Overview
The best-selling introduction to Cocoa, once again updated to cover the latest Mac programming technologies, and still enthusiastically recommended by experienced Mac OS X developers.
“Cocoa® Programming for Mac® OS X is considered by most to be the de-facto intro-to-OS X programming text.”
—Bob Rudis, the Apple Blog
“I would highly recommend this title to anyone interested in Mac development. Even if you own the previous edition, I think you’ll find the new and revised content well worth the price.”
—Bob McCune, bobmccune.com
If you’re developing applications for Mac OS X, Cocoa® Programming for Mac® OS X, Fourth Edition, is the book you’ve been waiting to get your hands on. If you’re new to the Mac environment, it’s probably the book you’ve been told to read first.
Covering the bulk of what you need to know to develop full-featured applications for OS X, written in an engaging tutorial style, and thoroughly class-tested to assure clarity and accuracy, it is an invaluable resource for any Mac programmer. Specifically, Aaron Hillegass and Adam Preble introduce the two most commonly used Mac developer tools: Xcode and Instruments. They also cover the Objective-C language and the major design patterns of Cocoa. Aaron and Adam illustrate their explanations with exemplary code, written in the idioms of the Cocoa community, to show you how Mac programs should be written. After reading this book, you will know enough to understand and utilize Apple’s online documentation for your own unique needs. And you will know enough to write your own stylish code.
Updated for Mac OS X 10.6 and 10.7, this fourth edition includes coverage of Xcode 4, blocks, view-based table views, Apple’s new approach to memory management (Automatic Reference Counting), and the Mac App Store. This edition adds a new chapter on concurrency and expands coverage of Core Animation. The book now devotes a full chapter to the basics of iOS development.
Editorials
From Barnes & Noble
The Barnes & Noble ReviewMac developers worldwide are oohing and aahing at Mac OS X and Aqua. Wouldn't it be so cool to be building OS X applications right now? To do it right, though, you've gotta bite the bullet. You need to master Apple's Cocoa framework, and (realistically) you should be working with Apple's language of choice, Objective-C.
While Objective-C isn't a big stretch for experienced C/C++ programmers, the Cocoa framework can be pretty challenging. That's where Aaron Hillegass comes in. His company, Big Nerd Ranch, is the world's leading independent Cocoa training firm. This guy goes back a long way with Steve Jobs: at NeXT, he wrote the first course on OpenStep, the development environment that led to Cocoa. He knows his stuff. His new book, Cocoa Programming for Mac OS X, is utterly authoritative.
It's full of real code, and answers to the questions Mac developers have been asking in Hillegass's seminars. Questions about Aqua interface development. Custom views. Pasteboards. Compilation. Debugging. Most of all, this book reflects a deep understanding of the powerful design patterns that underlie Cocoa. You've got to "think different" to program today's Macs. Nobody's more qualified to show you how. (Bill Camarda)
Bill Camarda is a consultant, writer, and web/multimedia content developer with nearly 20 years' experience in helping technology companies deploy and market advanced software, computing, and networking products and services. He served for nearly ten years as vice president of a New Jerseybased marketing company, where he supervised a wide range of graphics and web design projects. His 15 books include Special Edition Using Word 2000 and Upgrading & Fixing Networks For Dummies®, Second Edition.
Slashdot.org
Five new chapters were added in this 2nd edition, which discuss creating AppleScriptable applications, integrating OpenGL, adding Undo abilities, creating reusable frameworks, and tinkering with GNUStep, the raw open-source tools for those curious about making Cocoa apps under Linux.
If you're a UNIX or Windows developer who picked up a Mac OS X machine recently in hopes of developing new apps or porting your apps to Mac users, this book should be strongly considered as one of your essential reference and training tomes.