Preorders for tvOS Apprentice Now Available!

Oct 26 2015

We’re happy to announce that preorders for our brand new book – the tvOS Apprentice – are available today! By Ray Wenderlich.

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Preorders for tvOS Apprentice Now Available!

5 mins

Happy Apple TV preorder day! Did you preorder yours yet?

But preordering just the hardware isn’t enough for developers – you need a book about developing for it too.

As you may have guessed, ever since the tvOS SDK was first announced the team has been hard at work on a new book about tvOS development – the tvOS Apprentice – and it is available for preorder today.

Keep reading to find out what’s inside the book and learn about the early access program and preorder discount!

What’s Inside

The tvOS Apprentice is a book for complete beginners to tvOS development, that teaches you everything you need to know to make great Apple TV apps. You don’t need any iOS development experience to enjoy the book, but some rudimentary Swift knowledge is required (see the Swift Apprentice).

Here’s the tentative table of contents:

Note: This book is still in development, so this is subject to change.
  • Chapter 1, Architecture: Covers the concept of JavaScript / TVML based UI, as well as Traditional UI, and pros and cons of both designs.
  • Chapter 2, Hello, TVML app: Make your first TVML app!
  • Chapter 3, Simple TVML templates: Learn about some simple TVML templates such as Alert, Descriptive Alert, Form, Main Menu, and Menu Bar.
  • Chapter 4, Advanced TVML templates: Learn about more advanced TVML templates such as Catalog, Compilation, List, Parade, Product, and Stack.
  • Chapter 5, TVJS: Learn how to use the TVJS framework to inspect, modify, and create TVML.
  • Chapter 6, TVMLKit: Learn how to use new TVMLKit as a Swift / TVML bridge.
  • Chapter 7, Harnessing the Server: Go through a real-world example of generating TVML from a web app.
  • Chapter 8, Hello, Traditional App: Make your first traditional tvOS app!
  • Chapter 9, Basic Controls: Learn about basic tvOS controls like Images, Buttons, Text Input.
  • Chapter 10, Stack Views: Learn how to use stack views to layout your tvOS apps.
  • Chapter 11, Collection Views: Learn how to use table views to display collections of data in your tvOS apps.
  • Chapter 12, Navigation: Learn how to add navigation into your tvOS apps using UITabBarController, UINavigationController, and more.
  • Chapter 13, Focus: Learn about the new tvOS focus engine and how to design your apps around this concept.
  • Chapter 14, Animation: Learn how to apply animation in tvOS and Apple’s recommendations on the matter from the HIG.
  • Chapter 15, Networking: Learn how to use NSURLSession to retrieve data from a server, including stuff like caching images, best practices, etc.
  • Chapter 16, Playing Video: The Basics: Learn how to play video content, full screen, not full screen, etc.
  • Chapter 17, User Input and the Controller basics: Learn about different button presses from the controller and how to handle them, plus how you can create gesture recognizers for the touch section of the controller.
  • Chapter 18, CloudKit: Learn how to use CloudKit to store data for your tvOS apps.
  • Chapter 19, Advanced Video Playback: Learn how to use AVFoundation for more advanced video manipulation.
  • Chapter 20, In-App Purchase: Learn how to make money in your tvOS apps with in-app purchase.
  • Chapter 21, On Demand Resources: Learn how to allow Apple to host some extra of your app’s assets so you don’t necessarily have to download them all at app download time.
  • Chapter 22, Mixing TVML and Traditional UI: Learn how you can leverage the power of TVML in traditional UI-based apps!
  • Chapter 23, Designing for tvOS: Learn how to design delightful tvOS apps, including dealing with different screen sizes, safe zones around the edges of the screen, the focus on images and minimal text, color palettes, parallax, focus, etc.
  • Chapter 24, Creating Layered Images: Learn how to create layered images, including using the preview tool, and how to manage them in Xcode.
  • Chapter 25, The Top Shelf: Learn how to create top shelf images for your apps, including dynamically changing their content.
  • Appendix I, Javscript Crash Course: TVML apps use Javascript. If you don’t know it already, this crash course may come in handy!
  • Appendix II, Web Development Crash Course: This appendix will cover the web development knowledge you’ll need to follow along with the book.

Where To Go From Here?

The tvOS Apprentice will be released in Q1 2016. If you preorder the book now, you’ll get two bonuses:

  1. Early access to the book: We plan on releasing a few early access versions of the book as chapters come in. Everyone who preorders the book gets access to the early access versions of the book as they become available!
  2. Preorder discount: Everyone who preorders the book before it is released gets the book at the lowest possible price – $10 off the regular price.

So preorder your copy of the tvOS Apprentice along with your new Apple TV, and you’ll be set to take advantage of this amazing new opportunity and create some great apps on the big screen.

Enjoy your new Apple TV – and book! :]