This book assumes that you have some working knowledge of Android or iOS programming, as well as a working development environment. If you’re just getting started, I recommend Learning Android by Marko Gargenta (O’Reilly) as well as Professional Android 2 Application Development by Reto Meier (Wrox) for Android; and Programming iOS 5 by Matt Neuburg (O’Reilly) as well as Learning iOS Programming by Alasdair Allan (O’Reilly) for iOS.

You will need to be able to run sample applications on an actual device instead of just emulating or simulating one in software. Only testing an app with the Android emulator or iPhone simulator is not enough. This is a common admonition, but in the case of musical apps it applies twofold. Generally speaking, you need to test your apps on an actual device because an app that works just fine in simulation may fail in the wild. When doing audio, however, you also have the converse problem—an app that produces glitchy audio in simulation may work just fine when running on a real device. One way or another, testing in simulation will tell you little about the quality of an app.