Penguin 64: geekish toys   In association with Amazon.com
 Location:  Home» OS X Books » MacOS » Learning Cocoa with Objective-C, 2nd Edition  
Categories
Apple Computers
Hard Drives
iPods
iMac
Keyboards
MacBook and MacBook Pro
Mac Games
Mac mini
Mac Pro
Mac Software
Photography
OS X Books
Mac TV
Other Penguins

Penguin CPU

Penguin Audio

Penguin Videos

Penguin Cameras

Penguin Kitchens

Top Sellers

iPod Nano 4GB Black

The Sims 2 (Mac)

Sims 2 University

OS X Missing Manual

15-inch PowerBook

Mac Mini 1.42G/80gb

Toast 7

Virtual PC w/XP

iLife '05 Family

Office '04 Pro Mac

Related Sites

OS X Mart

Macs Are Great!

Learning Cocoa with Objective-C, 2nd Edition

Learning Cocoa with Objective-C, 2nd Edition
Authors: James Duncan Davidson, Inc. Apple Computer
Publisher: O'Reilly Media, Inc.
Category: Book

List Price: $34.95
Buy New: $20.97
You Save: $13.98 (40%)



Rating: 4.0 out of 5 stars 18 reviews
Sales Rank: 90854

Format: Illustrated
Media: Paperback
Edition: 2
Pages: 384
Number Of Items: 1
Shipping Weight (lbs): 1.4
Dimensions (in): 9.1 x 7 x 1

ISBN: 0596003013
Dewey Decimal Number: 005
EAN: 9780596003012
ASIN: 0596003013

Publication Date: September 20, 2002
Shipping: Eligible for Super Saver Shipping
Availability: Usually ships in 24 hours

Editorial Reviews:

Product Description
"Learning Cocoa with Objective-C" is the "must-have" book for people who want to develop applications for Mac OS X, and is the only book approved and reviewed by Apple engineers. Based on the Jaguar release of Mac OS X 10.2, this edition of "Learning Cocoa" includes examples that use the Address Book and Universal Access APIs. Also included is a handy quick reference card, charting Cocoa's Foundation and AppKit frameworks, along with an Appendix that includes a listing of resources essential to any Cocoa developer--beginning or advanced.

Completely revised and updated, this 2nd edition begins with some simple examples to familiarize you with the basic elements of Cocoa programming as well Apple's Developer Tools, including Project Builder and Interface Builder.

After introducing you to Project Builder and Interface Builder, it brings you quickly up to speed on the concepts of object-oriented programming with Objective-C, the language of choice for building Cocoa applications. From there, each chapter presents a different sample program for you to build, with easy to follow, step-by-step instructions to teach you the fundamentals of Cocoa programming. The techniques you will learn in each chapter lay the foundation for more advanced techniques and concepts presented in later chapters.

You'll learn how to:

Effectively use Apple's suite of Developer Tools, including Project Builder and Interface Builder

Build single- and multiple-window document-based applications

Manipulate text data using Cocoa's text handling capabilities

Draw with Cocoa

Add scripting functionality to your applications

Localize your application for multiple language support

Polishoff your application by adding an icon for use in the Dock, provide Help, and package your program for distribution

Each chapter ends with a series of Examples, challenging you to test your newly-learned skills by tweaking the application you've just built, or to go back to an earlier example and add to it some new functionality. Solutions are provided in the Appendix, but you're encouraged to learn by trying.

Extensive programming experience is not required to complete the examples in the book, though experience with the C programming language will be helpful. If you are familiar with an object-oriented programming language such as Java or Smalltalk, you will rapidly come up to speed with the Objective-C language. Otherwise, basic object-oriented and language concepts are covered where needed.




Customer Reviews:   Read 13 more reviews...

2 out of 5 stars Low on details   January 5, 2008
S. Kennedy (Frostburg, MD)
2 out of 3 found this review helpful

If only Apple put as much effort in its books as it does in its iPods...

This text skips over all sorts of details regarding the Cocoa framework it purports to teach, while repeating many mundane details (like how to create a project) over and over. The authors focus mostly on Interface Builder. If that is what you need, though, I'd still recommend the Internet instead.



4 out of 5 stars Quality, Apple reviewed literature.   December 28, 2007
1 out of 1 found this review helpful

As with most O'reilly books this one is not a let down. I was most impressed to find out that is actually written by Apple Computer and then was handed to James Duncan Davidson to make it flow.

It has a great explanation of Object Oriented programming as it pertains to Objective-C. Although if you are looking to get into OOP for the first time I would suggest a higher-level language such as Java (the syntax can get in the way of learning the concepts and ideas with Obj-C / C++).

The book is titled to cover upto MacOS 10.2. I am using Leopard (10.5) and the only differences (so far) are: the GUI screenshots in the book are, well, out of date; and the default naming conventions for Xcode files are different. Neither of these is a big issue though.

Its a Good book.



5 out of 5 stars Great Start to Learn OS X Programming   July 2, 2005
K. Leavitt
1 out of 7 found this review helpful

This book is a great start to learn the best OS X programming technology. As a professional developer. The title says it "Learning Cocoa with Objective C". Avoid the book "Cocoa in a Nutshell" until you know Cocoa and Objective C and want a good refeerence.

I also plan to read: "Programming in Objective C" and "Cocoa Programming", but only after mastering the material in this book.



3 out of 5 stars OK...   February 25, 2005
Ari
5 out of 7 found this review helpful

While this book is very detailed and has a lot of information in it about Cocoa programming, it starts off too quickly. You might be discouraged by the assumptions the author makes about how much C (and programming in general) you know. If you are experienced in computer programming, then you will find this book to be a blast and will learn objective -C in no time at all. However, if you aren't too good with programming, start off with some online tutorials or other books, as you will get lost after reading the first two chapters or so.


3 out of 5 stars A good book, but not the best book   May 10, 2004
Ben Haller (Foster City, CA)
25 out of 27 found this review helpful

A very popular book, and greatly improved in its second edition. Very example and tutorial oriented; somewhat out of date at this point, however. Helps the user learn Interface Builder, ProjectBuilder and Objective-C, too. Possibly a bit shallow to get the reader writing their own Cocoa programs from scratch, but a good introduction. Ultimately, probably not as recommended for a first purchase as Cocoa Programming by Scott Anguish or Cocoa Programming for Mac OS X by Aaron Hillegass.