The iPad NDA is finally lifted

Now that the iPad device is actually available the NDA covering the iPhone OS 3.2 SDK can finally be lifted. I can never really see the point of these SDK NDA’s. The iPhone development program must have tens of thousands of developers who know all of the details so it is not as if there are any secrets.

Anyway Xcode 3.2.2 and the final GM build of 3.2 are now available for download and with that the first iPad programming books are starting to arrive.

I have always liked the books published by The Pragmatic Programmers. For a long time they have published in eBook formats (pdf, ePub, mobi) which has saved a lot of space on my bookshelf. At the last count I own ten books from Pragmatic Programmers of which only one, the original Ruby on Rails book, is in dead-tree format. The ePub format also works great with Stanza on the iPhone with a very smooth download process from within Stanza.

Anyway it was no surprise to see they are quick off the blocks with a beta version of the book iPad Programming: A Quick Start Guide for iPhone Developers. Since they offered me a 25% discount I decided I would take a look at what they have to say. The book is still very early in its development but it is clearly aimed at people with existing iPhone development experience looking to make the transition to the iPad. From a quick read through it so far covers taking an existing iPhone app and converting it to a universal app that will also work on an iPad. Future chapters will cover more of the iPad specific features.

I suspect an experienced iPhone developer who knows how to navigate Apple’s documentation can survive without buying an iPad book. However the volume of Apple’s documentation can also make it worthwhile to have somebody guide you through the key concepts. That is where I expect this book to be a success but more as the book takes shape…