#594 overall
Core Data
Stanford University
1 recommender · 1 thread · recommended in 1 year, 2012 · score 1.0
Stanford's Core Data course, distributed through iTunes U, teaches Apple's Core Data framework for managing persistent data in iOS and Mac apps. It is an older lecture series from the iOS development course era.
One commenter highly recommends it as the way to learn Core Data, calling the framework awesome once you learn to tame it and better than rolling your own data storage.
Recommendations by year
20062026
I agree with RandallBrown, get something out there and show the world that you can finish an app. It'll be good experience too.
As for getting noticed, if you get you get fast at developing, I'd recommend participating in a hackathon and developing a simple, but useful, app with a random team. It's a great networking opportunity, and I still get startups and recruiters trying to hire me from my last hackathon (over a year ago now) in New York (I wasn't event looking for work).
My main experiences in building my first apps were:
1. Novel UI is usually not very intuitive, using what Apple gives you will take you far. People know how to use the basic UI elements, trying to teach users new behavior is hard (learned this the hard way).
2. Managing data will be messy if you don't use Core Data. I highly recommend going back to Stanford's iTunes U course and watching the one (two maybe?) on Core Data (and watch the Grand Central Dispatch one too if you're unfamiliar with it). Believe me, Core Data is awesome and once you learn to tame it you will learn to love it. Far better than rolling your own data storage/management.
3. Getting people to use your app is hard - make something useful. People download plenty of apps, but only open a handful of them. Don't bank on being another Instagram (there are plenty of clones), but make something really useful. TurboScan is a good example of this. Their UI is rather horrid, but its really good at doing what its meant to do. Its an app that is truly useful, and has made it to my (and my closest friends and family's) first screen. I probably use it 1-3 times a day because its actually very useful.
Good luck with your iOS adventures, love to see what you'd produce.