I am always interested to learn about attorneys who write apps for the iPhone — especially apps that are designed for other lawyers — and I try to feature those stories on iPhone J.D. when I can. If you know your way around a computer and have always been interested in writing the next great iPhone app, you’ll want to take a look at iTunes U, a collection of over 200,000 free educational materials on iTunes. The prestigious Stanford University has a large collection of programs on iTunes U, including CS 193P, a course on developing iPhone apps taught by both Stanford professors and an Apple employee.
Ars Technica has a short article on the course, noting that there will be ten lectures in the course this semester (the first two of which are already on iTunes), and there is no cost for watching the videos of the classes and downloading the slides via iTunes.
I watched a little of the first class, and it quickly went over my head. I last took a computer science class as a college sophomore in 1988, and suffice it to say that things have advanced a little since then. But the professors seem very energetic and I’m sure it is an amazing class. I sometimes hear about people with very little computer knowledge picking up some books and learning to program an iPhone app, and whether you are a computer programming guru or new to the field, I suspect that this Stanford course can play an important role in teaching yourself to program for the iPhone. You should also read the excellent iPhone development blog Mobile Orchid.
By the way, there is both quantity and quality over on iTunes U and you can quickly lose yourself there browsing through all of the selections. For example, I see that Emory University Law School (I went to college at Emory) offers a five-part “Mini Law School” including “Introduction to Torts” by Dean David Partlett and “Constitutional Law” by Prof. Robert Schaprio.
Click here for iPhone Application Development (Winter 2010) (free): 