Stanford to publish free iPhone course on iTunes U

Posted:
in iPhone edited January 2014
Stanford University will be publishing video podcasts and slides from its popular "iPhone Application Programming" course on iTunes U for free to the general public, beginning this week.



"There's a lot of interest in the iPhone," said Brent Izutsu, Stanford's project manager for Stanford on iTunes U. "This course provides an excellent opportunity for us to show the breadth and depth of our curriculum and the innovation of our students."



For-credit enrollment in the class is limited this quarter, which began two days ago. Students taking the class will also need an Intel Mac and will probably want an iPhone, although Stanford offers loaner iPod touch units. The course lasts for ten weeks, so it will just be finishing up as Apple prepares to release the new iPhone 3.0 at WWDC.



The video podcasts will present the same Stanford lectures on developing for the iPhone and iPod touch to the public using Apple's iTunes U within a couple days of each class meeting, providing easy access to the course materials for iPhone and iPod users as well as desktop Mac and PC users and other devices with the ability to play standard H.264 video.



Last summer, Stanford's announcement that it would begin offering an iPhone development course raised eyebrows among pundits who were busy worrying that Apple would use its iPhone development NDA to stop the classes. Instead, Apple assisted Stanford, relaxed its NDA terms, and is now working to help the school reach an even broader audience. "For Stanford, working with Apple allowed us to focus our energy on identifying and capturing great content while Apple provided us the technology to distribute it globally," Izutsu said.



Apple partnered with a number of universities nearly two years ago to launch iTunes U as a way to expose the public to educational material for free. Eddy Cue, Apple?s vice president of iTunes, said at the time that "Education is a lifelong pursuit and we?re pleased to give everyone the ability to download lectures, speeches and other academic content for free."



Stanford was one of the first universities to embrace iTunes U. At its launch, Stanford Provost John Etchemendy said, "From its earliest days, Stanford has sought to serve the public by sharing the knowledge generated by our faculty and students. Our partnership with Apple and iTunes U provides a creative and innovative way to engage millions of people with our teaching, learning and research and share the experience of intellectual exploration and discovery that defines our university."

Comments

  • Reply 1 of 20
    cubertcubert Posts: 728member
    So, you only need to be officially enrolled if you want credit? Will anyone be able to use this as additional developer documentation?
  • Reply 2 of 20
    cu10cu10 Posts: 294member
    Stanford huh? Cool. My $0.02: read Steve McConnell and Donald Norman too.
  • Reply 3 of 20
    f1turbof1turbo Posts: 258member
    How easy and how much does it cost to get the SDK?
  • Reply 4 of 20
    arteckxarteckx Posts: 39member
    I was wishing my school had iPhone classes as I registered for Fall today. But hey, if Stanford is posting, that will do.
  • Reply 5 of 20
    arteckxarteckx Posts: 39member
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by F1Turbo View Post


    How easy and how much does it cost to get the SDK?



    The SDK is free for download if you register your Apple ID with Developer Connection. You have to pay to distribute and get beta builds.
  • Reply 6 of 20
    taurontauron Posts: 911member
    Stanford is among the top 3 universities in the world and the top 1 for computer science. If they offer a course on iphone then this is proof that the iphone is the best mobile platform out there.
  • Reply 7 of 20
    floorjackfloorjack Posts: 2,726member
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by Tauron View Post


    Stanford is among the top 3 universities in the world and the top 1 for computer science. If they offer a course on iphone then this is proof that the iphone is the best mobile platform out there.



    Huh? That's a non sequitur you have there. Maybe they offer the course as an example of how not to write an SDK and APIs for a phone?
  • Reply 8 of 20
    macfandavemacfandave Posts: 603member
    Hey, maybe I'll get my Stanford degree after all.



    They admitted me to the Mech Eng. grad program back in '86, but with no support. For those not familiar how grad school in engineering and the sciences works, if they accept you without an offer of support (often as a teaching assistant or lab assistant), it's a rejection with a smiley face.



    With iTunes U, I'll get to go for free, just like I always wanted to!
  • Reply 9 of 20
    buzdotsbuzdots Posts: 452member
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by Tauron View Post


    Stanford is among the top 3 universities in the world and the top 1 for computer science. If they offer a course on iphone then this is proof that the iphone is the best mobile platform out there.



    Whoa, hang on there. No doubt Stanford is an excellent school, and maybe even #1 for computer science, but the only list that would place them as one of the top three in the world is one you made up.



    Respectfully...
  • Reply 10 of 20
    rnp1rnp1 Posts: 175member
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by BuzDots View Post


    Whoa, hang on there. No doubt Stanford is an excellent school...

    Respectfully...



    This is a great podcast. The prof is a bit too serious, but what a way to review physics.

    Don't forget to download the iPhone Kindle version of Lewis R. Little's book from Amazon!
  • Reply 11 of 20
    frank777frank777 Posts: 5,839member
    Is this course/podcast geared toward people with prior programming knowledge, or is it "start from scratch" teaching for the average joe?
  • Reply 12 of 20
    spindriftspindrift Posts: 674member
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by tauron View Post


    stanford is among the top 3 universities in america and the top 1 for computer science. If they offer a course on iphone then this is proof that the iphone is the best mobile platform out there.



    Edited for accuracy!
  • Reply 13 of 20
    ukguyukguy Posts: 1member
    Will this be available on the UK itunes site or is it just for you lucky US chaps???
  • Reply 14 of 20
    f1turbof1turbo Posts: 258member
    Current US News and World Report rankings show Stanford 5th in the US; behind Harvard, Princeton, Yale and MIT.



    http://colleges.usnews.rankingsandre...ational-search
  • Reply 15 of 20
    alanskyalansky Posts: 235member
    The article states that Stanford will post the "iPhone Applications Programming" podcast on iTunes U. this week, but it's Friday already and I can't find this title (or anything similar) among the Stanford offerings. Has anyone actually found this title?
  • Reply 16 of 20
    buzdotsbuzdots Posts: 452member
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by F1Turbo View Post


    Current US News and World Report rankings show Stanford 5th in the US; behind Harvard, Princeton, Yale and MIT.



    http://colleges.usnews.rankingsandre...ational-search



    Yep, I didn't want to say it, but Stanford won't rank in the top three even in the US.

    In California...probably



    Still, a damn good school!
  • Reply 17 of 20
    spindriftspindrift Posts: 674member
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by alansky View Post


    The article states that Stanford will post the "iPhone Applications Programming" podcast on iTunes U. this week, but it's Friday already and I can't find this title (or anything similar) among the Stanford offerings. Has anyone actually found this title?



    No, not yet. Anyone had any luck with this?
  • Reply 18 of 20
    cyko95cyko95 Posts: 391member
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by SpinDrift View Post


    No, not yet. Anyone had any luck with this?



    Here is the direct link to the course.

    Click HERE



    745mb download I think.
  • Reply 19 of 20
    tulkastulkas Posts: 3,757member
    Interesting podcast.



    I love that one of the instructors is from UWaterloo. Now, if you want to talk about one of the top compsci schools in the world...(though he was compeng)
  • Reply 20 of 20
    I thought the first lecture was good toward the end.



    The first Lecture movie is a 741.6 MB download and is a little over an

    hour long. The actual training slides start at 42:12 in the movie after

    they go through a lot of class admin information you won't care about.

    The demo which shows how to use xcode and the Interface Builder to make a simple application starts at 50:38.



    I found the Demo to be great! However note that his xcode screens and

    toolbars have been customized so your just installed xcode will not look

    like his. Also, he makes a program that crashes because he does not

    always make sure the values he types in "stick". Make sure as you try

    the Demo that you hit the enter key so the values stick.



    The class site is



    http://www.stanford.edu/class/cs193p/cgi-bin/index.php
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