Learn Objective-C on the Mac (Learn Series) [Paperback]

Mark Dalrymple (Author), Scott Knaster (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: December 25, 2008 | Series: Learn Series

Learn Objective-C on the Macintosh is a classic programming primer for Mac OS X developers. And it’s hard to believe, but this will be the only guide to Objective-C specifically aimed at new developers!

Editorial Reviews

About the Author

Mark Dalrymple has been a Mac developer since 1985 and a Unix programmer since 1990. Over the years he has worked on projects ranging from cross-platform development toolkits, high-performance web server software servicing hundreds of millions of hits per day, medical applications, and video products for Hollywood. He is the co-author of Core Mac OS X and Unix Programming and Advanced Mac OS X Programming.

Scott Knaster is a legendary Mac hacker and author of such best-selling books as Hacking Mac OS X Tiger and Macintosh Programming Secrets. His book How to Write Macintosh Software was required reading for Mac programmers for more than a decade.

Product Details

• Paperback: 360 pages
• Publisher: Apress; 1st ed. 2009. Corr. 3rd printing edition (December 25, 2008)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1430218150
• ISBN-13: 978-1430218159
• Product Dimensions: 9.2 x 7.5 x 0.7 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.6 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.1 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (53 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #37,559 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
  • #6 in Books > Computers & Technology > Programming > C > Tutorials
  • #17 in Books > Computers & Technology > Hardware > Macs
  • #39 in Books > Computers & Technology > Operating Systems > MacOS

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

45 of 51 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Very useful and a fun read, January 8, 2009

By 

S. Looker (Union City, CA USA) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Learn Objective-C on the Mac (Learn Series) (Paperback)

I recently started reading this book. I should start by saying I am an experienced Objective-C programmer, but I usually find a useful new tidbit or two in a new book.

I have been enjoying this book immensely, because the tone of the book is much more light-hearted than the normal technical tome. Instead of hundreds of lines of passive voice text, droning on and one with massive repetition of the same stuff to pad the page count enough, this book flows right along. It moves from topic to topic with a nice amount of detail, but without padding and fluff. Examples are written with a slightly humorous touch that makes the reading a pleasure and keeps your interest focused on what is being said.

Explanations of areas such as memory management are nice and straight forward. New items found in Objective-C 2.0 are covered, and a modern version of Xcode is described.

This book presumes (and states upfront) that you are expected to at least know C or similar programing language, so if you don't know how to program already, don't start with this book.

This book is about using Objective-C, but also includes looks at some important parts of Cocoa. Both the writers and the publisher make the assumption that you are intelligent enough to know how to use the internet to find resources instead of listing detailed URLs in the text, which I really liked. It lets me focus on the content being presented, not the mechanics of how to do auxiliary things I already know how to do.

I am definitely recommending this book to anybody new to Objective-C, as well as suggesting that it is a good quick reference to have handy even for experienced programers.

27 of 31 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Good intro for Mac or iPhone programming, January 4, 2009

By 

Timothy T. Hume - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Learn Objective-C on the Mac (Learn Series) (Paperback)

This book provides a really good intro to Objective-C. It also gives some info on Xcode and Cocoa. It is geared towards programmers that have some experience, but want to learn to program for the Mac or iPhone. I think even intermediate and experienced Mac programmers can find some useful information in here. There is enough information here to really get going. The information is also concise enough to not be overwhelming. I wish I'd had this book when I was starting out.

47 of 58 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Disappointing, February 21, 2009

By 

A Friend "Not My Real Name" - See all my reviews

This review is from: Learn Objective-C on the Mac (Learn Series) (Paperback)

I had high expectations for this book, based on my experience with other books in the Apress series for learning programming on the Macintosh. However, while the authors of this book are obviously knowledgeable about their subject, I don't think they have a handle yet on how to present their knowledge in book form. My impression is that the authors took transcripts of a seminar on Objective-C that they led and then gave it to someone else to put into book form.

Also, the book is full of typos--even in the source code examples! In one case, it is obvious even to a beginner that a source code example could not have produced the sample of program output shown, because the output is in a different order than the print statements in the program. In another case, the text of the book refers to a line of program code that is missing from the code example. This kind of sloppy proofreading is inexcusable in a programming text.