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Paul Dunahoo
5,390 PointsObjective-C "Basics"?
Okay, I am redoing the iOS Development track now that everything I did before has been replaced. There is also a new Objective-C Basics course, which I have just started.
Is it just me, or is this harder than it should be? The other Treehouse courses are fun and engaging, and the teachers explain themselves well. Douglass Turner, while an excellent teacher, seems to have his own style that I kinda dislike. (If you are reading this Douglass, please know that you still did an amazing job, and I still like your course)
For example, in the math example, he throws in pi, the square root of two, and one other number that I do not remember the title of. Typically I type out the code in the example project while listening to the video, but this time it was impossible. I had to pause the video and copy the numbers digit by digit (except for pi, which I knew from Algebra 1). There is little audio explanation of the code, and rarely does he read the entirety of it while it is being typed. This can make this difficult for the beginner.
Nothing here has been presented in a "fun" manner that makes we want to continue. It is kinda boring at times, and I sometimes feel like skipping it.
Then we have the iOS Crystal Ball app course (I am referring to iOS 6, because I have not really began iOS 7). It is a more fun course, with the occasional jokes that makes me almost excited to learn. Plus, the project itself is somewhat fun to do.
I'd appreciate your thoughts. Thanks!
7 Answers
Stone Preston
42,016 PointsIt is a boring course. Its objective C basics. Most of the concepts you already know, but there are a lot that you probably dont. The pointers section is very helpful and the video graphics make them easy to understand. So yes there are boring parts, but there are a lot of helpful sections on difficult concepts like pointers, inheritance, and composition that are mentioned in the iOS project videos, but dont really get explained. So its important you know the basics before moving on. Stick it out till the end and it will be worth it. Plus its not very long anyways
Rafael Balbi
2,105 PointsI've just started this track and it's definitely tough, in large part because of the code challenges. I'm not sure it's buggy or if it has been completely figured out just yet but I've had numerous occasions where code will pass in Xcode but not in the code challenge...weird?
Véronique Bellamy
20,810 PointsThe deep dives (like Basics) can be a bit tough, make no mistakes. The projects, with all the jokes and stories, are more about learning and applying the knowledge you learn - but deep dives like Objective-C basics and CSS Foundations are about going deeper into the language. I wish there were more ways beyond the code challenges to apply this knowledge but you should apply the learning in your own projects.
James Barnett
39,199 PointsTreehouse seems to have a tough time figuring out how "hard" a beginner deep dive should be.
Y'all might recall when the 2nd edition of CSS Foundations came out, the rather steep learning curve in the first 3 badges was mentioned frequently on the forum. Eventually those first 3 badges were re-done, now no one complains about those courses.
Véronique Bellamy
20,810 PointsMaybe it's because I am above average but I didn't find CSS Foundations hard, just long and arduous. There was a LOT of material to cover. :)
Amit Bijlani
Treehouse Guest TeacherThank you for your candid feedback Paul. Like others mentioned that this is a deep dive and our goal is to teach as much as we can within a limited amount of time. Our objective is to always make sure we are covering all the necessary topics and teaching all the concepts. The fun and entertaining aspects vary based on teacher. Humor is always a a point of debate and we never want it to get in the way of teaching. In fact Doug shot some fun scenes but I made the judgement call to remove them because I thought they were unnecessary and took away from the teaching.
Paul Dunahoo
5,390 PointsThanks for the response! I understand where you are coming from. This course was just a little more boring than I was used too, and for a basic introduction it seemed a little advanced.
bronnyreinhardt
1,007 PointsI would rather that the course be straightforward and efficient than funny, but I have to say that I've struggled with some stuff that I feel could have been explained better. For example, the Inheritance lesson is really thorough, and introduces the concept at the start of the lesson in a plain fashion. Other lessons would have benefited from this approach.
One idea is to have concept cheatsheets included in the supplemental materials for every lesson. Rather than combing the internet for information on the essentials of pointers, for instance, which can be of varying quality, Treehouse cheatsheets could be aimed at beginners and relate directly to the lessons.
Cheers.
Sergio Barrera
4,198 PointsI know it takes time and practice, reading and going over and over this rough sometimes. In my opinion, I found Programming in C with Douglas one of the best 3-4 training modules since I signed up on treeHouse. Especially the pointers modules that can be hard to understand if you are just started but I believe I needed a manual coding practice with basic C to overcome old ghosts. As someone said before, this is just scratching the surface. I hope Douglas continue teaching here! Thanks treeHouse for adding more iOS 7 training into the curriculum! Keep it up!
Price Shoemaker
9,656 PointsThe way the instructor skips around between implementation and interface, without even mentioning he's doing it, and never explaining why you are doing something makes this course nearly impossible to follow. I finished the PHP track and thought those instructors were great. I just started iOS but I really hope his style changes or another instructor takes over.
Rafael Balbi
2,105 PointsJust some more feedback, the section on 'properties' is a bit confusing. With such a quick introduction to Objective C, I found myself stumbling after having learned about 'setters & getters' all to have gotten to the next section which pretty much blatantly says 'forget "setters & getters"...we can just replace them with @property...'.