Cocoa Programming for Mac OS X For Dummies

Cocoa Programming for Mac OS X For Dummies Review

Kudos to Erick! This latest edition is a good one, targeted to Xcode 3.1. It's an easy read, as tech books go. I'd give it 4.5 stars if I could, but 5 will do for now. I've tried many of the other Cocoa and Xcode books, and given up on them when the instructions for using the tools' user-interfaces do not behave as described. Changes to Xcode's (originally called Project Builder) and Interface Builder's GUIs, from version to version, may be all for the better but they can play hob with any author's most carefully crafted prose. Moral: if you're new to this, be sure that your hardware and software match what's used in the book.

One editorial glitch, for example, the website for the source-code can be found [...] and searching by ISBN - not the URL repeatedly cited in the book. Other "hiccups" can most often be resolved either by using Apple's own technical documentation (the book leads you to it) or by reading a bit further and more carefully in the book itself.

I've finished chapter 4 (in 2 days) and am keen to continue. I expect to post an update to this review once I get further along in the book.

Cocoa Programming for Mac OS X For Dummies Features

• ISBN13: 9780470432891
• Condition: USED - VERY GOOD
• Notes:

Rating :

Price : $34.99

Offer Price : $13.67

Overviews

Cocoa programming is not only the favored development environment for Mac OS X, it’s also a primary tool for creating iPhone and iPod Touch software. That makes this a great time to learn Cocoa, and Cocoa Programming for Mac OS X For Dummies is the ideal place to start!

This book gives you a solid foundation in Cocoa and the unusual syntax of Objective-C. You’ll learn what’s new in Cocoa frameworks and create an application step by step. For example, you can:

• See how Xcode underlies your applications as the main component of Apple’s IDE
• Examine the basics of the Objective-C language, the elements of a Cocoa interface, and object-oriented programming
• Use Xcode and Interface Builder
• Spruce up your apps with audio, video, Internet features, stylized text, and more
• Create applications with the stunning graphics for which Macs are famous
• See how to build apps with multiple documents and even executables that aren’t traditional Mac apps
• Use all the exciting new Cocoa features
• Work with Cocoa numbers, arrays, Booleans, and dates
• Build document-based applications
• Simplify with key-value coding

The better you understand Cocoa programming, the better the applications you can create for Mac OS X, iPhone, and iPod Touch. Cocoa Programming for Mac OS X For Dummies makes it easy and fun!

Affordable Price at Store Check Price Now!

Customer Review

Good. But Out of Date - Wait for a New Edition! - Nina P - San Francisco, CA USA
I agree with one of the reviewers who said that the book was 'good' but certain areas needed more explanation.

Unfortunately, worse than that, is that the book is now out of date. Otherwise I would have given it 4 stars instead of the 1 star.

I bought this book when XCode was at version 3.0 but had too many other things to work on. So it sat on my desk for 4 months before I was able to get on to reading it. Unfortunately, since that time, XCode and Interface Builder (the associated application used for designing UI for both Cocoa & iPhone apps) were updated. For the most part, many things are still relevant. But, major differences in how you make connections from UI elements in Interface Builder to your code have changed in version 3.2.1. Not to mention syntactical changes in Cocoa 2.0.

- Readers unfamiliar with Xcode (which I assume this book is aimed at) will be lost when they see pictures and descriptions that refer to panels that no longer exist.

- Workflow will be utterly confusing.

- Current Cocoa 2.0 syntax will be missed.

It's a shame that technical books become out of date so quickly. But I wish publishers and booksellers would do a better job informing people when it's happened.

For information on the changes in xcode, follow these links for release notes:
[...]

Dummies beware, wont be dumb for long! - Simon Reid - Australia
This was a fantastic insight into programming on my Mac! I've been wanting to get a start in the programming scene for a while now and this book has helped me so much. It is a 'dummies' guide as it hasn't taught me everything, but I would strongly suggest this to anyone wishing to start programming on the mac (new programmers). Now something I would like to say to the authors: Why is it so expensive? It is only a couple dollars less than the physical book! It has cost you nothing to ship or reproduce it but still the high price. For the quality of this book, for the amount of pages, for the actual knowledge granted the reader, why not half the price? The lower the price the higher the sales. This is my personal opinion, I am on a campaign to help eBook lovers everywhere, we have a device to read it on, why are we still paying for paper?

*** Product Information and Prices Stored: Apr 24, 2010 05:35:05

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