A few years back, I was working for my father at his software company, running the shipping department. It got boring over the slow season, so I started asking around about learning how to program. I had dabbled in programming when I was a kid, but now I was in my 20s and more geared towards writing than mathematics. Nonetheless, I decided to give it a shot and tried to learn Visual Basic. How’d it turn out? Well I’m a writer now, if that tells you anything. But that doesn’t mean that my interest in programming has stopped. In fact, I’m thinking about getting back into it, so I figured I’d pose the question to you – the readers – because you know better than me.

I’ve got a lot of ideas for programs for the iPad and iPhone. Problem is, I have no way to get them out there. I do have a friend who programs for both, but he now lives in San Francisco and that’s not as much help. What I’d like to do is develop these applications myself and get them out there, if for no other reason than to help with my own productivity (most of the apps I’m looking at are geared towards freelancing productivity).

But I’ve never learned how to program for a Mac, much less anything for the iPad and iPhone. I know that the SDK is pretty cheap, but I don’t want to buy it if it doesn’t do anything for me. I feel like I’d do best with a WYSISYG editor similar to Dreamweaver, but I’m not sure if that’s how it works.

So I ask you – the smartest people I know – your thoughts. What would I need to do to get into programming for the iPhone? How much does it take and where’s the best place to start? Let me know in the comments and we’ll hash it out there.