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的高级讲师和软件工程师，负责编写Big Nerd Ranch的“iOS新手培训课程”教材。该教材广受好评，是本书的原型。Christian毕业于美国佐治亚理工学院计算机科学系，目前居住在亚特兰大。

Aaron Hillegass是Big Nerd Ranch的创始人之一，曾就职于NeXT公司和Apple公司，他拥有近20年的Objective-C、Cocoa、iOS开发与教学经验。Aaron与他人合著了《Mac OS X编程》和《Objectibe-C编程》。

Joe Conway曾参与编写了“iOS新手培训课程”教材。他最近创办了stable/kernel 公司，开发高质量的移动应用。