Advanced Mac OS X Programming (2nd Edition of Core Mac OS X & Unix Programming) [Paperback]

Mark Dalrymple (Author), Aaron Hillegass (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: October 1, 2005

There are several other books on programming for Mac OS X, but none of them comtain explanations of how to leverage the powerful underlying technologies. This book goes down to the real nitty-gritty of multi-threading, interprocess communication, networking, performance tuning, distributed objects, queues, Bonjour, authentication, the keychain, and directory services. The tools are also covered: gcc, gdb, subversion, Shark, and Saturn.

Editorial Reviews

Review

" ...clearly explains the tools and APIs that can radically improve the performance and reliability of your applications." -- -Eric Peyton

"...a must-have for any serious developer...it is the only book that...digs up real questions seeking real answers." -- -Review on OSNews.com

"...the book to have if you need to understand the plumbing that makes Mac OS X work." -- Eric Peyton

"...this book is a must-have for any serious developer..." -- OSNews.com

"I suspect this book will become a canonical reference, and may not be in need of a clever nickname." -- Slashdot

About the Author

Mark Dalrymple has been a Macintosh programmer since 1985 and a Unix programmer since 1990. Over the years he has worked on projects ranging from cross-platform development toolkits, parts of the Mac AOL client, and high-performance web server software servicing hundreds of millions of requests per day. Currently he heads Borkware, a custom application development and consultation company. Aaron Hillegrass who worked at NeXT and Apple, is the author of ""Cocoa Programming for Mac OS X."" He is also the founder of the Big Nerd Ranch. Big Nerd Ranch provides world-class training for Mac OS X and Unix developers.

Product Details

• Paperback: 646 pages
• Publisher: Big Nerd Ranch; 2 edition (October 1, 2005)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0974078514
• ISBN-13: 978-0974078519
• Product Dimensions: 9.9 x 7 x 1.4 inches
• Shipping Weight: 2.4 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.3 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (11 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #681,967 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Aaron Hillegass worked at NeXT and then Apple before creating Big Nerd Ranch, a training and consulting company that specializes in Mac, iPhone, and Open Source technologies.

He lives in Atlanta, where Big Nerd Ranch teaches most of its classes. These classes have led to the creation of a series of books: The Big Nerd Ranch Guides. These books follow a consistent style that features a hands-on approach and a clear and conversational tone.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

47 of 58 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Probably more helpful for people with no/little Unix experience, January 5, 2006

By 

Joshua A. (Twin Cities, Minnesota USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Advanced Mac OS X Programming (2nd Edition of Core Mac OS X & Unix Programming) (Paperback)

Although this book is well written in concept, the editing of the final product is awful. There are a great deal of grammatical errors which seemed to me a basic word-processor would have caught.

The book should be titled, more correctly, "Unix Programming for OS X." Unix system programmers will find almost nothing new in this book (gcc, gdb, file-systems, signals, libraries, etc. - although, the Objective-C examples can be helpful in understanding how to implement things in new ways, and also the chapter on Subversion was a nice introduction for me.)

If you are just learning how to program on a Unix platform, I'd recommend this book unequivocally. I paid full price for mine ($70), without taking a hard enough look at the contents and found myself with an expensive, redundant book on my shelf.

11 of 12 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Awesome book for anyone looking to learn low-level, August 26, 2006

By 

James Cornell (Riverside, CA, USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Advanced Mac OS X Programming (2nd Edition of Core Mac OS X & Unix Programming) (Paperback)

This book fills in most gaps you might encounter while learning about the low-level BSD/Mach aspect of Mac OS X and Darwin. Mach and BSD iokit is described in detail, and there are tons of useful code examples all over the book. This book even explains ipc and pipes very well, and isn't the size of the bible, like other books. It gets to the point as soon as you get past the TOC.

20 of 24 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Read This Book, March 15, 2006

By 

James Sodini - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Advanced Mac OS X Programming (2nd Edition of Core Mac OS X & Unix Programming) (Paperback)

If you're a Mac OS X developer and want to get serious about it, this book is mandatory. It is always on my desk right by the computer, and really is that perfect reference. Nothing really compares to this book, the previous Aaron Hillegass book is rather basic but is more of an introduction. I have a BS degree in CS and even though a lot of this has been covered, the rest of it is done in graduate school. So if you're looking for that little bit extra, give it a shot.