Welcome to the Treehouse Community
Want to collaborate on code errors? Have bugs you need feedback on? Looking for an extra set of eyes on your latest project? Get support with fellow developers, designers, and programmers of all backgrounds and skill levels here with the Treehouse Community! While you're at it, check out some resources Treehouse students have shared here.
Looking to learn something new?
Treehouse offers a seven day free trial for new students. Get access to thousands of hours of content and join thousands of Treehouse students and alumni in the community today.
Start your free trial
kaitlanlang
3,042 PointsFrom my view point from C to objective C you have taken to big of a leap for newbies
I don't know if if I'm posting where I should but I have watched the first 3 objective C videos( as in the ones transitioning from C to Objective C), C stuff I comprehended everything advanced in an incremental way, to me it appears you are making to many conceptual assumptions that are not automatically crossing over as in my situation. I got to code challenged and reviewed and reviewed videos over and over for knowledge in order to answer question. The only way I am getting it right is by getting it by rote learning from discussions. Meaning I still don't understand why answer is correct because I am essentially copying with hope it will eventually make sense.
I turned to tree house because to many programming authors that say no prior knowledge needed still make assumptions expecting you to make a quantum leap where it is a no brainer for them. As a flying instructor who has studied principles and methods of how people learn which I would hope your teachers do, I feel disappointed that a large training organisation is not placing themselves in the head of the learner.
The knowledge and primacy of the teacher is not in question but if the concept is not transfering to a newbie who has incrementally achieved all code challenges to date accurately demonstrating capacity to learn i must conclude teaching method is in question at least at this one juncture.
3 Answers
Stone Preston
42,016 Pointsobjective c is not a very beginner friendly language. the syntax is super weird, iOS development is very object oriented, and the topics covered are very abstract so its normal to not understand some things and have trouble with it. if you are struggling, you may want to do a course like Intro to programming first before moving on to objective C so you have a very strong base to build on.
mind elaborating on what you are having trouble with? In my opinion the intro to objective c videos cram a ton of information into a small number of videos so it seems a bit rushed and you have too much information to handle. I think they should be spread out a bit more and spend more time than just one video on each topic.
you can contact support and voice your opinions on the course and provide criticism and suggestions. Contacting support will allow you to reach the right people faster.
Derek Southworth
679 PointsI also feel there is a massive leap forward with very little instruction from the two. For instance, the top part #import keeps changing for the instructor, but stays the same for me. I've watched the three videos at least four times and took the quiz probably 50 times before passing and thats only because I finally lucked out and didn't have the coding problem in the rotation. I have no idea how to answer this:
Define getter and setter methods for the instance variable named "_qty".
@interface Product : NSObject { int _qty; }
- (int) ____________ ;
- (void)_____________ : (int) qty;
@end
Stone Preston
42,016 Pointswhen defining getter and setter methods of an instance variable _instanceVariable, the getter must be named instanceVariable, and the setter must be named setInstanceVariable.
so if I had a float instance variable called _length
@interface someClass : NSObject {
float _length;
}
I would define the getter and setter methods like so:
- (float)length;
- (void)setLength:(float)length
the getter does not take any arguments, however the setter does take one argument, the value you want to set the variable to. typically the name of the argument is the same as the name of instnace variable, without the _ though. so since my ivar is called _length, ill name the parameter length
Christopher Bijalba
12,446 PointsYou mention this solution, but I went back and rewatched the video and nowhere does it explain the purpose of the underscores or why you omit or do not omt them.
why is setLength capitalized, for example. I know why, but it isn't made clear why.
kaitlanlang
3,042 PointsRe steve b response to my post. I just pushed on into further learning, thus far hasn't been such a leap, but I still feel I'm 'monkey see monkey do' terms of that area of learning mentioned in my post. It's like I had to accept things as a given without the 'why'. My hope is with further learning I have a penny drop moment as time goes on. I still feel there are holes in my learning, I dont like learning that way. My advice to you is just push on, there is a bit of Xcode and visual UI stuff to come and linking it to code. Which is a lot easier to understand than first three actual objective c tutorials. Hopefully that logic in linking the visual stuff to code will trigger your light bulb moment, it only mildly has for me thus far. I do think I am winning though. Just keep plugging way Steve.
Christopher Bijalba
12,446 PointsNo, the problem is that you cannot learn Objective-C this way, at all. The introduction that "taught C" was very short and nowhere near enough foundation to move forward into Objective-C. 30 minutes of lectures and a few examples? Eh, no. It is enough to learn very remedial concepts, but not to fully understand it.
There are entire books/courses in C and Objective-C that could take you months of learning without even delving into "Making iPhone apps."
Steve B
6,257 PointsSteve B
6,257 PointsI have the same problem, I've dipped my toe in a little python and java before but the first few Objective-C lessons have gone straight over my head. I notice you posted this a couple of weeks ago, have you had any success understanding the material? Any resources or tips that helped?