Customer Reviews

Cocoa Programming

5 star:		(15)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

This book is not about teaching you to program it is about eaching you to take full, and I mean full, advantage of Cocoa. If you have a handle on Cocoa programming this one book will pretty much complete your understanding of it.

It covers the additions that Objective-C adds to the C language in about 27 pages. If you already know C, that is all you need to get going. If you don't already know C this book will not teach it to you.

Consider that, counting the index, the book is 1245 pages of small print and has none of the usual fluff that eats up half the book, it is a lot of valuable information; all meat and very little fat.

It has in-depth sample code for about everything you are going to need or want to do with OS X. Just as important, it not only tells you what you can do, but what you should do and explains why.

Most programmers never learn a particular tool or object until they want to use it in a program. This book has example code for just about anything you would want to try and clear explanations of what you must know to use it. Having a working example with source is just the ticket when you are learning a new object.

If you want to program for OS X, drop what you are doing and order this book. If you are already an old hand at programming OS X, I'll bet there are more than a few things in this book that you don't know.

This book is absolutely amazing. After teaching myself Cocoa with Aaron Hillegass's book "Cocoa Programming for Mac OS X", I picked up this book to serve as a reference because of Apple's poor job at keeping up with their own documentation. One word for this book: awesome. The writers did a great job of compiling almost every piece of the Cocoa "umbrella" framework there is. There are even full chapters on topics that no other book or online source I have seen so far had covered. Things such as advanced networking with TCP and UDP and the real details on NSMatrices.

All in all, I would recommend this book for anyone who is looking for a detailed, organized, and complete Cocoa reference. It might not be as good for someone who was never programmed before since I don't think it has the *best* tutorials when compared to the other Cocoa books on the market, but my goodness is this an indispensable reference that will stay on my bookshelf for the remainder of my Cocoa programming career.

This book is huge and packed with information. It has more information than any three other books on the subject. However, it is an intermediate to advanced book, so if you are just starting out you might prefer a more introductory book.

I particularly like the logical organization of the book and the comprehensive coverage of most topics. (The book predates the latest "Bindings" technology.) Even if you have been a Cocoa programmer for years, you will learn new things from this book. It covers whole subjects that no other book mentions and is packed with useful examples. There is no fluff, and every page is dense with information. It does not have the best tutorials, and it has a formal reference style unlike many of the other Cocoa programming books. I promise that even if you have one or more of the friendlier books, you'll still want this one for when you get down to business.

Finally, I loved the coverage of the Model/View/Controller design pattern in this book. There is a whole chapter that shows concrete examples of design using Model/View/Controller in conjunction with Cocoa and Objective-C idioms. After applying the wisdom provided by this book, I finally understood the value of Model/View/Controller and its near ubiquitous application in Cocoa.

I own just about every book written for Cocoa programming, but so far Cocoa Programming is the best, it is not a mere tutorial but goes in depth of Cocoa and OS X. I found answers on many questions that I could not find in any other book. In short, it is a must have book.

I've really gotten a lot out of this book, and I would highly recommend it, except for the fact that it came out in 2002 and only covers 10.1 (with an appendix entry discussing the new features in the "up-coming 10.2"). Many of the methods documented here have been long since "deprecated."

If you can find this book at a reasonable price, it would pair well with a more current book. I found it contained valuable information not present in some of the more recent books.

If this guy ever releases an updated version of this book, I would buy it in a Nano-second (a little iPod humour there)(Yeah, very little).

Although I'm a Cocoa beginner and have worked through other Cocoa books, I feel certain that this book will become a must-have reference for almost every Cocoa programmer. Even though it is written for experienced programmers, all the concepts and buzzwords are clearly explained so even at my level I learn and understand the Cocoa framework. If you also are a Cocoa beginner, I would recommend buying both Aaron Hilligass' Cocoa Programming for Mac OS X as a tutorial, getting started point along with this book to use as complete reference for Objective C/Cocoa.

Cocoa programming is an excellent reference book for programmers rank beginners and intermediate Cocoa programmers alike. This book covers a broad range of Cocoa topics in a no-nonsense, get right to the point style that I found very helpful. While most Cocoa tutorials cover a few topics at a high level in the interest of presenting the reader with a gentle introduction, this book covers those topics with a depth and completeness that allow you to take your Cocoa code to the next level of complexity. If you are a Cocoa newbie, I would recommend this book as a companion to your favorite Cocoa tutorial for those times you want to explore a topic in more depth. If you are an intermediate Cocoa programmer, this will be a valuable reference book and well worth the space on your shelf, however small that shelf may be!

(Review written July 2004, reposting because it disappeared) This is a big book, so I was at first leery about whether I would be able to get through it without becoming depressed or lost. I did get through it, I didn't get lost, and I felt in capable hands all the way through. Furthermore, it was worth every minute of time I put into reading it.

Although there are three authors of this book, listed alphabetically on the front cover, it reads as if written by a single author. It becomes readily apparent that the authors know Cocoa as well as the best programmers know it. But even more important to me was that they craft every single sentence with care for the context they're building, and they don't violate our faith with out of context material. Time and time again I was silently appreciating their skill and care for quality writing.

Disclaimer: I am one of the authors.
Cocoa Programming provides intermediate and advanced programmers with the knowledge and techniques to produce powerful full-featured Cocoa applications. Cocoa Programming communicates the wisdom and design experience of three top-notch veteran Cocoa developers and includes technical information and insights that are not available from any other source.

Cocoa is Apple's powerful and mature object oriented development technology for creating Mac OS X applications quickly and efficiently. Apple recommends that all new applications written for Mac OS X use Cocoa. Cocoa is distinguished from other object-oriented development environments in several ways: Cocoa is mature, consistent, and broad. Cocoa is based on a cross-platform specification and has evolved from a cross-platform implementation. Cocoa is extraordinarily extensible, flexible, and dynamic in part because of Objective-C, the language used to implement it.

This comprehensive book covers virtually every aspect of Cocoa application development from the tools used to build programs to sophisticated multi-media and low level implementation details. Topics ranging from client-server networking to game development are covered. Examples that can be used directly in application code and a companion Web site, http://www.cocoaprogramming.net/, provide a treasure chest of reusable objects that illustrate the best practices developed through years of use.

Being a newbie to Cocoa has not been an obstacle to diving into this book. It seems to be not only an exhaustive reference but a wonderful guide to understanding the nuances of Cocoa as well. In addition, there are direct and easy to understand diagrams and figures which are very informative and artfully presented.