Take your coding skills to the next level with this extensive guide to Objective–C, the native programming language for developing sophisticated software applications for Mac OS X. Objective–C is a powerful, object–oriented extension of C, making this book the perfect follow–up to Dave Mark’s best–selling Learn C on the Mac, Mac OS X Edition. Whether you’re an experienced C programmer or you’re coming from a different language such as C++ or Java, leading Mac experts Mark Dalrymple and Scott Knaster show you how to harness the powers of Objective–C in your applications!

• A complete course on the basics of Objective–C using Apple’s free Xcode tools
• An introduction to object–oriented programming
• Comprehensive coverage of inheritance, composition, object initialization, categories, protocols, memory management, and organizing source files
• A brief tour of Cocoa’s Foundation framework and AppKit
• A helpful “learning curve” guide for non–C developers

What youll learn

• Learn Objective–C programming, the gateway to programming your Mac or iPhone.
• Write applications for the Mac OS X interface, the cleanest user–interface around.
• Understand variables and how to design your own data structures.
• Work with the file system.
• Connect to data sources and the Internet.

Who this book is for


For anyone wanting to learn to program native applications in Mac OS X, including developers new to the Mac, developers new to Objective–C, or students entirely new to programming.

Customer Reviews & Comments
I recently started reading this book. I should start by saying I am an experienced Objective-C programmer, but I usually find a useful new tidbit or two in a new book. I have been enjoying this book immensely, because the tone of the book is much more light-hearted than the normal technical tome. Instead of hundreds of lines of passive voice text, droning on and one with massive repetition of the same stuff to pad the page count enough, this book flows right along. It moves from topic to topic with a nice amount of detail, but without padding and fluff. Examples are written with a slightly humorous touch that makes the reading a pleasure and keeps your interest focused on what is being said. Explanations of areas such as memory management are nice and straight forward. New items found in Objective-C 2.0 are covered, and a modern version of Xcode is described. This book presumes (and states upfront) that you are expected to at least know C or similar programing language, so if you don't know how to program already, don't start with this book. This book is about using Objective-C, but also includes looks at some important parts of Cocoa. Both the writers and the publisher make the assumption that you are intelligent enough to know how to use the internet to find resources instead of listing detailed URLs in the text, which I really liked. It lets me focus on the content being presented, not the mechanics of how to do auxiliary things I already know how to do. I am definitely recommending this book to anybody new to Objective-C, as well as suggesting that it is a good quick reference to have handy even for experienced programers.

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