MacRuby in Action

Summary

MacRuby in Action is a tutorial for Ruby developers who want to code for Mac OS X without learning Objective-C. You'll learn the ins and outs of the MacRuby language, including straightforward examples of creating OS X applications using Cocoa components.

About the Technology

For Rubyists, it's a real drag switching to a static language like Objective-C for Mac development. Fortunately, you don't have to. MacRuby is a Ruby 1.9 implementation that sits right on the Mac OS X core. It gives you access to the Cocoa framework and easy interoperability with the Mac platform.

About the Book

MacRuby in Action teaches Ruby developers how to code OS X applications in Ruby. You'll explore key Cocoa design patterns, along with a few twists that MacRuby makes possible. You'll also pick up high-value techniques including system scripting, automated testing practices, and getting your apps ready for the Mac App Store.

Written for Rubyists. No experience with Cocoa, Objective-C, or Mac OS X required.

Purchase of the print book comes with an offer of a free PDF, ePub, and Kindle eBook from Manning. Also available is all code from the book.

What's Inside

• Intro to Mac OS X development
• Full coverage of the Cocoa framework
• MacRuby for iOS

Table of Contents

1. PART 1 STARTING WITH MACRUBY
2. Introducing MacRuby
3. Using Macirb and the Apple development tools
4. Going beyond the basics with Xcode Interface Builder
5. PART 2 TAKE IT FOR A SPIN
6. Using the delegate pattern
7. Notifications and implementing the observer pattern
8. Using key-value coding and key-value observing
9. Implementing persistence with Core Data
10. Core Animation basics
11. PART 3 MACRUBY EXTRAS
12. HotCocoa
13. MacRuby testing
14. MacRuby and the Mac App Store

Brendan G. Lim is a professional Ruby and Objective-C developer who specializes in developing Ruby on Rails, Android, and iOS applications. A noted conference presenter, Brendan is co-founder of Kicksend, a file-sharing start-up.

Jerry Cheung loves creating software. He started experimenting with Ruby on Rails in 2007 and has been hooked on Ruby ever since. Upon graduating from Berkeley, he joined Coupa and later went on to start his own company Outspokes with several friends from Berkeley. He currently works as a Rails engineer at Intridea, and experiments with emerging technologies like Macruby, and Node.js.

Jeremy McAnally is founder and principal at Arcturo, a web and mobile development firm. He is also coauthor of Ruby in Practice. Jerry spends his days hacking Ruby and Objective-C.