Show HN: I learned Rails and Objective-C in a year to build this

[jpn]

What I built: Bonjournal, a travel journal app

- iOS app (https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/bonjournal/id719266933)

- web app (https://bonjourn.al)

What and how I learned (in order of importance):

* Ruby on Rails *

- Michael Hartl's Ruby On Rails Tutorial

- Railscast

- Code School

- Ruby Toolbox

* Objective-C *

- Nerd Ranch iOS Programming

- NSScreencast

- Code School

- WWDC Videos (for performance improvements)

- CocoaPods Rank (https://gist.github.com/luvtechno/8842522)

And of course, a lot of Stack Overflow.

I didn't think it would be possible. I thought I was too old to learn. But I had a project in mind that I cared about, and I wanted to see it completed.

It's never been easier to learn -- go out there and create!

Special thanks to my wife, who is also my designer. Besides all the wireframes, marketing, and testing she has done, she also learned a little SASS and Objective C to make all those little pixel and font size adjustments. That was HUGE.

[hansy]

I still affirm that Michael Hartl's "Ruby On Rails Tutorial" (http://www.railstutorial.org/book) is one of the most beautifully simplistic and effective tutorial books ever written. Combine his book with Ryan Bates's Railscasts (http://railscasts.com/) and you can pretty much build anything you can think of. I learned RoR we these resources as well and am just starting to take the plunge into iOS. I haven't looked into NSScreencasts much, but I did obtain a copy of The Big Nerd Ranch Guide to iOS Programming (http://www.amazon.com/iOS-Programming-Ranch-Edition-Guides/d...).

Anyway, congrats on launching both an iOS and web application. Bonjournal looks awesome!

[jpn]

Thanks!

Good luck with iOS. NSScreencast is not as useful as Railscast, but there are some pretty useful tips. For example, I thought this episode was really helpful starting off:

http://nsscreencast.com/episodes/63-from-scratch

I've also been hearing great things about Treehouse, which I plan to use when I tackle Android:

http://teamtreehouse.com/

[doodilin]

Thanks all for the kind words of support! Another essential resource was Basecamp's (formerly 37Signals) book, Getting Real. It is a must-read for anyone building software, especially for first-timers like us.

https://basecamp.com/books/Getting%20Real.pdf

[redrory]

Congrats.. so how much fail to actually deliver. The app looks beautiful.

Question - in terms of the iOS web, what's the Ruby vs Objective-C breakdown?

Are you using the same Rails back-end from the web app with the iOS app. Would love to speak with you, shoot me an email - username @ gmail.com

[jpn]

We're pretty happy with the end product. All of the features that we wanted are there.

Breakdown is probably 75% Ruby 25% Objective-C. Yes, same back end as the web app, which I think is key. The iOS app is essentially a glorified browser. So everything is pretty DRY and easy to maintain.

[mcintyre1994]

Congrats! :) I'm not sure how you're implementing responsiveness (it works fantastically btw) but if it's feasible it could be nice to de-emphasise the iOS app a bit on other mobile devices. I can see the site is basically the same as desktop but with the big iOS banner it felt a lot like a limited content mobile site.

That said the iOS app looks really nice - design reminds me a bit of airbnb which is definitely a good thing. Can I pay for an Android app some time? Congrats again!

[doodilin]

Thanks, mcintyre1994! We're using Susy and Compass for responsive CSS. We have plans for an Android version, as soon as jpn learns Java. :)

Great feedback on our home page -- you're right about the iOS emphasis, and limited content feel. We're currently refreshing our home page, and will be sure to work these issues out. Thanks!!

[AndrewTerry]

You say that you took a year to learn RoR and Objective-C for this, but can I ask: were you starting from scratch as a programmer and was this a full-time project (or were you balancing your learning and development alongside having another job)?

Congrats on the launch! Both the app and the website look beautiful.

[jpn]

Thanks!

I basically started from just Excel/VBA and a little bit of .NET.

Initially, I was doing this along with another project, but during the second half, it was full-time.

[evolve2k]

Clickable:

Bonjournal, a travel journal app - iOS app (https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/bonjournal/id719266933)

- web app (https://bonjourn.al)

[jpn]

Cool. Thanks!

[mostlybadfly]

Wow, this is great, good job!

I am currently teaching myself while working full time in a non tech related career. May I ask how old you are? This is very encouraging. I'm currently Hartl's tutorial and CodeSchool, so hopefully I'm on the right track.

[jpn]

I'm 35.

[nicholas73]

Beautiful and simple way to log trips! It never occurred to me to do it, but your app made me want to! Honestly think you can charge a buck more, and I rarely buy apps. Well, unless you have competition.

[jpn]

Thanks, nicholas73!

We're going to bump up the price to 2.99 after this promotional period. We want to give our currents users/followers a way to get the app at a discount.

[joshdance]

Nice work. Great to see you go from not much to a nice polished app. And props for including your resources.

[jpn]

Thanks, joshdance.

There are so many quality resources out there for a newbie developer!

[blipper2001]

Balling! I'm actually going to Canada today so I will give it a test drive.

[jpn]

Great! Happy travels!

[unfed]

Quite an achievement. Best of luck to you and your wife.

[jpn]

Thxs!

[2close4comfort]

That is an amazing site, congratulations.

[jpn]

Thank you!

[grimborg]

Beautiful!

[jpn]

Thank you!