iPhone Developer Conference: Chicago

I attended the iPhone Developer Conference in Chicago yesterday and went to the following talks:

• iPhone Development Overview
• Introduction to Objective-C and Cocoa Touch
• iPhone Game Technologies, Part 1: Graphics & Video
• iPhone Game Technologies, Part 2: Audio, Touch Input, Accelerometer, and Multiplayer
• Advanced UIKit and Device Features
• Submitting to the App Store using iTunes Connect

Over the past few weeks I had already reviewed the majority of the iPhone Tech Talk videos and iPhone Reference Library materials as a first time Objective-C, Cocoa, and Cocoa Touch developer. This made the bulk of the talks that I went to a review, but it was a decent way to have certain concepts solidified with new examples which they also provided as a downloadable .dmg file.

The first iPhone Game Technologies talk went deep into Open GL ES, so a few things went over my head, but it was useful to see how Open GL ES differed from the normal Open GL framework. A lot of best practices were discussed which helps when you're doing things for the first time. I do wish that they covered 2D game development with UIKit at least a little, but concepts such as Core Animation in the other talks touched on this topic.

The final talk which discussed how you get your application onto the App Store itself was very informative. Who knew there were over 20 steps if you were going to put up a paid, localized application? Seemed like a lot but I'm sure when doing it online the process is smooth.

Overall not bad for a free event. They even gave out free (large only) t-shirts with a push-pin and the word Chicago on the front (ala the Google Maps application), with a list of the other cities on the back. One more shirt to sleep in I guess.