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I have decided to start programming some apps for the iPhone that eventually will get submitted to App Store. So I have to use a language the Apple supports.

However, from what I understand, there are some variety of languages I can choose from.

Ansi C

Objective C

C

C++

I started learning C++ in school back in 2001, so maybe I should use that. However, I would like to use the language that is most supported API and community wize. Which one is that?

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Here's the low-down:

All iPhone SDK APIs are either Objective-C or pure (ANSI) C. The pure C APIs tend to be the lower-level APIs, so you could use just Objective-C. However Objective-C is a strict superset of C, so you'll need a reasonable grounding in C in order to write Objective-C.

C++ is fully supported, but is not required (there are no C++ APIs). You can even mix Objective-C and C++ in the same source using Objective-C++. If you do this it's best to use C++ for pure computational components, pure Objective-C for the front-end, and Objective-C++ for the "glue" layer in the middle.

In summary: you'll need C and Objective-C. Use C++ for some parts if you particularly need it.

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Wow sounds confusing :-) But I will give it a go
You don't really need to know C to code in Objective-C, but you should definetely have worked with another coding language prior to learning Obj-C. If you have no experience what so ever in coding, you should probably learn some C first.
@Emil. You don't need to know C inside out - but you need at least a basic proficiency with it - since you'll be using many C language features within Obj-C - and it's very hard to get away from the C APIs - think of things like CRect, for example
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objective-c is the most supported - all the examples use it

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Not just most, but the only supported language, if "supported" means "officially supported by Apple".
That's not true. C and C++ are both officially supported. There are no C++ APIs for iPhone, but there are C APIs.
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Main language for iPhone platform is objective-c - almost all frameworks are objective-c based so you will have to use it for UI part at least. However as objective-c is a superset of c language you will be able to write some parts of your program using c/c++ as well.

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There are C and Objective-C frameworks. Quartz2D is written in C but the Cocoa Touch framework is written in Objective-C, for instance. As Objective-C is a superset of C, if you choose Objective-C you will be able to use all available frameworks without problems.

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Depending on what type of applications you're gonna to write, you could save yourself a lot of time & headache and use Appcelerator's Titanium Mobile (JavaScript) or Rhomobile (Ruby). All according to Apples latest TOU and therefore still submittable to the App Store.

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The only languages that are officially allowed by Apple are

  • JavaScript
  • Objective-C
  • C++
  • C

All other languages are not allowed.

Whether or not this restriction is legal is a totally different question. (My gut feeling says that, at least in countries with somewhat sane anti-trust laws, it's illegal.)

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