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NDA still making lives difficult for iPhone developers

Simon Andrews   on 28 July 2008 - 23:03 · 5 comments & 5350 views

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Ars Technica has an interesting piece today about the iPhone SDK, and the NDA that continues to withhold information about it from reaching the masses. While the problem isn't that there's a lack of documentation (however the current documentation isn't always perfect), it does prevent many new iPhone developers (of which I am one) from getting the help they really need. Speaking from experience, there is quite a bit of information available, but almost all of it is in the Apple-provided documentation, and for someone who is only just delving into the world of Apple and iPhone development, sometimes the raw data just isn't easy enough to get through.

The NDA has a big effect on the book industry, however. While many users on the Internet won't stop at an NDA, book publishers will. So until Apple pulls this NDA off (or if they do), don't expect to be getting that guide to iPhone development at your bookstore.

View: Ars Technica article


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#1 MrA on 29 Jul 2008 - 00:43
I wouldn't say the NDA is too much of a problem. Support is readily available via numerous forums and Apple discussion forums. Books aren't really needed since the SDK is really easy to pick up, even for non Obj-C people like me. The dev tools are pretty good. The biggest problem I see is that Apple's documentation desperately needs updating. It's mostly correct and the tech articles are very useful, but sometimes, they're very wrong which makes life difficult. I spent 2 days working on a single issue involving a single line of code. I looked everywhere through the docs, and everything I saw said my code was right. In the end, it turns out the docs were wrong, completely wrong.
#2 osirisX on 29 Jul 2008 - 09:11
****ING [REDACTED]!
#3 Nadeem97 on 29 Jul 2008 - 11:40
Apple and NDA are screwed now... there is a guide to remove the fariplay DRM from any app purchased from the appstore..
#4 Magallanes on 29 Jul 2008 - 13:42
NDA tie only for who signed the contract, a leaked information can be used freely.

Anyways, currently a xcode documentation is just enough to start working with iphone, the sad part is (also) the lack of xcode information. May be Apple was sincere to talk against the books some years ago.



#5 Airlink on 29 Jul 2008 - 22:31
Apple sucks.

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