I started my programming life a long time ago, after punch cards but before OO. I remember being very excited because Microsoft was a client of my employer and I got to see win95 long before we used it inhouse. For the last decade I've been developing the backend of websites but I have a couple of projects in mind that really need an app to be successful so here I am. The biggest gotcha is not having a mac so I guess this little adventure is going to cost a bit :)

Welcome to BT Sara !! If you need any help, just give us a shout I am in Perth and have been in the BT community for about 2 years now. You will love it, there are lots of smart people that are very helpful. Kristen

Echo what Kaybee said . Before I had enough funds to buy my mac mini, I used this service that allows you to rent mac via remote desktop. The cheapest deals on there gives you a sort of sluggish connection but it gets the job done. The more you pay the better the connection will be. via macincloud.com

Thanks Kaybee and CMCOFFEE, I found a mention of macincloud in another thread and it looks amazing & they have servers in Aus too. I thought I'd get the 3 month deal and at the end of that I'll either be hooked or fed up :)

Welcome Sarahk great group of people here at BT to help you along the way!

I'm probably being impatient but working my way through BTU (my kids keep wanting to hang with me) and trying to envision how I'd tackle this simple scenario User at home opens app and loads a bunch of names into a single text field, one name per line. App is closed User goes out, no data access, opens app and clicks on a tab. Each name is now a check box/radio button/swipe thingy and they are ticked off as the actual person arrives. App is closed. A couple of hours later, still no data access, app is opened and user clicks to another tab that only shows those who were ticked in the previous step and they're ticked again as they leave. The remainder get "search and rescue". Doing that in html would be really easy if I use local storage to store the original text string and an array to represent the next two tabs. Would that be the right way to do it? Does it sound like a suitable newbie project?

Do it the way that you want to - thats why it is so good around here, you can do it many ways depending on your skillset. You can use HTML and then put them on locally, just make sure you use styles in the same doc and don't link to another, as it isn't a web server. If help is needed, give us a shout. - Ed

So I was right about the big step backwards and I still know bugger all about objective c and haven't even started on android yet but boy, am I having fun! Totally geeky but I'm pulling data out of databases that typically don't get used by mobile and cascading json dataurls. I'm converting qgis shapefiles to gpx to go into Mobac and actually understanding what I'm doing. And I feel confident enough to say good bye to macincloud (which is actually quite good) and get a MBP! I've got a lot to learn and I suspect my apps might suffer from a bit of enthusiastic scope creep :) I've even chatted with Ed and Niraj and worked my way through all the podcasts.

You've done well! If you need anything, just get on the chat or forum. I have 'intermediate' Obj-C knowledge but it isn't really needed here. Just JSON really. Have fun with your new MBP! Ed