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!
User review
Dummies beware, wont be dumb for long!
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?
User review
Beware, the book is outdated
I got my new Mac Pro with Snow Leopard installed in September with the idea of beginning programming for my new Mac. I am no rookie, having programmed in C3#.Net for the Windows environment. Since I have had a lot of good experiences with the DUMMIES series in the past, I purchased this book thinking it would help. But some of the initial parts of the book made no sense to me and I couldn't figure out what I was doing wrong. Then I discovered that the book was using Xcode 3.1 and Snow Leopard was released with Xcode 3.2. The menus were changed and the the program steps no longer worked or applied. I wrote to the Dummies people on their website to complain, but never heard a word. The book is now useless to me and I have had to purchase other books. I feel ripped off. But I guess I will just eat this paperwweight and move on. Anyone want to buy an outdated book?
User review
Leaves too many unexplained concepts, wasn't proof-read before publishing.
You don't release a programming book where some of the step-by-step coding instructions don't match the illustrations, some steps are missing, and the code examples don't compile or don't work as advertised. Also, you don't tell your readers that there will be a website with code examples and then give them a bad URL. When your readers finally find the code downloads in the mess that is the [,,.] site, that code should actually match what's described in the book. And when your book is riddled with errors, you should at least provide an online errata page. In short, YOU DON'T RELEASE A BOOK THAT HASN'T BEEN PROOF-READ!
Besides the annoyance of the book essentially being in alpha, it misses or glosses over many concepts. So, for example, you don't ever learn exactly what the 'sender' keyword does in the language, or why there are random instances of C-style method calls - object.method() instead of [object method] - and other similar oversights. It's not a big deal to figure these things out by yourself with a couple of minutes on the internet, but when you're reading through the book it really feels like important information has been left out. I found myself asking `wait, why'd he do that?` a little too often.
I can't bring myself to give this book a one-star review because it does have great potential. The projects (when they work) really are great as teaching tools, the presentation is clear and easy to understand, etc. I'd give it four stars if it had been proof-read, or if at least an online errata had been provided. Five stars if it had been just a little more thorough.
User review
Feb. 2009 Edition - Finally breaks my Cocoa/Xcode logjam!
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.
User review
The book's OK But the web site stinks.
If you choose to buy the book, be warned there's nothing to download! Additionally, the author assumes more prior knowledge than most Dummies books.
