(I'll preface this post by stating that I'm not yet a registered iPhone developer, so I don't know what specifically the NDA forbids the discussion of; I think all but perhaps the second question below should be acceptable...)

I'm looking to try a little game development on the iPhone/iPod touch; I'd appreciate it if anybody here could could answer a few quick questions before I register as an iPhone developer...

1. I've read Pierre Chatelier's From C++ to Objective-C ebook, and coded a few command line toys, and believe I have a good grasp on the fundamentals of the language; I'm just wondering whether it is worth buying another book on Cocoa - and if so, any recommendations? - or whether the iPhone's implementation of Cocoa is sufficiently different to make such a purchase pointless?
2. Am I correct in the assumption that - as Objective-C is a superset of C - the iPhone provides an implementation of the C standard library?
3. Any recommendations as to a good OpenGL ES book?
4. Is a 2GHz/2Gb Mac mini or a 2.4GHz/2Gb MacBook sufficient for iPhone development/to run the iPhone simulator at the proper speed? I'm on a 0.4GHz/0.125Gb iMac at present...
   
   

Thanks!

sealfin Wrote:[1]I've read Pierre Chatelier's From C++ to Objective-C (...)
[2](...) the iPhone provides an implementation of the C standard library?
[3]Any recommendations as to a good OpenGL ES book?
[4]Is a 2GHz/2Gb Mac mini or a 2.4GHz/2Gb MacBook sufficient for iPhone development/to run the iPhone simulator at the proper speed?

(1) If you install the sdk you will know if you understand the code.
(2) If you read the documentation I think you will find the answer.
(3) I do not know the answer.
(4) It will work like a sharm. But it has limitations: Reading the documentation you will know what I mean.

Re: 4), there is no "proper" speed. You can not count on the simulator for any real world performance metrics, you must use the real hardware.

Re: 4) I'm on a 2 GHz MacBook, using the sim, and I was thinking about arekkusu just a little while ago and how amazingly awesome it works! The usage I've had out of the simulator with OpenGL ES has been an *enormous* help. Major thank you to you guys!

@sealfin: My own take is that the iPhone is just another computer. Yes, there are a few differences and restrictions here and there, but it's just like developing for a regular (older) desktop for the most part.

I would also say that even though knowing Obj-C/Cocoa is necessary for many things relating to the system, just plain ol' C/C++ are your best friends on iPhone, and you'll likely be doing most (90%+) of your development with them if you're doing games...

[adding] Point 2) Yeah, C standard library is there no probs that I've seen.

1) I've had good results from reading Cocoa Programming For Mac OS X. For me, the difficulty was just making the required connections between Interface Builder and the code, to understand just what was going on. IB on the iPhone is similar enough where learning one will teach you the other.

2) Yes.

3) No clue, but I've had pretty good results from taking plain OpenGL, and just keeping in mind what parts of it aren't in OpenGL ES for the iPhone. (Immediate Mode drawing and shaders were the big ones.)

4) Yeah, just fine. The sim runs at blazing speeds compared to the iPhone/Touch, so it's incredibly useful for verifying that stuff looks correct and for rapid testing, not so much for getting a realistic FPS.