I was in trouble and about to be held up to ridicule in front of my future coworkers… if I would still be working there on Monday morning. 

On the cover was a frame from a well-known Bugs Bunny cartoon, of Bugs giving a manicure to Gossimer, the hairy red monster. “Would you like to meet an iiiiinter-esting monster?” it said on the cover. Inside, there was a winking Bugs and it said, “there’s one in my pants!” * 

*Due to copyrights and the fact Hallmark kept the originals, I can’t show the actual cards. 

As the laughter filled the room, I shrank down in my chair and other filthy cards of my making were read. As we all filed out of the room, a designer a few cubicles from mine shook my hand and said, “Welcome to Hallmark… and goodbye!” 

By the end of the day, I had met everyone in my department as they had dropped by my cubicle to introduce themselves and congratulate me on coming up with the funniest cards they had ever seen. At least I made an impression. 

After a quick chat with my manager about the “Hallmark” brand of taste, I told her I understood and would “dial it back a bit”. I then spent the rest of the night coming up with more “acceptable solutions”. Luckily, I hit the mark and spent the next seven years at Hallmark, being known as the “guy who made the dirty Looney Tunes cards” and every now and then coming up with a card idea that was a bit too forward for Hallmark (my “Mickey Muerto” Day of the Dead card was flatly rejected for a Disney project in 2001 and now Disney is trying to trademark the Mexican Holiday for their own usage — sometimes what is “too far” is merely too far ahead of current thinking).

How far do you “push the envelope?” 

The blame lay with the entire MAD staff on this one. It looked like a great idea, tying in the joke of having the details of the proofreader job on page 53 of a 48 page magazine. Unfortunately, a lot of people didn’t get the joke and aside from over one hundred applications for the position (which meant none of these proofreaders read the details on page 53, dozens of letters notified us that there was a misprint on the cover. In a blurb in the magazine’s letters section, we blamed it on a printer’s mistake and those misprinted copies were worth $2,500. Then people wrote in asking where they could sell their copy, if we would buy it and even people who spent $2,500 in anticipation of selling their copy. When it was announced that there was another misprint and the copies were worth $2.50 and not $#2,500. That’s when the angry letters and threats of lawsuits started rolling in.

Obviously, one person’s envelope is not as big as someone else’s and pushing it varies in distance. So, the question is; do you dumb down your creative abilities to meet the taste filter of the client or try to push innovation for their own good? As mentioned in the previous paragraph, the Mickey Muerto idea was 12 years too soon. When the people from Warner Bros. (many of whom I knew from my days with that company) came to Hallmark to see our presentation on adult cards, I was made to read all of my card ideas (since I had also created cards that were more on target for Hallmark as well). The WB people laughed and came up to me after the meeting to chat, ask how such a NYC boy could end up in a city the residents fondly called “Cowtown,” and told me how they wished they could produce my cards. Someday, they will, but I won’t get the credit. 

Likewise, when you shoot far ahead of the current popular technology, most companies will shy away from such innovation. Think about how long it has taken Google to come to market with Google Glass when the same AR technology was being introduced at least ten years ago. How many real innovations have you seen introduced in the past three years? How much in the past five years? How often have you heard your client or employer call for innovation in the company but nothing gets done? 

Some say the ideal way to deal with the average work load is to find the water level of competence and accepted engagement. It is frowned upon to stand out and rock the boat, which seems to be supported by managers, judging by my peers who have been let go from their long term positions. Far be it from me to suggest any creative dumbs themselves down and settles for the status quo. Only you can decide if you will follow or lead and which will carry the danger to your career or the rewards. 

A friend of mine at Hallmark had some words of wisdom for me as I was banging my head against the wall after suggesting cell phone digital greetings in 2003, only to be told that the company only did printed cards… which probably explains the massive layoffs of the past seven years. 

“Include a little innovation into each and every product you design or suggestion you make,” he imparted to me. He warned about taking more than baby steps for innovation when those who make the decisions are not used to changes at all. “They may call for innovation because it’s a buzz word, but they don’t know it when they see it, nor would they know how to deal with it, if they did.” 

Sage advice. A little bit here and there, unseen, like the movement of a glacier (before global warming). A little bit more green every day. Unfortunately for me, I have the landslide/avalanche-type of approach. I won’t lie, and say it’s worked for me more than 10% of the time. Still, I cherish that 10% and it fills my portfolio… as does those dentist cards that weren’t accepted. They didn’t really fail as I will eventually find a publisher who will like them or a time when society catches up to the need for that kind of humor.  

Until then, I keep hoping I will find another client who will tell me to “go hog wild with my creative sense.” My question to them will be, “exactly how creative is that?” I expect a confused look in return.

Do you have creative freedom at work? What happens when you try to push the envelope? How do you introduce your creative freedom with clients or your employer? Let us know in the comments.

Featured image ©GL Stock Images

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Quality has and will always matter to us. With our full-day workshops in Freiburg and Berlin, we aim to bring together only the most talented, skilled and passionate experts from various fields of Web design close to you. Well, if these workshops won’t help improve your workflow and skills, what will? Seriously.

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Workshops in Freiburg, Germany

	Responsive Design by Brad Frost Take a deep dive into the world of Responsive Web design, how to deconstruct interfaces down to their atomic elements, and how to introduce design systems into your workflow. Read more…
	Typography by Dan Mall Wanna take your type game to the next level? We’ll jump right into the nuances of great typography: Assessing what gives type personality, drawing type, choosing, comparing and pairing typefaces. Read more…
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Workshops in Berlin, Germany

	CSS Architecture by Jonathan Snook A full day of instruction and exercises on writing HTML and CSS using a flexible and modular approach that will improve team efficiency and minimize problems with growing projects. Read more…
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	Sketching Interfaces by Eva-Lotta Lamm We’ll be exploring when and how to use sketching in the design process, how to run a collaborative sketching session with a group of people and how to make your sketches communicate more efficiently. Read more…

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