My previous passion has reared its ugly head, and I’ve been seduced into writing at least one application for the IPhone / iPod Touch.

What started out as a simple application for my piano students has turned into an effort to make it app store ready. As any former or current developer knows, it seems that more than half of the work involved is put into prettying up an app and making it professional.

This actually reminds me of why I left programming. When I first started programming (TRS-80 days), the API provided by the platform was small, and the vast majority of your time was spent on designing your own algorithms and writing your own code. Now, the vast majority of the time involved is in learning the intricacies of the API involved.

I started to become disenfranchised with programming about the time Windows 95 came along. On Windows, it seemed like an inordinate amount of time was spent working around bugs within WinG and other Microsoft libraries.

Now, with the iPhone, I’ve spent probably 2/3 of my time on figuring out how to do things with the interface. I was already familiar with Objective-C, having developed heavily for the NeXTStep platform years ago, so the language has not been an issue. And, I like most of the way Apple has designed their platform. But, with my primary interests being teaching, composing, and performing, what started as a few hours a week project has grown into a must-finish-it-soon-so-I-can-compose-again project.

The bright side? I can’t think of a sexier platform to remind me why I switched careers from programming to music.