Thanks for the advice!
I know nothing about programming, which is why I struggled with XCode of an afternoon, then gave up ;)
( Labia Majora You keep on talking but it makes no sense at all, Wed 2 Jun 2010, 14:16, 1 reply, 16 years ago)

Heh, I almost gave up a few times.
It's best to learn Objective-C and _then_ x-code. The other way around is a bit like learning how to photoshop without having any concept of artistic direction.
( G/PP 💩💩💩💩💩&#128, Wed 2 Jun 2010, 14:40, Reply)

I'm not good enough in Objective-C / X-Code to teach it to other people yet, but I am with PHP.
If you want, I can set you up some webspace and some basic PHP files that you can use to learn how to do things. In fact, I could make that a section of my blog, which would be good for the both of us. I'll start off very simply and then move onto complicated stuff later on.
( G/PP 💩💩💩💩💩&#128, Wed 2 Jun 2010, 14:41, Reply)

And besides, you need a lisance for iPhone development which costs £59pa, where as PHP wouldn't cost anything appart from webspace, which I already have.

( G/PP 💩💩💩💩💩&#128, Wed 2 Jun 2010, 14:42, Reply)

Gaz me if you're interested in the lessons thing, and that offer is open to anyone else too.

( G/PP 💩💩💩💩💩&#128, Wed 2 Jun 2010, 14:43, Reply)

Thanks mate, I'll do some reading around first :)

( Labia Majora You keep on talking but it makes no sense at all, Wed 2 Jun 2010, 14:48, Reply)

Cool, once you get around the basics, it's not to hard at all.
I've got frameworks you can use to make life easier, for example, I can return a load of database entries inside one line of code, rather than without the framework would take at least 4 or 5.
( G/PP 💩💩💩💩💩&#128, Wed 2 Jun 2010, 14:54, Reply)

Might take you up on that over the summer
Though should probably get more fluent in one of the languages I half know (c/c++, Java and ActionScript) first.

Best suggestion I can make is to start with a simple project that can be easily extended.
Since I'm a massive geek, mine is a D&D character builder (i.e. basically making databse software, simple GUI), which I'm going to extend to incorporate NPCs/monsters (more of the same), then try and do something that will let me rub battles on the comp (more rules, simple pathing, proper (2D) graphics programming) (with a final ambition to make it work on a tablet PC so it's touch sensitive). First attempt failed, but have switched the campaign to 4th edition since (from my dad's old 1st ed books), and so going to reattempt it in that over the summer.
( Tedium Alduce me to interlow myself., Wed 2 Jun 2010, 14:54, Reply)

Totally agree that an expandable simple project is the way to go.
I come from a web background, so I'd suggest a blog that expands into a portfolio and all that.

One of the troubles with learning PHP to begin with though is that you need a grasp on HTML/CSS to do anything useful with it, but personally I find it the easiest 'programing' language (rather than 'formatting' language like html/css is). Plus you then really quickly want to learn Javascript to do something with a 'wow' factor to it. But to be honest, with Javascript, if someone was starting from scratch, I'd recomend they learn jQuery, you can do pretty much anything in Javscript much easier inside that framework.
( G/PP 💩💩💩💩💩&#128, Wed 2 Jun 2010, 15:08, Reply)

Not overly fussed about web stuff yet
Have a couple of very competent codey friends that can do all that for me if needs be.

Dammit, I keep thinking of things to do with making the program, and I know that I really should write them down, but if I do I'll start actually working on it before the end of term, do no revision, and fail :(
( Tedium Alduce me to interlow myself., Wed 2 Jun 2010, 15:16, Reply)