Comments on: From ActionScript to iPhone

By: Trevor

Trevor — Mon, 05 Jan 2009 19:05:45 +0000

Very interesting to read your thoughts on this as I’m also diving into Obj-C + iPhone dev and coming from a very similar background experience. Cheers!

By: Swfwizard

Swfwizard — Wed, 31 Dec 2008 01:55:38 +0000

I am referring to drawing specific documentation, they are explaning the purposes, but are leaving out usage and implementation that would ideally accompany the purpose behind the CGContext methods.

By: kp

kp — Tue, 30 Dec 2008 02:38:05 +0000

Lack of docs? There’s thousands of pages of docs. Snippets, I agree are scarce.

By: Swfwizard

Swfwizard — Tue, 30 Dec 2008 01:54:52 +0000

So far the biggest issue I have with iPhone development is the drawing API(s) and lack of docs and simple snippets. All the [bracket notation] and syntax eventually sticks, but drawing simple gradients and custom stuff…now that’s another story.

By: jacob

jacob — Tue, 23 Dec 2008 07:23:05 +0000

i have only been doing objective c / iphone dev for a short time, but it’s not as unbearable as some people make it out to seem. I like coding in AS much more and debugging is much easier, but it’s still a very powerful language and can be learned fairly quickly if you are willing to accept that not every language is like ActionScript =)

And i can second (or third, fourth) that the book he recommended is a great find. I wish there was info on connecting to a remote dbase, but i am sure when i need it i can find that info.

By: Nicolas Noben

Nicolas Noben — Tue, 23 Dec 2008 03:21:07 +0000

Haha, I can so relate to this… NSmyass. Wanted, an AS3 objc bridge

By: Iain

Iain — Mon, 22 Dec 2008 16:53:32 +0000

Nice post. I wouldn’t say you’ve scared me off, but now I think I will definitely stick with learning Java properly before I bother getting into this obj-c / iphone mess. Unity3D also looks like a nice alternative for iphone games if you’ve got cash – it’s C# and JavaScript all the way!

By: Emanuele Cipolloni

Emanuele Cipolloni — Mon, 22 Dec 2008 16:41:18 +0000

Hi Scott,
yes it is shame we didn’t released it yet, there are some good and very valid reasons for this, but none of them are included in what you list (legalities etc). We are validating the ability to convert most of the AS2/3 we come across and beside not being a simple task, it requires time, actually a lot of it. Speaking to developers, we have learnt that it is far more interesting for them to be able to mashup Flash with the hosting platform native elements and capabilities; we are not a surrogate of a Flash player and never intend to be. At the moment we are working with a number of companies and helping them to convert their Flash content into native iPhone applications; see the latest Max Award in Milan, where Boulevart has won one of the prizes thanks to b.Tween
We will start shortly to introduce b.Tween live in conferences around the globe, beside iPhone, we are actually targeting the whole market of smart devices.

By: Scott Janousek

Scott Janousek — Mon, 22 Dec 2008 03:58:55 +0000

It’s a damn shame the barefootsoft guys haven’t released their b.tween product (yet):

http://www.barefootsoft.com/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=73:new-boulevart-iphone-app&catid=41:news&Itemid=80

Must be some legalities holding it back, or perhaps they know something everyone else doesn’t? … or perhaps they have moved on … not sure.

-sj

By: Scott Janousek

Scott Janousek — Mon, 22 Dec 2008 03:13:35 +0000

Another decent book is “iPhone in Action”. Covers 1/2 on Web Dev and the other 1/2 on native dev with the SDK.

P.S. Shouldn’t this post be titled: From ActionScript to Objective-C? or from Flash to iPhone native App Development?

I guess it sounds cooler the other way … probably works better for searches too.