Winner of a 2012 Jolt Productivity Award! Updated and expanded to cover iOS 5 and Xcode 4.3, iOS Programming: The Big Nerd Ranch Guide leads you through the essential concepts, tools, and techniques for developing iOS applications. After completing this book, you will have the understanding, the know-how, and the confidence you need to tackle iOS projects of your own. Based on Big Nerd Ranch's popular iOS Bootcamp course and its well-tested materials and methodology, this best-selling guide teaches iOS concepts and coding in tandem. The result is instruction that is relevant and useful. Throughout the book, the authors clearly explain what's important to know and share their insights into the larger context of the iOS platform. This gives you a real understanding of how iOS development works, the many features that are available, and when and where to apply what you've learned. Here are some of the topics covered: * Xcode 4.3 , Instruments, and Storyboards * ARC, strong and weak references, and retain cycles * Interfacing with iCloud * Handling touch events and gestures * Tool bars, navigation controllers, and split view controllers * Localization and Internationalization * Block syntax and use * Background execution and multi-tasking * Saving/loading data: Archiving and Core Data * Core Location and Map Kit * Communicating with web services * Working with XML, JSON, and NSRegularExpression * Using the Model-View-Controller-Store design pattern

Christian Keur是Big Nerd Ranch的高級講師和軟件工程師，負責編寫Big Nerd Ranch的“iOS新手培訓課程”教材。該教材廣受好評，是本書的原型。Christian畢業於美國佐治亞理工學院計算機科學係，目前居住在亞特蘭大。

Aaron Hillegass是Big Nerd Ranch的創始人之一，曾就職於NeXT公司和Apple公司，他擁有近20年的Objective-C、Cocoa、iOS開發與教學經驗。Aaron與他人閤著瞭《Mac OS X編程》和《Objectibe-C編程》。

Joe Conway曾參與編寫瞭“iOS新手培訓課程”教材。他最近創辦瞭stable/kernel 公司，開發高質量的移動應用。